How to Plant Seeds for an Easy Kids Gardening Activity

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Inside: Planting seeds is our favorite kids gardening activity. After planting the seeds, children learn the importance of taking care of them while observing their growth. A highlight during the spring gardening theme!

Planting seeds with kids is one of my favorite nature activities.

Preschoolers love to be part of the process, such as when we made our terrariums awhile back.

They are fascinated how the seeds are tucked into the soil and they take great care by watering them daily, waiting for them to grow.

When the first sign of green pops through the soil, the biggest smiles erupt from their faces. Once they take their plants home, parents say the preschoolers continue to nurture them, making sure they get plenty of water and light. What a valuable life lesson!

I thought I’d share today how to plant seeds with kids – the easy way!

How to Plant Seeds for an Easy Kids Gardening Activity

What you will need:

If you are in a classroom, label each plant pot with the children’s names with a permanent marker.

Open the seed packets. If you have different seeds, have the children compare them. My preschoolers were fascinated at the difference in size and appearance of each seed.

Place the soil in some sort of bin. Have the children scoop the soil into their peat pot until it’s almost to the top. We counted the scoops out loud.

I like to plant a few seeds in each container, in case one (or two) don’t make it. I place the seeds in the palm of the children’s hands and they use the fingers from the other hand to pinch the seeds and placed them in the soil. They then gently push some soil on top of the seeds, tucking them in like a blanket.

I explain how the seeds need water to grow. I give them a spray bottle so they can mist the soil, like gentle rain.

I write the name of the plant on a craft stick and the children stick these in the soil of their pots.

We talk about how seeds need light to grow, so after their seeds are planted, they take them to the window sill.

Another name recognition moment. They loved finding their names and checking on their seeds.

The seeds were kept near our science shelf, where we had reference books and other items from nature. After a few days, the children took their seeds home to take care of them.

The benefits of gardening with kids:

children have a better connection with the earth
they develop patience as they wait for the seeds to grow
they gain responsibility as they take care of the plants
they learn about the growth process

Resources:

Bonus! Get a full week of preschool seeds theme lesson plans!

This set includes active hands-on learning ideas and the following printables:

1) Foods With and Without Seeds Shared Writing Recording Sheet
2) Uppercase Alphabet Seed Packet Cards
3) Lowercase Alphabet Seed Cards
4) A to Z Seed Writing Task Cards
5) 1 to 12 Flower Pot Seed Counting Mats
6) Seeds Science Journal
7) Seed Shape Tracing Task Cards
8) Seed Sorting Mat
9) Seed Theme Beginning Sounds Sort (Seeds T, F, C)
10) Seed Sprouting Graph