Gardening is a great activity for kids, and a good way to keep little ones busy during the school holidays and playing outside in the fresh air. Here are a few garden ideas for kids to turn your little ones into gardening enthusiasts:

DIY kids’ garden

• Start by sourcing some interesting containers. You can use old buckets, bowls, tins and jugs to plant in. Or go shopping for cheap and colourful plastic containers. Make drainage holes in the bottom of all the containers and fill them with potting soil.
• Next, stock up on kiddie-sized gardening tools. Stodels stocks a wide range of small, colourful gardening tools, ideal for kids. Alternatively, use old kitchen forks and spoons.
• Now it’s time to plant. Group all the containers on an outside patio and carefully sow your seeds and plant your seedlings before watering well. 
• Place a stake in each container and label it with the name of the plant, or your child’s name, so they can track the progress of their plants.

Child-friendly flowers

• Sunflowers are another good option for children – they can grow up to 2m tall, and their seeds are edible too. They attract wildlife and insects – perfect for little animal lovers! Help little ones with a love for insects and biology build their own bug box to track the lifecycle of creepy crawlies. 
• For colourful, easy-to-grow and very low-maintenance flowers, try sowing petunia, nasturtium or marigold seedlings.

Kids’ vegetable garden 

• Many vegetables are quick and easy for children to grow. Radishes grow very quickly, and will be ready to eat just three weeks after sowing. 
• Cherry tomatoes are also a good option – children love their bright colours (which range from yellow to bright red) and sweet flavour.
• Appeal to your child’s sense of smell by adding herbs like mint and dill to their veggie garden.

Kids’ gardening set

This Christmas, gift your little gardeners with a kit of all the essentials. Include a pair of gumboots, kid gardening gloves, a trowel, seed trays and fast-growing seeds and watch their love of gardening grow!

For more gifts ideas and tips on keeping the kids busy, read these blogs: 

• 10 Gardening Gift Ideas for the Festive Season
• Kids’ DIY Gumboot Garden