By Aleta Damm
We have snow on the ground, and it is freezing cold. What can you do with your toddler this time of year that promotes gardening? Over the next couple of months, I have some ideas for you that will engage your toddler and encourage an appreciation for nature.
Check out your local library. They have a wide range of books geared toward young children with gardening themes. Here are a few suggestions: Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert, Up, Down, and Around by Katherine Ayres, The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle, and Up in the Garden & Down in the Dirt. As you read together, point out things like seeds, roots, stems, and leaves, and talk about how each is important to the plant. Make connections to real-life gardening as you read. This is great for building vocabulary and familiarity for when gardening begins in the spring.
This next idea can be a challenge for some, but it works great with my granddaughter: Bring water and sand play inside. I bought a large storage tub and added sand to it. She practices using gardening tools. I give her small shovels, buckets, trowels, and other gardening tools. You can also do this with kinetic sand or rice. When she is taking a bath, we do something similar with a small watering can. These are great activities because they prepare children for real garden tools and improve motor skills and coordination.
In that same sand bin, you can create a gardening sensory bin. Suggested materials include plastic scoops, spoons, cups, fake plants, toy bugs, pebbles, sticks, small pots, and other garden-themed objects. Young children can dig, pour, bury, scoop, “plant,” and find objects. As they play, discuss the items and why they are useful or important. This is a great activity because it encourages imaginative play and builds hand strength and coordination—skills that will be important when they start writing.
Kitchen scrap gardening is a fun activity that even I, as an adult, enjoy. Some examples include: putting a green onion root in a cup of water, placing a carrot top in a shallow dish of water, soaking bean seeds between damp paper towels, or putting a celery base in water. Check daily for changes and discuss their observations. This is a great activity because it produces quick results and encourages understanding of growth and observation.
The last suggestion for this month is singing. Try finding and singing garden-themed songs. This can brighten any of those gloomy winter days. Add dancing and it becomes even better! Here are some ideas: “This Is the Way We Plant the Seeds” (to the tune of Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush), “The Garden Song” (Inch by Inch), “The Farmer Plants the Seeds” (to the tune of The Farmer in the Dell), and “Oats, Peas, Beans & Barley Grow.” If your toddler is into small creatures, here are a few good ones: “The Ants Go Marching,” “Five Little Ladybugs,” “There’s a Worm at the Bottom of the Garden,” and “Incy Wincy Spider / Itsy Bitsy Spider.” This is a great activity because it builds vocabulary and encourages movement.
Try some of these activities, especially on days you just can’t get outside.