15 Fun Gardening Activities For Kids [Mom’s Guide]

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Kids love spending time with their moms, so why not expose them to things you love in the meanwhile. That is why I am sharing these fun gardening activities for kids that are a great altenrative to screen time or the dreaded pretend play. (am I right?!)

There are so many things that kids can do at their level in the garden that will not only be interesting but educational as well. However, it can take some forethought on your end to make the magic happen so if you are not sure where to begin, I am here to help a mama out!

If you’re looking for fun gardening activities to do with your kids, then this blog post is just what you need. We will go through a list of fun things that you can do together in the garden: from planting veggies and flowers to doing art projects and taking pictures. It’s all here so check it out!

How Do You Make Gardening Fun For Kids?

The best way to keep gardening fun for kids is maintaining some variety in the activities you are doing, and ensuring your being flexible to accommodate your child’s curiosity through the process.

The more interactive a project looks like from start to finish, not only will it seem less daunting but also give them a great sense of accomplishment. They will learn how something works at each stage of the process along with being able to try new skills while outside playing too…

Patience Is Key…

Make sure you have patience when starting a gardening activity with your little ones! There will be mistakes, spills and the final product won’t look picture perfect. Remember it’s about the experience rather than the product. The more you manage your expectations, the easier it will be for your child to have fun.

–->Gentle Parenting has great tools for Managing Toddler Expectations!<–

Kids can get very impatient, so it’s important not to rush them in the process. If the child sees you all over the place they may feel like they can’t keep up. Instead of rushing your little one along, make sure that they are doing it at their own pace too!

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16 Ideas To Get You Started Having Fun With Your Kids In The Garden

Here are 16 ideas of activities you can enjoy with your children in the garden. Don’t try for perfection as you will get yourself overwhelemd. Instead start with one of these you think will be fun and figure it out together. Your kids need to see their parents problem solve, fail and get messy. You can do this!

Plant Some Flowers

Children can learn a lot about colors, shapes and how to take care of flowers. A fun thing you could do is choose two different types of flowers in the same color family (such as reds or pinks), plant them side by side to talk about them. You can also choose an area of the garden where you will plant flowers and decide together what will go there.

Make A Bird Feeder

Kids love fun little crafts and making a bird feeder is no exception. You can use old yogurt pots, plastic cups, or whatever else you have around the house that will hold food.

There are a few DIY kits you can buy kids from Amazon.com too!

Create A Mud Pie Garden

Kids love getting messy, so why not incorporate fun with mud! Creating mudpies is an activity that will teach kids to notice that there are different types of soil to garden with. You can teach children all the different variations of mud that you could possibly imagine. There’s “doughy,” “clumpish,” and even “gooey.”

Kidsgardening.org has a great resource for making mud pies with children.

Start A Herb Garden With Your Kids

Herbs are fun to grow and kids can learn a lot from growing their own. They can use them in cooking later on too, so it’s a fun little project you could do with your son or daughter.

Check out the above coloring book for kids. It is a compilation of herbs that you can color together while learning what they look like. This is a great thing to do before or after caring for your own herbs in the garden.

Take Care Of The Plants In Your Home By Watering Them, Trimming Their Leaves, And Cutting Back Their Stems 

This is a great way to teach them how to take care of plants in your home. Kids are often very curious about what happens behind the scenes, so they’ll love learning more here too!

What does it look like to care for a flower once the petals have dropped? How do you cut stems off of certain plants to encourage future growth? What is the optimal temperature for various plants to be in. This in many more are questions you can address while caring for your existing green friends.

Put Together A Terrarium For Fun Or As An Educational Project

Kids can learn a lot about plants and how they grow with terrariums. You could also put them together as an educational gift for grandparents. Just remember to choose smaller, easy-to-grow varieties of plants that don’t require too much sunlight or water either!

Below are a few cool terrarium kits for kids from Amazon!

