Fun Summer Gardening Activities for Kids – Grow, Learn & Play

The summer holidays have arrived, and you’re racking your brain to come up with some fun, healthy, and even productive activities for the kids. At Plants4Presents, we can’t recommend gardening enough. It’s a great bonding activity that supports learning and development! Keep reading to find our top gardening activities for you and your little ones this summer.

Budding young gardeners will love making homemade lemonade from lemons picked straight from their own tree!

Kid-Friendly Gardening Activities

Plant a fruit tree – to enjoy for years to come

Gardening does require a little bit about patience but planting a fruit tree is a great way to teach children about where are food comes from and to get them engaged in the garden and long term projects.

Choose a fruit they particularly like, Raspberries, Blueberries, Figs, Blackcurrants, Grapes, Apples, Pears and even Kiwi vines grow well in the UK. Plant a fruit tree or bush now either directly into the ground or into a pot and you'll be able to watch the full cycle of fruiting from leaf drop in the autumn to new leaves, flowers and finally fruits next summer.

Children as young as 3 can help with basic activities like digging the hole for the tree, 2-3 times the size of the rootball, filling in the soil afterwards, pressing down the soil with your hands or walking all over it in your welly boots to firm in the roots. Once your tree is happily planted then watering is also a great activity for kids, get them their own small watering can that they can easily lift and set them the task of watering all your pots. Watering in the morning and evening is best for the plants, so if you have early risers why not make this their first task in the morning?

• 

  Plant your own Fruit Trees

  Kids will find these heavy cropping blueberry bushes hard to resist - imagine picking fresh, juicy blueberries straight from the garden

• 

  Sow some seeds

  Choose quick growing seeds like lettuce and herbs and sow seeds directly into prepared ground or pots

• 

  Get them involved in looking after your new plants

  Encourage your youngsters to take responsibility for watering them every day.

Sow some seeds

Whether it's cress seeds on kitchen roll inside an empty egg cup or wildflower seeds in a neglected area of the garden, seeds are a great way to introduce kids to the simply joys of growing.

Choose seeds that germinate quickly and grow fast. Peas, beans and sunflowers are great options for planting in the spring, but by mid summer you're a little limited in what will grow quickly enough to see results before the end of the season. Salad leaves and herbs are therefore a better option in the summer holidays. Little gem lettuces can be ready to harvest in as little as six weeks from sowing. If you're little one loves their pizza, why note try growing some basil, purple leaved varieties have a similar flavour to traditional basil but tend to bolt less readily and look fantastic on pizza or pasta. Or why not try my all time favourite for summer salads - nasturtiums. Sow them now and they'll be flowering by the end of September and the bright flowers and the young leaves will add a peppery zing and flash of colour to autumn salads.

Set up a simple scavenger hunt

Get ChatGTP to help you create a simple treasure hunt with pictures of common garden plants/flowers to collect. Great for summer play dates with groups of children you might not know so well. A simple line drawing and large print text is brilliant for developing reading skills in younger children or for older children you can include fun facts about each flower/leaf. The example below went down a treat in April with a group of 4, 5 and 6 year olds - they LOVED cutting their own sellotape to fix on their plant treasures. 8 is a good number of items to aim to collect and it doesn't have to be flowers, you could ask them to find acorns, twigs, shells, leaves or anything you think they'll be able to find in your garden.

Paint a Plant Pot

Get their artistic side blooming by decorating terracotta plant pots to add to the garden or patio. This is a great way to combine arts and crafts with gardening and is a great way to add some extra colour to the garden. It’s a perfect summer’s day activity in the garden or on the kitchen table, looking out into the garden. You’ll need:

• A terracotta or ceramic plant pot (some of our garden plants, like the balloon flower, come with a free terracotta pot perfect for painting!)
• Acrylic paints and paint brushes or acrylic pens
• An old rug or sheet of paper/cardboard to protect your floor or table

• 

  Paint a plant pot

  Acrylic markers work brilliantly on ceramic pots, terracotta or even plastic growers pots

  Give them free rein and let them get creative

• 

  Keep it fun

  Encourage them to get stuck in and get as messy as they like!

• 

  Get into a routine

  Are your kids early risers?

  Get them to water all the pots before breakfast and encourage them with rewards or sticker bribes - You might be surprised by what a good job they do!

Make Lemonade from Your Own Lemon Tree

When life gives you a lemon tree, make lemonade! Lemon trees not only brighten up your home or garden, but they also provide a tangy fruit that can be made into the most delicious fresh lemonade. This fun and refreshing activity is perfect for warm summer days and helps children understand where food and drink can come from.

From the care of the tree that teaches patience, care, and reward, to the creation of lemonade, kids can enjoy the entire process. Here’s how you can make lemonade from your lemon tree:

1. Make sure the lemon tree is cared for by watering, feeding, and checking for signs of growth and ripening. Patience is key here, but well worth the wait.
2. Harvest your lemons for the lemonade – 1-2 usually does the trick!
3. Grab the following ingredients: 2 cups of cold water, 2 tablespoons of sugar or honey (adjust to taste), Ice cubes and mint leaves (optional)
4. Squeeze the lemons into a jug using a squeezer or your hands (perfect for sensory play!)
5. Stir the sugar until dissolved
6. Add the water and mix, mix, mix!
7. Pour into a glass over ice and add mint leaves to garnish

This is a wonderful activity that teaches kids about patience and rewards for effort. It involves sensory learning with a delicious treat at the end!

Plant Observation

Seeing how the garden changes throughout the summer is great for showing kids how to slow down and notice changes in the garden. From tiny blooming flowers to ripening fruit, there’s so much for children to discover and learn!

Encourage children to become little nature explorers by keeping a garden journal or sketchbook. Each week, they can observe changes in their favourite plants by making notes and drawing pictures. They can even note down the weather and visiting wildlife like bees, butterflies, and birds. Here are some things they can track:

• New leaves or buds opening
• Flowers changing colour
• Fruit forming or ripening
• Plant height or size
• Insects or animals visiting the garden

This simple activity builds patience, observation skills, and a deeper appreciation for how plants grow and the work that goes into it. It creates incredible summer memories and their very own plant diary to look back on!

Choose Plants4Presents to Help With Your Summer Garden Activities

At Plants4Presents, we have a huge range of garden, patio, and house plants available to help make this summer holiday memorable. Whether you’ve got a windowsill, patio, or garden to play with, we’ve got the perfect plants to spark curiosity, creativity, and learning.