At The Little Red Barn Playground, we give out a packet of seeds to our “Little Farmers Club” members (those with an annual membership) to promote healthy living and organic gardening ! For November, we are passing out broccoli seeds. In our home, we call broccoli “little trees” and our kids love it! Here are some great benefits of broccoli, how to grow it and a delicious recipe at the end!

Health Benefits of Broccoli for Kids

We hope that by learning to grow veggies at home, your children get excited about eating them too! There is something very rewarding about harvesting your own food and that kind of pride is even more exciting to a little one! In addition to the self-esteem boost and knowledge of growing food, here are the health benefits to eating these yummy miniature “trees”!

-Feeding your child regularly with broccoli reduces the chances of developing anemia as broccoli is rich in iron.

-It works as a natural laxative, flushing out  the impurities from your child’s digestive system.

-Broccoli is great for eye sight!

-With a healthy dose of Vitamin C, your child’s immune system will stay strong!

-Given in soup form, you can help heal your child’s gastric ulcer with broccoli

-Good Source of antioxidants!

-Diarrhea  remedy. Again, if you have a very young child, you can offer it in a soup form.

Although broccoli is super healthy, it can also cause gas in babies. Please wait to introduce broccoli to your baby between 8-10 months of age.

https://parentinghealthybabies.com

Growing Broccoli

If you are a little Farmers Club member, please pick up your seeds and start growing them! If you are not a member, head to your nearest nursery to purchase non GMO organic broccoli seeds and grow along with us!! We would love to see your progress on Instagram, please use #thelittleredbarnplayground and we will give one member a special gift each month.

You can start growing your seeds indoors by using seedling trays, or create your own with newspaper (look it up on youtube), or recycle a yogurt cup! Fill with soil and place about 2 seeds 1/4″ into the soil, gently cover up the seed and water from the bottom. If you have a seedling tray, you will want to cover with the plastic cover that will help keep your seeds moist. You will want to keep your seeds somewhere in between not too dry and not too wet, they will be very fragile in the beginning!

In 5-10 days you will see your seeds Germinate! continue to give your broccoli lots of sunlight and you can transplant into your garden 2-4 weeks before the last average frost. Plant 2 feet apart as broccoli will need a lot of room to grow! Be sure to fertilize your plants regularly with organic compost fertilizer and watch them grow into delicious and healthy food!

Now that you have your broccoli, it’s time to eat it! Here is a fun recipe to make at home with your kids!

Broccoli tater tots

This recipe from www.gimmedelicious.com looks mouth watering good AND fun for kids!

Healthy Baked Broccoli Tots

Healthy Baked Broccoli Tots

We would love to see your tater tot making skills on Instagram! Tag us #thelittlefarmersclub along with your gardening pictures!