35 Helpful Tips on How to Garden with Kids!

Planting a garden with kids reaps benefits for the whole family. You spend quality time together while introducing your kids to a hobby that could last them a lifetime! Which is only one of the many reasons a kid’s garden is a great idea.

In Texas, it’s already time to start gardening. Head to your local gardening store and see what you find. Whatever is out is ready to plant! The end of January is perfect for planting blackberry bushes and fig trees.

Benefits Of A Kid’s Garden

When children garden they not only create a lifelong hobby, but it actually makes kid’s healthier. Not only are they outside getting fresh air and sun, which produces more vitamin D in our body than we get from our food, but having their hands in the dirt helps boost their immune system.

Plus, letting your child create a kid’s garden helps teach not only ownership, but responsibility as they have to help take care of it and make it beautiful.

Also, studies show that kids who garden make healthier eating habits and score better in science. Kids love watching new life spring from a seed, and, let’s face it, kids like getting muddy, too!

And I’m sure most of us can agree a children’s garden is a great idea to have many educational life science lessons.

What better way to teach your child to respect the natural world than these fun idea for their little garden plots!

So, break out the seeds, and gardening gloves, and spend some time together making a beautiful kid’s garden.

35 Tips On How To Make A Kid’s Garden

We love the sense of awe that gardening gives them. We hope that as you go through our list that you too will get excited to garden with kids!

Fun Kid’s Gardening Activities

1. How To Make A Compost Bin

Want to learn how to make a compost bin? This tutorial from Preparedness Mama, and teach your kids how to be responsible with their waste. A compost bin helps make healthy soil for your kid’s garden to thrive.

2. DIY Watering Can

You can recycle DIY watering cans with this brilliant idea from A Childhood List. I’ve actually done this idea before and it works great! Plus, you get to recycle and I love anything that let’s us reuse things.

3. Garden Craft Project

This painted wooden spoon craft is perfect for using as plant markers. Put them in your kid’s garden, your garden, or make them as a gift. This garden craft project is perfect! I love these. You can use these in a small space, big space, raised bed, indoor, or an outdoor space.

4. Rock Decorating Ideas

Y’all! These rock decorating ideas are precious! Kids will have fun dressing up their garden with these 10 Garden Decorating Ideas from Your House and Garden. What a cute way to allow kids to make their children’s garden just as unique as they are. This will make any outdoor seating area look that much prettier.

5. Edible Garden

Share garden fruit together ! We love the edible garden that At Home with Ali showcased. Flowers are pretty, and sometimes edible, but what better way to get your kid’s to eat healthy then letting them grow their own fruits and veggies.  With all the right plants, your yard will be a great place to go for snacks.

6. Moon Garden

Here are more great ideas: Create a moon garden. I had one of these as a kid, and it was awesome! It was something my brother and I looked forward to working on with our mom each summer! These DIY projects will make your flower beds look amazing.

Kid’s Garden Crafts

7. Crafty Critters Club

Let your kids join the craft critters club by making these super cute Crafty Garden Critters. They’re a fun surprise to find hidden within your child’s garden. You can hide them daily and let your kids have a great time trying to find them as they work in their botanical gardens. These are the best ways to make gardening with your children fun and feel less like hard work.

8. Plant Markers

Have fun creating gardening labels! Dilly-Dally Art‘s adorable labels are a fun way to organize your garden. Each recycled bug works as a plant marker so you never have to wonder what is what again! These are great for a small yard with whatever small garden ideas you come up with or even plant pots. Label all the different plants this growing season.

9. Upcycled Planters

Turn old bottles into new buddies with eHow‘s upcycled planter idea for a garden with kids. This is one of my favorite things. I love reusing things as I’ve said before, but I actually do this a lot. We only have so much garden space in the yard, so we often leave these on the patio and porch!

10. Sunflower House

Your kids are going to love this sunflower house from Lasso the Moon! Good thing sunflowers are so easy to grow. This is a precious way to create a kid’s garden that also works almost as a playhouse which also promotes outdoor play. Creating a green house is the first step to making bigger gardens. Give your new plants a home.

11. Flower Pot Cupcakes

After a long day of gardening you and your children deserve a sweet treat! Enjoy a post-gardening snack of flower pot cupcakes with this recipe from Anna of The Imagination Tree. I think this is one of the more fun ideas for mini flower pots.

12. Tin Planters

Don’t throw out those cans! Rather turn them into tin planters! Darice‘s adorable recycled tin cans make great gardening containers. I think these would be perfect if you wanted to create an inside kid’s garden on their window sill or something.

13.. Garden Ideas

I love these garden ideas! You can build a bean fort from Joyful Toddlers and it is so awesome! I love these gardening ideas that let kids get involved in a fun way. This is the best things ever. It is a simple idea and the ideal solution to get kids playing outside while giving your plants something to climb up.

14. Fun Ways To Grow Cress

Grow edible art and create an egg carton cress caterpillar, inspired by Science Sparks. I think this is super cute and a simple way to create a kid’s garden on their windowsill! These are not the most gorgeous containers, but they are super cute for smaller plants. This is a great thing to get kids into gardening.

Teaching Kids About Gardening 

15. Growing Peas

Looking for something simple and easy to grow? Try growing peas with these tips from Educators Spin on It! Plus, peas make such a delicious snack and their flowers are very pretty and smell great.

16. Starting Plants In Egg Cartons

Use egg cartons to create planters with this tutorial from Kitchen Counter Chronicles. Starting plants in egg cartons is a great way to get them to start growing so you can easily move them into your children’s garden later.

