These plant activities and garden crafts are sure to inspire some gardening with kids this Spring!
I’m so excited that we are finally seeing some spring weather!
We are so past due – and it’s cutting into our gardening activities.
I’ll admit, I am not one of those amazing Martha Stewart-type gardeners but I really do enjoy having a small backyard garden each summer.
The kids and I choose a few favorite plants along with some new items to try each year and then we get dirty, track how the plants grow and reap in the harvest (literally!)
So today we’re sharing all types of wonerful gardening activities for kids! In addition to our tips and experience, you’ll also find affiliate links to items we’ve found useful in our gardening adventures.
I always recommend starting with a trip to the garden store!
Kids can browse the aisles of plants and learn a little about the different items that can be grown in your backyard. Whether you plan to plant in a garden plot or grow plants in pots, there will be plenty of choices.
You can also start with these fun pre-garden activities & crafts if it’s not quite time to plant outside yet 😉
What do we grow in the garden?
Always herbs (usually basil & rosemary because they grow so quickly, along with a few others), tomatoes, peppers and some vine plant (cucumbers, pumpkins, etc). We’ve also tried carrots, lettuce, onions, strawberries and beans — along with lots of different flowers.
Some of our favorite plants are ones that grow quickly (such as basil and tomato plants) and anything the kids can eat right from the garden (beans, tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers). And if your kids can’t wait for a seed to germinate, you can start with some small plants (seedlings) and put them right in your garden or pot.
Not sure what to grow? Check out this guide to 13 Easy-to-Grow Vegetables from Martha Stewart. I always suggest letting kids choose a vegetable or some flowers on their own. Just read the markers when you purchase the plants and it will tell you how much sun and water each plant will need.
Giant Sunflowers
are also lots of fun to grow with kids, as are Moonflowers 
(once they grow, they only bloom & open in the late evening and then close again so it’s a treat to be able to watch them each day).
You’ll also need a few gardening items — it’s always fun to look like a gardener 😉 Kids will enjoy having tools their own size and will also be more likely to help if they have tools that aren’t too heavy.
Try this Kids Garden Tool Set with Tote if you’re looking for hand-held garden items — we’ve owned one for years and it always gets lots of use! These are metal garden tools and not the plastic type — we find the metal ones work much better when digging. If you have a larger garden, this kid-size rake, hoe & spade are perfect for pint-size helpers.
Another great buy is a set of kid-sized garden gloves! Fairy fans might enjoy these Disney Fairies Jersey Garden Gloves 
. You can also find ‘cool’ gloves for boys — Disney Cars Kids Jersey Glove 
. I’ve found that Target always has a nice selection of kids garden items too!
And a Children’s Garden Apron 
is always a handy item. Seriously, they’re going to get dirty and wet (when watering) and it’s always nice to have a place to keep your gloves and tools.
Last, I would recommend a child-sized watering can like these Melissa & Doug Watering Cans
. I’ve found the it’s very difficult for the kids to manage a full-size watering can and I don’t dare give them the watering hose! (I tried that once and we had a mini-flood 😉
Watering the garden is one of the ‘kid jobs’ in our house each evening before dinner. It’s the perfect way to get the kids into the garden each day so they can see how the plants are growing.
Browse our Kids Garden Books and also 30 Tips for Getting Kids Ready to Garden to get the kids inspired!
Tips for Planning & Designing Gardens with Kids
12 Tips for Gardening with Kids — Sun Hats & Wellie Boots
The Benefits of Gardening — Kindergarten & Preschool for Parents and Teachers
Easy Planting with Kids — Kitchen Counter Chronicles
How Kids Can Help with Gardening — Teach Mama
Looking for something fun to grow? Try this adorable Little Pizza Garden Kit
which gives you all the seeds you’ll need to make your own pizza once grown!
5 Tips for Gardening with Preschoolers – Projects for Preschoolers
Let Kids Design a Garden — Tinkerlab
This Little Tikes Garden Table
is perfect for indoor garden play or as a wonderful outdoor mini-garden area for young kids!
Creating a Kids Picking Garden — Curly Birds
How to Make a Wormery — Nurture Store
And try some of these 23 FREE Printable Garden Activities too!
Books for Kick-starting a Garden
We love to introduce new ideas with a story! Try a few of these gorgeous stories to show kids more about plants & gardening:
The Little Gardener (Teenie Greenies)
Secrets of the Garden: Food Chains and the Food Web in Our Backyard
Green Thumbs: A Kid’s Activity Guide to Indoor and Outdoor Gardening (A Kid’s Guide series)
Plant Activities for Kids
New research has shown that kids who are involved in growing and making their own food are more likely to try different foods and eat healthier. Now there’s a great reason to get kids involved in gardening!
Seed Starting with Kids — Housing a Forest
Springtime Gardening — Childhood 101
If you decide to start seeds inside, this SPROUT & GROW Root Viewer
will give kids a great peek into the science of how plants grow!
Creating an Edible Sensory Garden for Kids — The Educator’s Spin on It
Create a Garden for Imaginative Play — Frugal Fun 4 Boys
Creating a Fairy Garden — Tinkerlab
Regrowing Celery — Housing a Forest
Sunflower Fun for Kids — The Golden Gleam
Growing Plants in the Shape of Letters — Putti’s World
Beginner Gardening — East Coast Mommy
Landscaping with Kids — Mummy Musings and Mayhem
The Gardener Zinnia’s Flower Garden
Gardening Activities
Enjoy some fun crafts & hands-on activities as you garden: make a garden journal, create plant markers, connect kids with books & more!
Make Mini-Garden Journals — Red Ted Art
Building Fairy Gardens with STEM Activities — Edventures with Kids
Handprint Garden Markers — Reading Confetti
Create your own Mosaic Garden Stone
10 Great Gardening Books for Kids — Edventures with Kids
Wooden Spoon Garden Markers — The fairy and the frog
Fairy & Elf Houses in the Garden — Growing Green Fingered Kids
Kid-friendly Plant markers — Pink and Green Mama
Painted Rock Plant markers — LuBird Baby
Read to your Plants — JDaniel4’s Mom
Create a Garden Collage — Mama’s Little Muse
Gardening Activities for Toddlers — Stay at Home Educator
Looking for more Garden Ideas?
Dig into Reading with Garden Activities
