Planting Seeds with Toddlers

The Spring is almost here and you may have started thinking about your outdoor area and fun for kids outdoors. I don't know about you, but I really do miss having the garden as a daily play space! Gardening ideas for children may also be on your agenda. Today we are sharing with you a seed planting activity we recently did with Little N who is currently 2 years 4 months old.

Little N enjoyed the visit to the garden centre where we purchased some seeds. We really enjoy gardening, its passed down through the generations and there is nothing more rewarding than looking out to a beautiful, colourful garden knowing you have grow some of the plants from seed.

We had several packets of seeds that needed to be started now so we snapped up the opportunity on a cool but sunny day to get out in the garden and get them planted up!
























Little N started off by scooping out the soil from the bag. She began by using a scooper but it wasn't long before she started reaching into the bag with her hands and filling the tray with her hands. It was great to see her so keen to get stuck in. She kept looking at her hands covered in dirt and saying "Errrrrrrr, look at my hands, they are all dirty now" before laughing away to herself.

Once the tray had enough soil it was then time to scatter the seeds.....



She sprinkled them onto the soil.
She then carefully used her fingertips to pick up the seeds and space them around in the gaps.

She was pretty engrossed in doing this and stood doing it for several minutes.

"All done now" she said.

Once all of the seeds were in place it was then time to start covering them over again with the soil.


This time she didn't want to use the scooper at all and very careful sprinkled soil over the seeds.

I explained to her that this was like putting the seeds in bed so they could have a nice sleep and be kept nice and warm, before they started to grow big and tall.

"Goodnight seeds" she said as they began disappearing underneath the fluffy soil.


She then worked at patting the soil down flat.....

Once this was done she worked on doing another 4 trays!

She really did enjoy it and wanted to do even more once they were all finished.

Today we planted:

- Marigolds (we used the seeds from last years plants that we had picked and saved)

- Sweet Peas

- Hollyhocks

- Delphiniums

- Rudabekas

- Begonias




We then brought the seeds indoors to keep them nice and warm!

Little N loves taking care of them and watering them using the 'squibber'. All of the seeds have successfully germinated now.

In a couple of weeks we will look at potting them on together to stop the plants getting spindly.

So there we have it a fun outdoor activity to try with your Toddler.

There is so much fun to be had outside with your little ones. If you would like to check out some more ideas head on over to Building Blocks and Acorns - they are hosting a whole month of fun outdoor challenges!

You may also like: