I am so excited to bring you today's child-friendly episode with a dear, dear friend of mine,

Joe D-Dembrowski. You might know him as Mr. D times three. He's the classroom teacher that went

viral several years ago and was featured on Ellen for doing like a joke spelling bee with his kids.

But Joe is actually a massive plant parent. And we became friends a couple of years ago

because he listened to the podcast. And when I learned that he was a teacher, I thought that it would

be so fun to do an episode together on child-friendly plant activities that you can do with kids,

whether they're crafts or whether it's for science purposes like teaching science or whether it's just

for getting your kids engaged and hands on, you know, in the classroom or in your house,

I figured it would be a fun time to re-release this episode as part of the Best of Growing

Joy series in December when you probably have some kiddos home for vacation and you're

probably looking for a few things to do with your kiddos.

So maybe one of these really creative plant projects that Joe talks about will help you out in your

time of vacation. And also, hopefully you'll get a couple of giggles from Mr. D's signature

brand of heartfelt humor. Get ready to become obsessed with the concept of a petting cacti.

Let's dive in.

Welcome to the Growing Joy with Plants podcast, where we not only learn how to care for plants successfully, but how to simply and affordably use our plant babies to cultivate more

joy in our lives by doing

so. I'm Maria, former plant killer turned happy plant lady, author of Growing Joy, The Plant Lover's

Guide to Cultivating Happiness, speaker, podcaster, and most importantly, your new best plant friend.

On Growing Joy with Plants, you'll find conversations about house plant care, gardening tutorials, and wellness through the lens of plants.

Plant care is self-care on growing joy.

Hello, my precious Maria.

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