Most toddlers don’t need much encouragement to get out into the garden! As well as being a fun place to play, the garden is a rich source of learning. Check out these fun gardening activities for toddlers, which will help children to get closer to nature and discover more about the world around them.
Benefits of gardening activities for toddlers
If you’ve ever felt better just being amid the green of a park or garden, you’ll know that gardening is a really positive activity for all ages. In addition, garden activities have a huge range of benefits for toddlers and young children in particular.
- Numeracy skills. If your child is just learning to count, they can practise by noticing how many flowers there are in your garden, or how many seeds they can fit into a seed tray.
- Descriptive language and colours. Look at the red rose! What colour is that leaf? Being in the garden is a great environment to practise talking about shapes and colours.
- Physical and motor control skills. The fine motor control that’s used to pick up a seed between the thumb and forefinger is something that toddlers need practice to perfect.
- Social and emotional skills. Gardening is a lovely group activity for toddlers, who can all plant their own seeds and watch them grow. Whose sunflower is the tallest? The activity is a great way to work together and think about others. Being close to nature is also great for everyone’s mental health; gardening is a mindful activity that can help toddlers to feel calm and regulate their emotions.
Gardening activity ideas
Garden activities aren’t limited to planting seeds and watching them grow. There are lots of garden activity ideas that will allow your toddler to get outdoors, get creative and engage with nature.
- Make a bug hotel. Toddlers are fascinated by creepy crawlies, so what could be better than making them a place to live? Gather together natural materials like sticks, bark and bamboo, and assemble them in a bottle or old coffee can. Put it in a dry place in the garden and wait for the bugs to move in!
- Stone painting. Finding a lovely smooth pebble can be like discovering treasure to a toddler. Painting the pebbles is a great way to create a natural keepsake.
- Make bird feeders. Birds love to visit the garden, and you can encourage them by putting out food in a homemade bird feeder. You can make one for free using a plastic bottle or other recycled items.
- Cress heads. Plant cress seeds on a moistened cotton wool ball inside a yoghurt pot or eggshell that you have decorated with a face. When the cress grows, it will make edible ‘hair’ for your cress head.
How are gardening activities used in a learning environment?
Here at All About Children, we’re always encouraging our toddlers to interact and experiment with nature. In addition to free play in the nursery garden, we often plan gardening activities for toddlers to help them learn.
- Tree bark rubbings. This helps children to explore texture in a creative way. Using wax crayons and an ordinary sheet of paper, the children take rubbings from tree bark. The pictures they create are full of interesting patterns.
- Pond dipping. There’s a whole new world to discover under the surface of a pond! Children explore pond water in a tray, to find out what interesting creatures are living there.
What can you do as a parent during the holidays?
There’s loads that you can do with your toddler in the garden while they’re home from nursery. Here are some gardening activities for toddlers at home:
- Compost heap. The process of making compost is fascinating to a toddler. Start your own compost heap using fruit and vegetable scraps – you’ll cut down on your food waste, and the compost you create will act as a haven for worms and other bugs.
- Grow your own vegetables. It’s not as daunting as you might think! Plants like salad leaves and courgettes are easy to grow, and your toddler will get the chance to taste the results! Berries like strawberries and raspberries are always a popular choice for toddlers.
And if you don’t have a garden at home, don’t worry. There are so many things you can grow on a windowsill or window box, there’s still plenty of fun to be had with gardening activities on a smaller scale. Your local park is also a great place to go and enjoy nature – smell the flowers, spot the bees and butterflies, and gather natural materials like sticks and pine cones.
Get in touch
Here at All About Children, we encourage garden activities and outdoor play in all our nurseries. For more information, contact us.