Useful Tips on How to Teach Toddlers About Gardening

My son is a huge nature kid. Even when he was an infant, if he was screaming and couldn’t be consoled, I would take him outside for a minute and instantly he’d be calmer. Since we’re in the spring now, we’ve been building our homestead which including a large plot for a garden. We’ve built it, finally, after a few months, and we’re at the point now of sprouting and sowing. Naturally, our three year old wants to help. So this months ‘nature schooling’ is a lot about the spring season, gardening, and how important it is to grow your own food when you can. Teaching toddlers about gardening isn’t easy…I tell you what! The sowing goes slower, soil spills, all pants are dirty, leaves get ripped off due to excitement. 

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How to start teaching toddlers about gardening 

PATIENCE. A lot of patience… and extra seeds planted to account for those that don’t make it into the ground because he just loves the baby plant so much and hugs it a little too hard. 

Explaining it in very, very simple terms is what we do. For example…

“The roots need the soil to hold on to, and they are what helps the plant drink up the water. The water helps the plants grow big and tall and gives us the vegetables to eat. They need a lot of sunshine and love to get big and strong too.” 

Getting toddlers involved in the garden

• Letting them fill the pots with soil, if you’re starting indoors. 
• Having them dig holes and place the seeds in. 
• Showing them how to cover the seeds and gently pat the soil down

Keep in mind, I’m writing this in spring as we learn how to garden with our son, so there will be plenty more gardening posts about harvesting and storing foods with kids! 

My son LOVES to pull weeds out of the ground. He may not get all the roots but man he is helpful when the weeds come up.

**An easy tip is to give them a kitchen spoon to use for getting up the weeds at the roots! **

We got him these recycled plastic toys from Green Toys that are made in USA and he LOVES having his very own tools to help water and plant.

Character building in toddlers with gardening 

I always find ways to incorporate character building when doing simple tasks and chores around our home. Gardening is an EXCELLENT way to encourage patience and delayed gratification. As well as long term goals and future mindfulness. Since we usually start from seeds, showing him how we wait for the sprouts to pop up before repotting or transplanting is a great way for him to see us being patient firsthand. Same with watering when they’re dry and harvesting when they’re ready. They help him to understand that we can’t do everything immediately. We have to wait for time to pass and things to grow. 

He so enjoys watching the vegetables growing bigger and bigger. Plus finding all the fun bugs like caterpillars or praying mantis is always a fun nature experience! 

…. 

This is a huge project for us. We’ve never gardened on this scale, or in this area of the country. The soil’s different, the altitude is higher, the climate’s unfamiliar; there’s a big learning curve with this first year in our first home. 

Our son loves to learn anything and everything so being able to build this homestead with him and his baby brother is just such a blessing. 

What spring projects have you been working on?