We planted a small vegetable garden about a month ago. My kids love it! Gardening with kids is so much fun. They loved digging up the dirt and playing with the worms. My daughter who is a little older than my son did a great job pulling up the weeds and placing the brick border. At five, my daughter is into helping with every little step. My son, at three, is more interested in just playing with the worms and transporting the bricks! Gardening can be a fantastic activity for kids, offering a range of benefits from learning about nature to developing motor skills and responsibility. Here are some fun gardening activities for kids of all ages. Growing your own garden can be a great opportunity for adults and kids to learn something new about the natural world.
Kids Gardening Activity Ideas
Early spring is a great time to start a garden. These fun garden activities are the perfect way for little gardeners to gain new sensory experiences in their own backyard!
1. Let Kids Help Pick The Garden Spot
If you don’t have an established garden spot already let them help you brainstorm about where a good garden spot would be. Ask them what they think a garden needs and help them access if the garden bed will be near those things. Is there enough sunlight in the spot they pick? Ask if it close to a water source. Is the area too rocky? It is a great activity for them to help in planning the garden. Also what kind of garden would they like, flowers, vegetables, or an herb garden?
2. Have Kids Help Prepare The Garden Area
Another of kids gardening activities they will have fun helping with is preparing the soil for the garden. Have kids collect rocks into a pail to be moved out of the way. Then the adult(s) can use a shovel to dig deep and turn the earth over. The kids can come back in at that point and help break up the clumps and remove more rocks. They can also help pour on any mix ins you might be using such as organic garden soil or compost. Then you can mix it all up again with the shovel.
3. Let Kids Help Pick The Garden Plants
Involve kids by letting them pick the garden vegetables, fruits, and herbs but be sure to steer them towards easy to grow choices. We planted a bunch of tomatoes, my favorite! We also planted summer squash and zucchini. My daughter planted a “runaway squash seed” she got from a friend and everything is doing really well so far. The hubby planted a ton of spicy peppers (his favorite) from seeds and they are still small but coming along. My son chose strawberries. We also have blueberries we planted last year. The blueberries are looking great though still green.
We are using small plants to start our garden because I have younger kids and I think they will enjoy the more immediate gratification. Older children may want to choose seeds for flowers or vegetables. Teach them how to plant the seeds in pots or directly in the garden, and watch as they sprout and grow.
4. Watering The Garden
Watering the garden is always a favorite of the Kids Gardening Activities because every kid loves to play in the water, get wet, and watch the tiny droplets of water collect on the leaves and slide off. Make sure they know good water wise gardening tips such as the best times of day to water the garden and how often to water the garden.
5. Weeding The Garden
Kids Gardening Activities can include weeding but they will have more fun if you do it with them! This is important because you can show them what to weed and how to weed and you can even have a quick little competition to see who can pull the most weeds.
6. Garden Harvest Time
The hazards of gardening with kids is that they love picking the fruits and veggies when they are ready and they often eat them before you can! It is great for kids to be able to eat the fruits of their labor and for them to learn that their gardening activities have paid off.
7. Troubleshooting
Let kids help you with brainstorming how to solve any gardening troubles you encounter. The problem we have so far is that something keeps eating all my summer squash and zucchini blossoms. Last year I thought it was the deer but it could be the bunnies, armadillo, or squirrels. We have a wildlife park back there. I have even seen a wild turkey in my yard! It is great for them to think out problem solving and fun to see how creative they can be.
8. Exploring Garden Insects
Teach kids about the insects that live in the garden, such as butterflies, ladybugs, and bees. Help them identify different insects and learn about their roles in the ecosystem. Help them to learn which insects are good for the garden and which ones do damage to the garden.
9. Garden Crafts
There are numerous outdoor crafts you can create to get kids interested in the garden. Let kiddos find fun ways to beautify the garden such as making DIY garden markers or painted rocks. Their garden crafts may even help scare off the birds!
Painting clay pots can be fun for all ages – just pop down some newspaper and let them loose with some water-based acrylic paints (watch that they’re wearing aprons and old clothes, as acrylic won’t come out easily). Spray with 2 coats of clear acrylic sealant both in and outside the pot to make sure the design lasts as long as possible, then you can start planting them with seeds or using them as outdoor decorations.
10. Creating a Garden Journal
Encourage kids to keep a journal where they can track the growth of their plants, draw pictures, and write about their observations. This gardening activity will make a great keepsake as they preserve the beauty of nature in this fun way.
Conclusion
These activities can make gardening a fun and educational experience for kids, helping them develop a love for nature and an understanding of the environment. I love gardening with kids even though our garden is tiny and they love all the kids gardening activities. They can even help with preparing for autumn gardening when the summer season is drawing to an end. It is a great way to get them off the TV and outdoors and at the same time learning a useful skill. Do you have any extra kids gardening activities you would add to the list?
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Aana says
Gardening is such a great idea to distract the kids especially during this time, also i like to use The Moms Co mosquito repellent when the kids are enjoying in the garden. Love that product!
Julia says
Having a small garden is such a great idea for kids to learn about nature. Not only that, it builds wonderful memories. I used to help my mom grow zucchini and strawberries in a little plot of soil in our backyard. It wasn’t fancy, but the time we spent together has become priceless memories. We don’t have a place for gardening right now, but we do have a couple of herbs in cans by the window. It’s not the same as a real garden, so we try to supplement it with printable gardening activities to help the little ones learn about growing plants =)
Julia
Dana Elken Terrell says
What a great post! Congrats for making gardening so special and fun. One additional activity is to learn to prune. Right now I’m growing a giant squash plan called Tahitian Squash. My friend calls it the “best squash ever!” It can dominate a pretty big territory. I have it surrounded by Gopher purge plants to protect the squash and my “Fruit Salad” trees from being killed by gophers. But the squash could cover the gopher purge plants and kill them by blocking the sun. Thus, I have to do some pruning at least weekly. Not sure if you oldest is ready for using sharp pruning sheers. What do you think? Even a blunt ended scissors might work.
Dana