Home and Garden
Children may know that chocolate comes from cocoa beans and that lemons come from citrus trees.
But the aroma of chocolate also comes from a particular type of geranium foliage and from the herb called: chocolate mint. The tangy scent of lemon is produced by numerous herbs, including lemon balm, lemongrass, and lemon verbena.
Fragrant herb gardens filled with the smells of candy, cake, fruit, lemonade, and pizza offer children the opportunity to nurture fragrances they already associate with great pleasure. Children can also learn how to make subtle olfactory distinctions by growing four types of minty herbs---pineapple mint, gingermint, spearmint, and peppermint, for example---or three types of basil such as Fire Leaf, Purple Ruffles, and
Spicy Globe.
A family herb garden can also spark spicy conversations about meal preparation. Parents and children learn together which herbs are good in salads, which are great in spaghetti, which make yummy tea or add flair to cookies, and even which they can offer to the cat.
--from 'A Child's Garden: 60 Ideas to Make Any Garden Come Alive for Children' by Molly Dannenmaier (February 2008, Timber Press) http://www.timberpress.com/books/isbn.cfm/9780881928433/childs_garden/da
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