My son is 14 and his favorite thing about gardening is when Mom pays him to help!
Earlier this summer I needed to remove 10 yr old philodendron selloum to make way for a butterfly garden. After 1 hr I offered to buy my son and his friend a video game each if they would help out. It took us most of the day even with great help. It was more than worth it.

My 10 year old loves the harvest best. My one year old loves going around smelling the flowers and being sprayed with the water hose.

I don't have kids, but every year I have a Garden Party for my sister's children - two nieces and a nephew. They get to pick any and as many flowers in the garden as they want to take home, then we have lunch (usually pigs-in-a-blanket, raw veggies and fruit, goldfish crackers & pretzels, etc.). The crowning moment is the Dirt Cup dessert, with chocolate bugs & gummi worms. They also get to take home some plants - flowering annuals or herbs, usually - to plant in their own garden at home.

The kids say over & over how much they look forward to it every year, and I do, too! It's my best chance to get to hang out and be silly with them & my sister for a couple of hours.

Jules, I bet your nieces and nefew must just adore you not to mention your sister! Geez, I'm wishing I was one of them!

My ten yr old daughter is the only one who will even set foot in the garden. She always mentions how pretty things look as we drive into the driveway. She likes the overall effect best. She keeps mentioning that we need a private, secret garden where we could just go and hide without anyone knowing we're there.... I have to agree with her. It won't be for many years yet since I'm just starting to beautify and we'll be remodelling... In other words... Nothing planted near the house until the house is done.

I've a 5 yr old girl, and her favorite part is when its time to prune the roses. She runs around and collects a huge bucket of petals, pulling off the faded (often many which are not so faded) and then carpets the lawn with the petals. Considering she just lost a front tooth, the smile as she summersaults through the petals is a memory.

My girls 11 and 6 love to make a meal just from the garden, normally stir fry. They love to plan what we will grow, and they love to watch for the first sign of seedlings in the dirt. My oldest girl tells people that nothing is better than carrot cake made from carrots right out of the ground. Becky

I have my 4 1/2 year old Grandson almost every weekend. He loves all of the creepy crawlies, worms, bugs, bumblebees, salamanders, snakes, throwing grubs out to the road to feed the birds...

He likes to announce that for the day he gets to be the boss and tell me what section of the garden needs to be weeded, when it's break time etc. How I adore that boy!

:>)