Paint Rocks And Use Them To Decorate Your Garden

This fun activity will teach kids the importance of taking care of our garden and how we can use rocks to help make it pretty. The best part of painting rocks is that they have full control over what the rocks will look like and can take pride if adding a piece of their art to your garden.

Here are some tools for rock painting from Amazon

Make A Fairy Garden With Your Kids

Not only will this fun gardening project teach your kids about nature, but it’s also great at bringing out their imagination. Have fun decorating a fairy garden with flowers, stones and other fun items you can find at home.

Composting – This Is A Great Way To Recycle Food Scraps By Turning Them Into Nutrient-Rich Soil For Your Garden 

This fun activity will teach kids about the recycling process and how we can use our food scraps to help out our garden. They’ll love watching their compost pile grow and seeing all of the worms that come along with it!

Let Your Kids Pick Out Seeds At The Store To Plant In The Garden

This activity will teach kids about different kinds of plants while noticing where they all come from: seeds. You could have fun with it by comparing the seeds you choose to plant after your child chooses their own or encourage them to pick out ones that are similar in color, shape, or size.

Have Your Children Help You Plant Vegetables In The Ground For Fresh Produce All Year Round

Get your kids out in the garden and teach them about the that work goes into growing food. With this fun activity, you’ll be able to show them that it is not always easy for farmers–but there’s something rewarding about seeing fresh vegetables on their plate!

Add A Stepping Stones In The Backyard

This fun activity will teach your kids about landscape design and how we can add elements that are functional yet pretty to our yard. This is a real hand’s on project that they can be proud to be part of. You’ll be able to show them the importance of taking care of your garden while adding your touch to the space.

For additional Landscape and Hardscape Ideas you can also check out Sabba’s Landscaping, Lawn, Pavers, and Fencing.

Make An Insect House

Insect hotels are a great place to find some of your favorite insects. They provide food, shelter and warmth for all sorts of invertebrate friends that can’t always make it in cold weather like us humans – so we should take care not to disturb them!

Insects will often go back into these safe havens when they need protection against predators or just want an extra layer between themselves and whatever hazard may be out there at any given time (like rain).

You can make a DIY insect house or buy one yourself.

Create A Healing Garden

The healing garden is a common place for people to go in order to feel better. It’s actually been around since ancient times and can often be found at hospitals, hospices or any other healthcare facility imaginable- but nowadays many enjoy these spaces in their own back yard.

Common plants to grow in healing gardens are mint, lemon balm and lavender flowers which smell amazing without being overpowering as well. You can also add seasonal annuals, ornamental grasses and edibles.

Decorate Your Garden With Gnomes

Creating a fantasized world in your garden is what kids do best! Let their imagination flow while thinking up what Gnomes to buy or make. These little creates will give life to your outdoor space while making for a fun activity with your little ones.

Here is super cool DIY clay garden gnomes you can make at home with your kids.

Ideas To Keep Kids Motivated

You can start by taking a look at all the gardening tools you’ll need. It is fun to find child-size tools like spades, shovels, and rakes so they can help out too! 

Check out ROCA on Amazon for awesome gardening tools for kids

Be mindful of your child’s maturity level when deciding what to do with them. The above garden activities work great for all ages, but break down their specific roles based on their capabilities and attention span.

To create excitement and connection, have your kids draw pictures of what they want their gardens to look like when it’s finished – save these drawings as motivation throughout the process! This can be a beautiful way of sharing interests and goals.

You Don’t Have To Be An Expert To Start

Gardening with kids is a fantastic way for families to get outside and spend quality time together. It’s also an opportunity for parents to teach their kids about the natural world, which can lead them down healthier paths as adults!

Taking care of a garden regularly though can be time consuming and asking for help is not a sign of defeat. Whether you need landscaping in Monmouth County or Cook County, there are always affordable companies that can help you maintain your outdoor space when you can’t.

If you know someone else who wants to start gardening with their kids but doesn’t know where to start, send them this guide!

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