50 Gardening Activities with Children

Just in time for August, when you’re looking for fresh activities,  I am sharing my 50 gardening activities with children. My kids are grown and almost ready to leave for college but they can attest to how wonderful these actives areas we spent many a summer day in the garden and the woods.  From our family to yours, we hope you enjoy these summer garden activities!

1  Give the child a paper plate on a stick and have them glue on ‘their face’ using scavenger items from the garden.

2  Make a birdhouse or a bird feeder (also consider butterflies, ladybugs, and bats).

3  Build a treehouse or a tepee, spending a meal or the night outside.

4  Make a collage of flowers, birdseed, eggshells, leaves, & dirt.

5  Show how to whistle with acorn & reed whistles.

6  Catch fireflies and make a lantern with a jar and some screening. Remember to release them before bed!

7  Make a dandelion wish.

8  Have a contest, who can dig up and count the most worms.

9  During a rainfall jump in puddles with an elephant ear umbrella.

10  Etch a pumpkin or gourd with a child’s name or design and watch it morph as the gourd grows.

11  Make a feather painting by painting with the feather, grass, leaves, or twigs.

12  Feed a Venus Fly Trap Plant.

13  Braid flower chains & bracelets by braiding stems together.

14  Force branches like Pussy Willows and pets them.

15  Make a garden Scrap Book with seed packets, drawings, and collectible items from the yard.

16  Using crayons and paper make rubbings of bark, flowers & leaves.

17  ‘He loves me he loves me not’… remove petals from flowers using the nursery rhyme.

18  Make a Holly Hock doll by removing the stems, turn them upside down and add twigs for arms.

19  Build an insect cage, terrariums, or an ant hotel.

20  Look for & document birds, spiders, bees, and butterflies.

21  Look for 4-leaf clovers (yes, they are really out there).

22  Look for Fairies (early in the morning) and trolls (under mushrooms).

23  Make a child’s rock garden allowing for constant rearranging.

24  Make birdseed pinecones with peanut butter and seed.

25  Allot one specific flowerpot, whiskey barrel, or window box for the child to take care of.

26  Use foxtail grass to make tickling sticks or crawling caterpillars by removing stems.

27  Design a nature bracelet- using tape, stick items from nature to the sticky side, and seal.

28  Paint your fingernails by plucking flower petals, licking them & sticking them on fingertips

29  Hang a Pin Wheels, Wind Socks, Wind Chimes, and notice the wind and their noise.

30  Place a buttercup under your chin and look for a reflection.

31  Make music from poppy seed pods maracas.

32  Press flowers and leaves for pictures and gift cards.

33  Dress up a scarecrow.

34  Find and collect bird nests and eggshells.  You can shellac them for durability.

35  Have a snapdragon puppet theater by pinching them on the two sides and the flower will ‘talk’.

36  Stand patiently near a vine with your finger extended and watch the vine send a tendril out to your finger & wrap your finger.

37  Stroke a bumblebee that is lethargic after spending a cold night outside.

38  Stroke a mimosa tree branch & watch the leaves move.

39  Take an empty egg carton or bucket sending the child on a treasure hunt.

40  Taste your dirt, farmers would taste dirt: sweet means a good harvest & sour means a poor harvest.

41  Collect and paint garden rocks with flowers, bugs, or plant names to decorate your garden.

42  Go on a moonwalk.  Note night flowers, noises, fireflies, constellations, etc.

43  Make a photo safari.  Give each child a camera & a list of things he might see: flowers, trees, bugs, leaves.

44  Stick weaving.  Find a V-shaped stick & wind yarn making a loom. Collect nature items to decorate.

45  Design a nature print by placing flowers & leaves on paper or fabric, flip the paper upside down and smooch it with a rock or hammer leaving the imprints.

46  Plant and eat edible flowers in your salad.

47  Have a bean pole race.

48  Recycle tin cans with paint, hammer 2 holes at the top for ribbon, make a May basket for flowers.

49  See who can make the largest and prettiest mud pie.

50  Don’t’ forget to sit back, drink lemonade, and admire the harvest whether it be an unripe tomato picked early to a handful of marigold petals.