Indoor plants are a quick and easy way to freshen up your interior. They also boast some amazing health benefits so it’s no wonder the indoor jungle trend is growing. Like most things around your home indoor plants have the potential to harm young children. Unfortunately some of the most popular houseplants are toxic to humans and animals. Some indoor plants can cause symptoms as mild as skin irritations or intestinal upset and as severe as death, strewth! So it’s important to make sure you have child friendly indoor plants in your home.
No fear though, here at Zendo Plant Hub we have a bunch of kids (five at last count) and a gazillion plants (maybe not a gazillion but we sure do have a whole lot) and we’ve never had a plant vs. child incident. So obviously we know a thing or two about human and plant babies. I know that sounds pretty impressive but the reality is plant poisoning amongst children in Australia is not common. Toxic plants usually taste pretty bad and small children will likely, or at least hopefully, spit them out before swallowing them. Nonetheless, all care needs to be taken to ensure the safety of your children.
A few things to keep in mind
- Teach young children never to put leaves, sticks, berries or any part of any plant in their mouths.
- Remove wild mushrooms from your garden as soon as you notice them (most incidents of plant related poisoning in children are from eating mushrooms).
- Bring only child friendly plants into your home and be sure to keep them out of reach of children and pets wherever possible.
- Be sure to check the botanical name of the plant as many plants have multiple common names and it can be a bit confusing at times, you don’t want to take any chances with the wellbeing of your family.
Child friendly indoor plants
To make things easier for you we’ve already done the research and compiled a list of the most commonly found child friendly indoor plants. Be sure to check out each plant profile to ensure you choose the plant most suited to your home environment and your ability to care for it.
African Violet Saintpaulia
Aluminum Plant Pilea Cadierei
Baby’s Tears Soleirolia Soleirolii
Begonia Begonia Obliqua
Boston Fern Nephrolepis Exaltata
Christmas Cactus Schlumbergera
Coleus Plectranthus Scutellarioides
Happy Plant / Corn Plant Dracaena Fragrans
Dracaena Dracaena Marginata, Sanderiana, Deremensis, Draco, Cinnabari
Peperomia / Baby Rubber Plant Peperomia Caperata
Hoya Hoya Species
Parlor Palm Chamaedorea elegans
Prayer Plant Maranta leuconeura
Snake Plant Sansevieria trifasciata
Spider Plant Chlorophytum comosum
Swedish Ivy Plectranthus verticillatus
Wandering Jew Tradescantia fluminensis
Zebra Plant Aphelandra Squarrosa
If you own pets we encourage you to read 18 Pet and Child Friendly Plants and Are ‘Pet Friendly’ Plants really Pet Friendly?
Resources
We conducted extensive research on this topic. The information we have provided is accurate to the best of our knowledge. We recommend you research this topic further before bringing plants into your home. We found the following websites to be the most helpful resources while we were researching this topic.
If you have children we recommend reading and bookmarking this page for future reference. Children’s Health Queensland
If you have pets we recommend reading and bookmarking this page for future reference. American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA)
Pet & Child friendly plants currently for sale.