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Gardening Activities for Toddlers

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.   

collecting vegetables from nursery garden

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.

What Our Parents Say

Very talented and caring staff. My son really loved this nursery. He learnt a lot in all aspects from communication, relationship building, being independent, to learning maths, shapes, letters, word, sentences etc. Really pleased with the development. Thanks to all the lovely staff, you are all the best.

Vaibhav H (Father of Child)

My daughter has been in the nursery since the Baby Room. It has been an incredible journey. Now she is in the pre-school and every day she is excited to go to the nursery. She loves the staff, her key worker, the other kids, the setting (especially the garden). She really enjoys all the activities organised through the week/day. She enjoys and has fun while learning. The staff encourage and support multilingual families making the kids feel proud they can speak more than one language. Now the staff are also getting her ready to go to school this September. The staff have always been amazing, very approachable, flexible and caring.

B C (Father of Child)

The staff are so kind and caring, they all know my daughter even those in different rooms. She skips in to see them every day and they are as excited as me when she does new things. It's a home away from home.

H G (Mother of Child)

I can't thank the staff enough for giving me peace of mind when my child is with them. The number and variety of activities each day is amazing and the fact they manage to get in the garden or go on trips - even in winter is fantastic. My child's development is streets ahead of his peers who don't attend nursery.

S H (Mother of Child)

The nursery has a lovely nurturing and vibrant atmosphere which my son loves. There is plenty of space for him to explore and learn via the vast range of toys and equipment they have. I know he is well cared for. I am always well informed and I work together with the nursery staff to give my son the best possible experience.

Claire F (Mother of Child) 

The care, consideration and attention my son receives is exemplary. Staff pay attention to his strengths and weaknesses and verbalise them to us and ideas for developing them are implemented. All staff demonstrate an excellent attitude and have excellent relationships with their designated children.

A D (Father of Child)

The staff were warm, caring and professional and the facilities are great. We felt like our daughter was part of a big family. We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to all working there.

E S (Mother of Child)

I have been impressed by the level of care given to my son since he started. The daily warm welcome of the staff makes both children and parents alike feel at ease. Seeing the smile on my boy's face as we drive into the car park is proof enough for me that the team are doing something right.

Alexander M (Father of Child)

My little girl has recently started and is absolutely loving her time at nursery. The settling in sessions were brilliant and really helped put my mind at ease, especially with me starting back at work. The ladies in the Baby Room are super friendly and enthusiastic and I can't thank them enough for their support in what could have been quite an emotional rollercoaster.

G W (Mother of Child)

Once I drop my son off into the Baby Room, I feel he's as safe and as well looked after as I do at home.

Laura R (Mother of Child)