17. Egg Shells

Want to recycle those Easter Eggs? Use egg shells as a nutrient-rich seed starter. Great tips from Babylandia (be sure to translate the page). Quick tip, use the water you boiled your eggs in to water your other plants as it is also rich in vitamins and nutrients. Make sure it is fully cooled first before letting your child water the plants with it though.

18. Egg Shell Starters

Here’s another idea on starting seeds in eggshells (you wanted omelets anyway) from Gina Klirk of Is She Really. These egg shell starters are so great, especially if you eat a lot of boiled eggs or after Easter.

19. Kid’s Garden Table

Love this Kids garden table – give your children space to create and observe with At Home with Ali. I am loving this so much. This is their little space where they can take care of their plants.

20. Starting A Garden For Kids

Starting a garden for kids is a such a great idea. And you can use an Egg carton as DIY seed pods to start your plants. Kitchen Counter Chronicles‘ brilliant idea is the perfect size for a window sill!

21. Upside Down Tomato Planter

This is such a smart tip from The Secret Yumiverse! Hang tomato plants upside down to grow in a repurposed water bottle. This upside down tomato planter is really great for those with limited space and money, plus, I’m sure your kids will get a kick out of them and be more than excited to pick juicy tomatoes off their upside down plants.

22. How To Make An Origami Pot

Have a kid that likes origami? All you need is newspaper to make these biodegradable pots from Goosie Girl’s. You can learn how to make an origami pot with ease. This is such a great idea and works as an upcycled planter for your child’s garden.

23. Growing Tomatoes From Slices

This looks like so much fun! Learn how to grow tomatoes the easy way from Homestead Lifestyle. You’ll be growing tomatoes from slices and it makes it so much easier. Did you know you could also do this with blueberries and blackberries too? You can actually do this with a lot of plants.

Kid’s Garden Science Projects

24. Sponge Sprout House

Housing a Forest has a great idea to plant seeds in a sponge. It contains the sprouts, it’s soil/mess free, and it is able to be planted as a unit. Brilliant! This sponge sprout house is a great way to grow a small amount of plants.

25. Mason Jar Garden

Have limited space? Looking for a contained garden? Why don’t you make an herb garden inside mason jars? Check out Weeping Cherries’ tutorial. This mason jar garden is a cool project, because most kids don’t understand how terrariums work.

26. Soil Science

You need to know what kind of soil you have before you start planning your garden with kids. Check out this simple science experiment with soil from Left Brain Craft Brain. This soil science project will be a fun way to teach your child about PH balances and what you can do if you need more or less acidic soil.

27. Plant Science Experiments

Experiment with sunlight and watch the plants follow the sun as you rotate them with this fun idea from Mama Smiles. These plant science experiments is not only fun, but teaches your child which plants need more sun and what they do to get sun.

28. Citrus Rinds

My Romana Apartment uses grapefruit peels as plant containers for another great eco-friendly gardening pod to start your plants, using citrus rinds. Using biodegradable starters are not only good for the waste, but also makes the soil and your plants healthier. What better way to get an environmental education than with firsthand experience.

29. Grass Seed Heads

This grass head kids craft from Red Ted Art is such a fun idea! It combines art and science into one. You could even use wheat grass for the hair, to make it edible! These grass seed heads are so cute, and what’s cooler, when their grass hair gets too long, your child can always give it a trim!

30. Garden Journal Printable

Science is all about observing–print this Garden Journal from Happy Mothering, and help kids record everything they learn from their plants. This garden journal printable is a great way to teach your child the scientific method.

31. Best Vegetables To Grow Indoors

We are looking forward to starting our spring garden! TipNut has a great list of the best vegetables to grow indoors to give your garden a head start. It’s also a perfect tutorial for anyone who prefers having a smaller garden indoors.

32. Grass Heads In Socks

The kids will love to watch their plants grow in sock heads with this adorable craft from Homemade Gifts Made Easy. In this craft they used nylon socks which are fairly thin.

33. Kids Gardening

Check out these 10 Ways Preschoolers Learn in the Garden. It’s perfect for home or the classroom! It’s a great way to get kids gardening and caring for plants.

34. DIY Tabletop Greenhouse

Create a mini-greenhouse out of a CD case with this awesome upcycled craft from Curbly. This DIY tabletop greenhouse is perfect for outside or indoors and is a fun way to not only recycle and build something, but a great way to teach your child how greenhouses work.

35. Worm Farm For Kids

A good garden has lots of worms! Run Wild My Child shares how she created a wormery with her daughter. This worm farm for kids is messy and fun, and helps with compost and the soil for your child’s garden.

Some Of Our Favorite Gardening Tools

The best thing about gardening is that it’s a hobby that not only teaches important life skills, but can be tailored to any budget!

You can make do with what you have and be thrifty and creative. I have also scored really good deals on gardening tools and items at garage sales, the dollar store, and the Target dollar spot (especially when they roll out all of the spring stuff). 

Need some help finding things to create an awesome children’s garden? No problem, throughout the post you will find helpful links to help make gardening a little easier. This post contains affiliate links.

• Sunhat  
• Gardening gloves
• Gardening tool set for kids
• Watering can
• Knee pads
• The Bug Bite Thing

More Gardening Ideas & Activities

Want more gardening ideas? We have plenty! Garden as a family or learn some awesome tips and tricks to make your garden better.

• Gardening projects
• Herb garden ideas 
• Gardening tips!
• Air plant fun 

Looking for more outdoors activities? We have over 250+ to choose from!

Have you started your kid’s garden yet? Have any cool tips or ideas?  Comment below!