Gardening with Your Toddler

 Do you want your little one to connect with the earth? Want them to know where their food comes from? Enjoy nature in a different way? 

If yours is anything like my little guy, mud and dirt are the cat's pajamas. Gardening with you is a great way to get out this urge. Teach them about plants, wildlife, cause and effect. It can even develop their motor skills! Whether this is a veggie, herb, or flower garden, the lessons and the fun all still stand!

Gardening can be as simple as planting a few flower bulbs, or watering plants. Or, going full out by starting  your vegetables from seed. 

My son enjoying watering some thirsty big box store herbs.

This page contains affiliate and non affiliate links for your convenience. Please read my full disclosure here. All thoughts and opinions are my own and do not take them as any sort of medical or legal advice.

Planting Flower Bulbs

One of the first gardening projects I did with my son, when he was about 20 months old ,was planting gladiolus bulbs. He had an absolute blast! 

He helped me clear the bed of  weeds and leaf litter. I let him choose where to plant the bulbs, had him help me spin the bulb planter tool. He plopped in the bulbs, cover with dirt, rinse and repeat.  He had to make sure he was only grabbing one bulb at a time, when planting. This was an excellent little fine motor skill task for a child of his age. 

We talked about butterflies and moths that overwintered in the leaves . He helped me put those leaves into our compost bin. We discussed how everything breaks down to make nutritious soil for our garden. If your lucky you might see a few worms as you mix it all up. Toddlers love the creepy crawlers, and worms love a healthy compost pile.

Are my glads perfectly spaced? Nope! But the joy on that kid’s face superseded my desire for perfect spacing. He was able to watch the blubs grow up into beautiful plants. He got to check out the bugs, dig in the dirt for some natural sensory fun, tune in those fine motor skills, and be a helper! 

It was so fun as he was super excited to make the decisions. He loved to see the results of his work down the line when the plants started to emerge in the soil.

One of our gladiolus flowers that came up from the bulbs I planted with my son.

Watering Plants

Another way my little guy loves to help in the garden is by watering. He adores getting out his watering can and going to town. He may like to overwater as he begs "more water mommy!"  grabbing the hose from me after each refill, and dump on to the thirsty little plants. I have found the best time to let him loose with a watering can is a overcast day. After you buy those neglected, dry, starter plants from a big box store garden center. (Which will remain nameless.) 

Not leaving your plants in direct sunlight is important here. Lets face it two year old children aren't know to have the best aim. Water sitting on the leaves of plants can lead to sun scorch. Most plants prefer to be bottom watered. This prevents some diseases, and allows for more robust root development. 

Pouring into a tray or saucer under a pot or tray of seedlings is a good way to let little ones take part. Reducing the of risk of plant damage. After your child has had their fun pouring into the tray, wait about 15 minutes. Waiting allows the soil absorb water, then pour away the excess. No one wants waterlogged plants. 

This simple activity offers sensory enrichment, due to being wet and messy. It also builds practical skills in filling and pouring. 

Some of our seedlings hardening off that my son helped to water from the bottom trays.

Starting Seeds

An activity that is on the horizon for us is to get him involved in planting my seedlings for our vegetable garden. This year, he wasn't quite two. I did show him the seedlings as they grew from what he saw as bare dirt. I felt the actual planting of the tiny seeds to be a little outside his wheelhouse at that age. 

This coming winter/early spring I will do this task with my son. I will have him select which seed packet we're planting from. A way to keep the chaos to a minimum is to have a limited number of options. I’ll have him help me fill the  dome trays with seed starting mix. He will poke in the holes with a hand dibber (a fingertip works too if you aren’t opposed to dirty fingernails). Then he can drop in the seeds, and cover them back up. 

The seed packets will tell you how many weeks before your frost date you should start your seeds. This is going to vary, depending upon the hardiness zone you live. Michigan being the large state that it is, falls into a few zones on the map. 

Where I live is Zone 6a, but parts of the western Upper Peninsula are Zone 4a. My point being, make sure you know where you fall on this map to find your best success in starting seeds indoors. As we know Michigan can have some unpredictable late frosts. So, I’d advise  you pay attention to the weather, before taking any frost intolerant plants outside.

