Kokedama Hanging Garden for Kids

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This Kokedama Hanging Garden for kids is a wonderful summer family activity. It is a simple Japanese hanging garden you can make with your child. Thanks to Beth Levin at Education.com for being a Quirky Momma for the day!

Kokedama Hanging Garden for Kids

Kokedamas make fun plants for kids to care for. Explain to your child that kokedama means moss ball in Japanese. It’s a way of gardening that covers the plant’s roots with moss and then a ball of soil and moss around that. Tell her that she can add string to display the finished product. Gather Your Materials:

Small, shade-tolerant plant like a baby fern or certain grasses
Scissors
Peat soil
Bonsai soil
Mixing pot
Water
Garden gloves
½ cup measure
Yarn or twine
Moss, collected from yard, forest, or purchased at a plant shop

Make a Hanging Garden

Let’s Get Started! 1. To start, help your child remove dirt from the plant by tapping the plant gently, leaving mostly the plant head and the plant roots. 2. Help her combine two different kinds of soil by measuring 3 ½ cups of peat soil and mixing that together with 1 ½ cups of bonsai soil. She should mix the soils well and add about ½ cup of water to dampen the mixture. 3. Now she can form a ball shape with the soil, as if rolling up dough into a ball. Have her add as much water as needed to hold the soil together in a ball shape. The ball should be big enough that the plant roots will fit inside of it. 4. Using collected or purchased moss, she should wrap some moss around the plant roots. 5. Next, have her poke a hole in the soil ball and insert the plant roots inside, then reform the ball shape around the plant roots. 6. If she wants, she can also decorate the outside of the soil ball by plastering moss all around it. 7. Finally, have he wrap the twine around the ball several times to help attach the moss. Leaving a length of yarn above the ball allows her to hang and display the finished kokedama. 8. Find a shady place to hang the ball. Keep your kokedama healthy by spraying mist on it. Now you can enjoy your own unique hanging garden!