5 Ways to Explore the Garden with Your Preschooler
1. Sensory Exploration
Gardens are full of things to excite your child’s five senses:
- Observe and touch the different textures of plants.
- Put your hands in the dirt together and talk about how it feels. Pour water and see how the feels differently.
- If you have herbs in your garden, you can have them smell each herb and talk about how its used for cooking.
- Taste safe plants and vegetables, discussing how important it is to eat healthy.
- Sit quietly and listen to the sounds such as birds chirping, the wind rustling leaves, and insects buzzing.
- Point out the different shapes, colors, and textures of each flower.
2. Bug Hunt
Gardens are alive and provide a fun way to learn about bugs of all kinds:
- Look for insects like butterflies, ladybugs, or ants. Teach them about the role of insects in the garden ecosystem.
- Encourage their observation skills and pair it with imaginative play by encouraging them to imitate the bugs.
- Plant flowers that attract butterflies and watch as they visit the garden. Discuss the life cycle of butterflies and their role in pollination.
3. Nature Art
Children often process information about the world through artwork. Combining arts and crafts with the garden can lead to hours of entertainment:
- Use natural materials like leaves and flowers to create leaf rubbings or collages.
- Create a simple nature journal, where they can draw the plants, animals, and insects they see.
- Paint flower pots or stepping stones together to brighten up the garden.
4. Little Gardener
Children love to help and there are so many ways they can in the garden:
- Give them their own plot in the garden. They will love spending time cultivating their very own garden.
- Let them handle child-sized and child-safe tools like shovels, rakes, and watering cans. Teach them how to use the tools to help the garden grow.
- Let them plant seeds in pots or the garden bed. Teach them about what seeds need to grow (soil, water, sunlight, and time) and get them excited to watch their first sprouts pop up.
- Show them simple diagrams that explain the life cycle of plants in terms they can understand like seed, sprout, seedling, plant, flower, fruit, and seed again.
5. Nighttime Exploration
There is something about getting to stay up a little past your bedtime that brings so much joy for small children. Taking a nighttime tour of the garden can make it feel extra special:
- On a warm evening, explore the garden after dark with a flashlight.
- Talk about nocturnal animals and observe any nighttime blooms like moonflowers.
- Share ideas about what is different and the same at night compared to the daytime.
BONUS:
Complete a Garden Scavenger Hunt
Look high and low for all the big and small parts of a garden with our Garden Quest.
