Grow a Love of Nature with Gardening Activities For Toddlers

Gardening activities for toddlers are a great way to get outside and bond with your child as the weather gets warmer.  Toddlers are at a good age to want to help you in anything you do. Take the opportunity to teach them how to grow things!  There are some gardening activities for toddlers you can do inside as well to prepare for going outside and getting dirty. The following is a list to get you started on gardening with your toddler!

• Fun Activities with Kids in the Garden
• Every Day Earth Day Activity for Kids: Tips for Starting a Garden

 Gardening Activities For Toddlers

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Grow A Runner Bean:  This is fun because they can see through the jar what is happening!  All you need is paper towels, a pickle jar or mason jar and a runner bean.  Put the paper in the jar, and place the bean in between the jar and paper towels.  Add an inch of water to the jar.  This will keep the bean watered.  You do have to keep the water level the same so the bean can germinate.  Toddlers will love this because the entire root system grows at a fast rate!

Grow Carrot Tops:  There are 2 ways to do this.  The first way will require a clean soda bottle, soil and about an inch of carrot top.  Cut the bottle in half, and using the top, cut a few slices on the sides going up and down, so you can fit it back into the bottom half.  Fill the bottom part with soil about ¾ of the way full and place your carrot tops in it with water.  Place the top on and watch them grow!  The second way to do this is with a shallow dish filled with water, and the same size carrot tops.  You must keep water in the dish or this won’t work.  In both scenarios, remove the foliage from the tops.  This is what will sprout!  They will be so tickled that they were able to grow something!

Label The Plant: This is a table activity and works on learning words and matching them with parts of the plant.  Make a flower, grass and sun using different colored construction paper.  Using white paper, you can either type or write out the words such as ‘sun’, ‘air’, ‘leaves’, ‘water’ and so on.  Sit with your tot and talk about the flower, what makes it grow, and the different parts!  Do this just before or after you have them help you plant and water some flowers.  They will love learning new things with you.

Practice Planting: Before you have them helping your outside, practice planting inside!  Using a plastic bin (size is your choice) fill it with dirt and plastic flowers.  You can get creative and use small balls to act as bulbs.  They will love helping you dig holes to put the bulbs and flowers into!  Great for a rainy day!

 Spring is time for planting and getting outside after a long winter.  Teaching your toddler how things grow is a wonderful skill to learn and one they can keep working on over the years.  Who knows, you may have just created a new tradition!

Have you ever planted things with your toddler?  Let us know in the comments section what fun ideas for gardening activities for toddlers you have!