Gardening Fun: The 5 Best Vegetables to Grow with Kids

In addition, spending time outside, as you regularly must to tend a garden, has been consistently shown to improve children's sleep, eyesight, stress levels, and  performance in school. I see this with both my kids: Time in the garden spent running around, picking blueberries or tomatoes, herding chickens or pushing the wheelbarrow -- a task children universally love -- wears them out and calms them down. Too little outside time can lead to vitamin D deficiency, which puts kids at higher risk for asthma and, according to Science Daily, a vitamin D deficiency "can affect bone growth and density, metabolism, heart and immunity."

This year is the perfect time to start gardening with your kids. Ensure that the experience is rewarding for everyone by introducing your children to vegetable gardening with no-fail varieties that are fun and easy to plant, fun and easy to harvest and -- best of all -- fun and easy to eat! The five vegetables that follow are big winners in all of these categories.