We planted a smallish garden about a month ago. My kids love it! Gardening with kids is fun. They loved digging up the dirt and playing with the worms and my daughter 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! There are plenty of kids gardening activities to get children involved at any age.
Kids Gardening Activity Ideas
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 it is near those things. Is there enough sunlight in the spot they pick? Is it close to a water source? Is the area too rocky? It is great for them to help in planning the 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. My husband 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.
4. 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.
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5. 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.
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.
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8. 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.
Conclusion
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?