Easy Preschool Garden Crafts

Teach preschoolers about gardens with fun crafts.

Youngsters love getting outside and getting dirty, so indulge their play habits with crafts for the garden. Preschool garden crafts can teach children about healthy soil, plant growth, food production and the beneficial creatures that live in and around gardens, or they can simply be a colorful way to get kids excited about flowers.

Finger Paint Tulips

Give each child a piece of white construction paper. Place puddles of green and pink, red, purple and yellow water-based paints on paper plates, one color per plate. Use a paintbrush to paint a streak of green paint down each child's forearm. Have the child press her forearm to her construction paper to make a stem. Repeat for as many flowers as desired. Once the stems are finished, have each child press their palm and four fingers into one of the other colors, then press their hand to the top of the stem to create tulip petals. Allow the flowers to dry, then let the kids decorate their picture with a sky, grass and bugs.

Painted Garden Rocks

Gather enough rocks for each preschooler to have one. The rocks should be 2 inches in diameter or larger. Wash and dry the rocks. Prepare paint trays with acrylic paints and allow each child to paint their rock. To make a bee, paint the entire rock yellow, then add black stripes. Once the stripes are dry, paint teardrop shapes on each side for wings and two swirls for antennas at the front. Add eyes and a smile. For a ladybug, paint the rock red. Add a black stripe down the middle and black dots. At one end, paint a black circle for a face, then add eyes and a smile. Once dry, place the rocks in the garden.

Craft Stick Garden Tags

Teach students about what foods grow in the garden, then make garden tags to mark where seeds have been planted. Print out clip-art pictures of garden fruits and vegetables and a two- to three-sentence informational blurb about each plant. The pictures should be 5 inches to 6 inches in diameter. Have each preschooler color and cut their clip-art photo, then glue the blurb to the back of the picture. Be sure to read the information to them. Laminate each picture, then let each child glue their picture to a craft stick. Place the tags in the garden.

References

• DLTK Teach: Handprint Tulips
• Artists Helping Children: Flower and Garden Crafts for Kids