Gardening with toddlers is a wonderful opportunity to teach them about the world around them, growing plants, and more. While this can be both fun and educational, keep in mind that this is best optimized when tailored to your child and their age. Here are some tips for making the most of your gardening experience.

Child with a watering can in a garden

Start Small

Choose smaller projects for toddlers to begin with, such as starting seeds, planting in a pot, or in a small section of a garden. Plan your gardening so that toddlers can enjoy seeing results of their work, such as fast-growing seedlings or plants that flower. You may even want to start with something like a fairy garden in a dish so that they can have their own container sized garden.

Choose Toddler-Friendly Plants

Pick plants that are safe, hardy, and are visually appealing. Some good options include sunflowers, cherry tomatoes, peas, strawberries, basil, and mint are great options.

Stay away from plants that have thorns, unpleasant smells, or other qualities that make it undesirable to handle.

Give Them Their Own Gardening Tools

Toddlers can enjoy having their own gardening tools to use, which empowers them in completing their projects. These can make for wonderful Easter basket gifts as spring weather arrives. There are many options, such as gloves, hats, small trowels, and other tools. There are also many gardening kits that can come in handy, such as seed starting kits, which contain all the necessary supplies for starting plants.

Two young girls tending to garden plants and picking cherry tomatoes

Let Messes Happen

Gardening can be messy – especially with toddlers! Let them have a truly immersive experience and allow them to get their hands dirty – literally! Younger children often enjoy a more tactile or sensory experience, and this can make it more engaging.

Make Gardening Fun

Make your gardening an experience, such as reading a book about gardening beforehand and implementing an element of play into your planting.

Keep It Short

Younger children have a shorter attention span, so keep gardening activities on the shorter side, especially if you are doing something out in the heat or cooler temperatures. You want kids to have a positive takeaway from their experience, and not something that feels like a chore.

Make it an Educational Experience

Add in any educational components you can think of. For example, start with bedtime stories about spring, plants, and gardening. These can help kids to become more excited and enthusiastic about what is to come.

Keep Safety in Mind

Make sure that you do your research about plants and gardening safety. Kids should always wash their hands when they are done, but be aware of things like toxic plants, safety with using fertilizers, and so on.