Enjoy Herbal Activities with Children
By Maria Noël Groves

Once children were regularly led into the natural world to harvest food and medicinal plants. We’ve lost this education in recent generations and, with it, an appreciation for the healing power of our environment. Many children do not even know what dandelion or plantain look like, even though they grow between the cracks in the walkway to most front doors.

Our nation’s children rarely spend any time outside—let alone learning about useful and medicinal herbs. However, it need not be this way. With just a little inspiration, parents, grandparents, teachers, and program directors can lead children back out into the gardens, forests and meadows. You don’t have to be an experienced herbalist to take on these projects—together adults and children alike will awaken their senses and appreciation for the healing plants around them.

“Children shouldn’t miss out on (herbal activities),” says Nancy Phillips, author of The Herbalist’s Way (Chelsea Green, 2005) who runs the Nature and Spirit Camp in northern New Hampshire. “In many cultures, even today, this is just a part of their lives and it really isn’t for our modern American kids. I feel it’s my calling to make sure kids know how to connect with nature and add that richness to life, especially with the healing plants.”

Even simple, short activities enrich children’s lives, provide a sense of peace, and empower them to handle many simple health concerns with nature’s bounty.

“There’s just nothing that replaces nature and being outside,” says Lesley Tierra, Santa Cruz, California-based herbalist and author of A Kid’s Herb Book (RDR Publishing, 2000). “It touches a basic element of who we are within the context of where we live, and that we’re part of a greater whole.”

Make sure to discuss poisonous plants with children, says Brigitte Mars, the herbalist and author who co-runs the Herb Camp for Kids (currently on hiatus) with her daughter in Boulder, Colorado. Focus on safe, edible plants during activities, but let them know that not all plants are safe to eat or touch. You may want to show them plants like poison ivy and digitalis to impress the point, or simply tell them not to eat anything without first checking with an adult.

Phillips generally avoids alcohol-based remedies for children’s activities and ensures that anything she makes with the kids is safe even if they drink the whole bottle. Most herbal activities can be done with children aged five and up. Stick to simple, short activities for younger kids.

Herbal Scavenger Hunt ~ Make a list of five to ten herbs and plant parts (acorns, peppermint leaves, pine needles or pine cones, red clover, plantain, dandelion…). Provide pictures, photos, or samples of each item. Let the children search and see how many they can find. See Without Seeing ~ Blindfold the children or have them close their eyes. Sit in a circle and pass around different herbs. Have them describe the herb, prompt them with questions. How does this herb smell? Rub the leaves, smell again. Take a nibble—how does it taste? Does it remind them of any foods they know? How does the herb feel against the skin? Smooth? Rough? Furry? Imagine how it would feel as medicine—do you think it would lift your mood? Help with a cold? Etc. Then they can open their eyes and meet the herbs and learn a little information about them. Focus on just a few herbs such as the mints, lemon balm, anise hyssop, lavender, chamomile, rosemary, wood sorrel, licorice root, fennel seeds, or rose petals. Once children have learned herbs, you can do the activity to see if they can guess what an herb is without seeing it.

Harvest A Salad with Flowers ~ Let the children harvest lettuce, arugula, baby spinach, borage flowers, calendula flowers, rose petals and nasturtium flowers from the garden. They may add wild clover flowers and leaves of lamb’s quarters, dandelion and pigweed to the salad. If they’ve made an herbal vinegar, they can use that in the dressing.

Theme Gardening ~ Get children involved with gardening over the course of a summer. Choose a small plot and a theme that interests them. For example pizza (tomatoes, basil, peppers, parsley) or scent (lavender, lemon balm, mint, thyme varieties). Sharon Lovejoy’s whimsically illustrated Roots, Shoots, Buckets and Boots (Workman Publishing, 1999) is full of tips.

Explore the Edible Forest ~ If you had to live in the woods, what could you eat? The plants will vary region to region, but some of our wild edibles include nettle (once cooked or dried), wintergreen leaves and berries, blueberries, raspberries, tea from pine, spruce or fir needles, fiddleheads, dandelion leaves, clover flowers, hazelnuts…. Make sure the kids know not to eat anything without first checking with an adult to make sure it’s edible!

Make a Sun Tea ~ Harvest fresh herbs from the garden and put several handfuls of the herbs into a quart mason jar, cover with hot water, add honey, fresh lemons or other fruits, and let sit in the sun for at least one hour. (Dried herbs, approximately 3 tablespoons or 4 teabags, can be substituted for fresh ones.) Strain into glasses over ice and enjoy! This works well with mint, lemon balm, lemon thyme, tarragon, anise-hyssop, chamomile, rose petals, fennel, and/or licorice.

The Art of Tea Blending ~ Purchase dried loose herbs or let the kids harvest their own (put branches in a paper bag in a warm, sunny car for two days, then pull dried leaves and flowers off the stem). Put out a few bowls of dried herbs and let the children smell and nibble them, then choose a few to make their own tea. Blend the herbs in a mortar and grind with a pestle. Spoon into Press & Brew teabags or reusable muslin bags and store in glass jars or plastic bags. Label the tea with the child’s name, the chosen name for the tea blend, and ingredients. Tasty, interesting herbs include cinnamon, ginger, rosehips, rose petals, chamomile, mints, nettle, lemon balm, licorice, anise hyssop, and fennel seeds.