At my son’s age starting seeds will work best with larger seeds like melons, or beans. Something that is going to be easier to pinch for tiny not so nimble fingers. I can assure you this task will be much more difficult to manage with tiny seeds like herbs or lettuces. Those bad boys are hard to pick up as an adult! Thus it would be a very frustrating endeavor for your toddler. Tomato and pepper will seeds are more of a middle ground. However, this could still be challenge for a kiddo who's fine motor skills aren't advanced. 

It is important to note, that some veggies do better when sown direct into the soil. Corn, cucumbers, and squash are a few that fall into this category. Again this information will be on the individual seed packets. So your little one could help in direct sowing too! 

Labeling what you're planting is helpful at this beginning  phase. You can use simple popsicle sticks like I did. But, know they will breakdown and may become illegible without replacement. The other day, my husband picked some peppers. I couldn’t tell him what they were because my makeshift labels were long gone. I also, planted far to many varieties of peppers and tomatoes to keep everyone straight. That didn't help us either. Plastic seed labels make a better option as you move your plants on to bigger pots. They will keep you from being as chaotic of a gardener as I am.

For lucky gardeners, a sunny windowsill will be enough to sprout seeds. Sadly, in our house we only have East and West facing windows making grow lights a must. I like the ones that clip on and are adjustable so the light can be a few inches above the plants for optimal growth. Another gadget that may get your seeds sprouting faster are heat mats. Be sure to not leave them on long after sprouting because it may lead to weaker seedlings in the long haul. 

 However seed starting works for you, your toddler is going to love taking a peek each day. They'll be excited see if there’s any green poking out of the soil. When the sprouts finally start to emerge their excitement may lead to some grabbing. You may want to look from a distance if your child is as lightning fast as mine.

Your kiddo can help with watering the seedlings too. Remember that bottom watering is best, that is especially true for delicate seedlings. Soak the way I laid out earlier.

Kids can also help you pot on seedlings as they outgrow the starting tray. That need varies a bit from plant to plant. Typically, once true leaves develop, it’s time to move them on up to give those little roots lots of room to grow. Your toddler can also help you plant them in their final destination, be it a garden bed or a large pot! 

Be sure to harden off the seedlings if you do start them indoors. what I mean by hardening off here is letting your seedlings spend time outdoors. Do this little by little, to avoid transplant shock. You definitely don't want all that hard work to have your plant wither and die upon planting outside. 

Approach gardening together with the mindset that none of this is going to be perfect, bracing for a bit of a mess. Your kiddo will have a blast!

Some of our seedlings from this past year growing under grow lights.

Make it Your Own

Start off small and within your comfort zone for messes. Only you know your child’s abilities with a activity of this nature. The sanity of the parent matters here too, so don’t take on anything that is going to cause you undo stress. Take what you need from this post and leave what doesn't serve you and your family.

Maybe, that looks like letting your little one out and stack empty nursery pots. This is a great way to introduce your toddler to gardening and work on stacking skills. It can also help with counting, colors, and even letter recognition. Depending on what the nursery pots you have on hand have on them.  

Possibly, for your family, its jumping right in to the garden. By getting a little muddy and digging holes for the plants. Grabbing some toddler gardening tools is great for this. The hand tools for kids are a bit easier to fit in little hands than adult tools. Kids will need guidance on where to dig, how deep to dig, etc. Let them help you loosen the roots and put the plant in the soil. Your child can help you add soil amendments, like compost, and then cover it back up with soil and water in the plant. (again avoid the leaves getting wet the best you can here!)  

We have also found that reading books on the subjects around gardening to be wonderful. Reading about the garden has helped his language acquisition. It also builds connection of the broader concepts at play. Some of our favorites about growing food are My First Book of Growing Food and Garden Time. An excellent book on changing seasons is The Very Hungry Caterpillar’s first Spring. My personal favorite in this realm is Compost Stew it’s an adorable ABCs book about composting. We own all these books and read them regularly, my son loves them.  

 But, honestly, me being brave and allowing him to have a bit of a challenge in a task has always paid off for my son. I can admit there have been times I was convinced a task is too advanced and he eagerly dives right in, and rocks it! Let your kiddo get a little dirty, its great for them to connect with the natural world in a hands on way. 

My son playing with some garden center pots I save to plant up our seedlings we start at home.

Enjoy spending some special time outside with your little one!