Paint & Plant Garden: A DIY Your Kids Will Dig

A delicious full-sized garden stocked with fresh kale, tomatoes, squash, and peppers is an ideal paradise for most urban farmers like us. But, to a little one, this utopia can be overwhelming! Weeding, tilling, planting, thinning, and all the other upkeep that gardening requires seem like impossible tasks to most tikes.

So, how do we get kids interested in gardening? Make it fun and scale it to their ability. This super simple garden project from our friends at Ecoscraps will get your kids excited about digging in the dirt this summer!

Things you’ll need:

• 8 qt. organic potting mix from our friends at Ecoscraps or your local garden supply
• 6-inch ceramic planting pots
• garden spade
• garden markers
• seeds or plant starts from local garden supply
• non-toxic black chalkboard paint
• chalk
• paint brushes

Step 1: Paint the garden pots with black chalkboard paint. This activity can be crafted inside or out (we recommend taking advantage of cool shady spot), just make sure you have plenty of aprons and newspaper or scratch paper on hand!

Step 2: Set the painted pots outside to dry (it takes about 30-60 minutes). Grab white and colored chalk and let your kids go to town decorating their pot! Write what produce you'll grow, draw a picture of the plant, list care instructions, or simply be artistic. 

Step 3: Plant your fruit and veggies. Use your garden spade to help your kids fill their pots with organic potting mix and plant their seed of choice! The back of the seed packet should give instructions as to what depth the plants should be planted.

Step 4: Group your pots together to create a perfectly manageable garden for your kids. Depending on lighting conditions, the best spot to watch them grow may be indoors or outdoors.

After your produce is harvested, save your garden pots for next season — simply erase the existing chalk drawings and redo this craft with new plants! And, if rain or a splash from the hose wash away the design before the summer is over, no worries! Grab the chalk and get creative.

For help in teaching your child how to care for their newly potted plant, read more great tips on the Ecoscraps blog. And check out their guide for easy composting at home!