Why Native Plants Matter and How to Teach Kids to Love Them

Spring is the perfect time to step outside and start noticing what's growing around you. And if you have kids in tow, it's also the perfect time to introduce them to one of the most important topics in the natural world — native plants.
What Are Native Plants?
Native plants are species that have grown naturally in a region for thousands of years without being introduced by humans. They evolved alongside local wildlife — insects, birds, and pollinators — and play a critical role in keeping local ecosystems healthy and balanced.
In New England, native plants include familiar favorites like black-eyed Susans, wild bergamot, milkweed, and Eastern red columbine — plants you may have spotted on a walk without knowing their names.
Why Do Native Plants Matter?
Non-native or invasive plants can crowd out native species, disrupting the food chain and reducing biodiversity. Native plants on the other hand:

• Provide food and habitat for native pollinators like bees and butterflies
• Support birds that rely on native insects for food
• Require less water and maintenance once established
• Help prevent soil erosion and support healthy watersheds

Teaching kids about native plants is essentially teaching them how ecosystems work — and why every plant has a role to play.
How to Teach Kids to Love Native Plants
The best way to get kids interested in native plants is to make it hands-on, visual, and fun. Here are a few simple ways to start:
Go on a native plant walk. Head to a local park, nature trail, or even your own backyard and see how many plants you can identify. Bring a field guide or use a free app like iNaturalist to help with identification. Kids love being the ones to "discover" a plant.
Plant a native garden together. Even a small container garden with one or two native species is enough to spark curiosity. Watch for pollinators that visit and talk about why they're attracted to those specific plants.
Use art to explore. Coloring, drawing, and illustrating plants is a wonderful way for kids to slow down and really look at the details — the shape of a leaf, the curve of a petal, the structure of a seed pod. Art builds observation skills in a way that feels like play.
Read and color together. My coloring book Joy in Bloom: The ABCs of Native Plants was created specifically to introduce children and adults to native plants in a beautiful, accessible way. Each page features a different native plant from A to Z with its name, giving kids a visual and creative entry point into the world of native plants. It's available on Amazon and makes a wonderful gift for nature-loving families, homeschoolers, and educators.
Start with what's around you. You don't need to know every plant to get started. Pick one or two native plants that grow in your area and learn everything you can about them together. Kids remember the plants they have a personal connection to.
Native Plants and the Bigger Picture
When kids learn to recognize and appreciate native plants they start to see the natural world differently. A patch of milkweed becomes a monarch butterfly nursery. A stand of goldenrod becomes a pollinator buffet. A simple walk becomes a lesson in ecology, interdependence, and stewardship.
That shift in perspective — from seeing nature as scenery to seeing it as a living system — is one of the most valuable things we can give children.
And it starts with one plant, one walk, and one curious kid.

Looking for more ways to explore nature with kids? Check out my nature printables and seasonal scavenger hunts in my Etsy shop, and download the Free-Range Kids Adventures app for instant outdoor activity ideas.