I ordered Herbal Activities for Kids with my 13-year-old and 7-year-old in mind. The 13-year-old is really “too old” for the book’s recommended age range, but she really likes plants and making use of plants, and we didn’t find that the book — at least not most of it — was too babyish for her.

Herbal Activities for Kids

The subtitle of this book is 50 Nature Crafts, Recipes, and Garden Projects, and it’s true to its name. But that also might mislead you into underestimating it.

All of these things are in there, but it isn’t a mere collection of crafts and recipes. It’s projects selected to encourage kids to immerse themselves in the plant world, using all of their senses to become familiar with a variety of herbs, along with introductory herbal knowledge and skills. Essentially, it’s a play-based introduction to herbalism.

For instance, yes, there are recipes, but among those recipes are an herbal syrup, a tea, a glycerite, and a salve. All of these are basic herbal preparations that further herbal knowledge can build and expand on. (There are also some “regular” food and drink recipes.)

“Garden projects” include sprouting, propagating, and encouraging the presence of pollinators.

Craft projects encourage children to make full use of the plants available to them, but also encourage careful observation.

In among all this is information about ethical wildcrafting (gathering plants from the wild), identifying the qualities of herbs (drying, warming, etc.), processing herbs, etc.

It’s really an excellent, unintimidating introduction to the world of herbs. I think even some moms might like it, even though it isn’t meant for us.

Other Notes

Herbal Activities for Kids is a full-color book with glossy, flexible pages — almost like a really nice magazine. (Definitely not thin like regular magazine pages, but maybe like those high-end ones. Hopefully you know what I mean.) The book is indexed and has a list of recommended resources near the back, so it’s also a good springing-off point for learning more, as well as a good opportunity for teaching kids about the parts of a book.

It’s organized by senses, with sections for what you See and Investigate, the Taste of Nature, Sweet and Spicy Smells, Let’s Use Our Hands [Touch], and Listen, Move, and Rejoice.

What to Look Out For

There are a couple minor instances, mostly near the back, that reflect worldview perspectives my readers might not share. For instance, in a section about herbal gatherings (which seems to imply the inclusion of activism events, although that’s not primarily what the section is about), there’s an illustration of two girls with signs, one of which says “stop global warming.”

And there’s a section on “consent and gratitude,” which revolves around asking plants for their permission to use them, and also says, “When a plant offers itself for our food or medicine, we can express our gratitude to the plant, to Earth, to the Creator, and to our ancestors.” I’m all in favor of gratitude — but also in favor of recognizing that we have dominion over the earth and plants were given to us by the Creator for our use.

These are very minor parts of the overall book, though, so I would use this as an opportunity for discussion (if your kids even read that part) about the worldview issues it raises in general, as well as about book selection and how likely it is that most books will contain something we don’t agree with and the need to evaluate them and their contents.

(Of course always evaluate any websites your kids are visiting, as well; don’t just give them the resources list and let them run with it.)

Our Take

I think this is a great addition to a household’s repertoire. Books that playfully introduce and effectively teach “back to the earth” and homesteading-type skills to younger children can be scarce, and Herbal Activities for Kids is an excellent option in that vein.