Little is more important in the gardening world than passing it on to the next generation! This starts with getting your young ones involved in the fun that working in the garden provides. Why not start with fun-themed gardens to create with them? Here are a few unique and entertaining theme garden ideas for kids that are simple and educational, too!

The Fairy Garden

Though smaller than the average garden, these magical wonders are a hit with kids and really anybody! They are so fun to plan and create.

Layout and Key Elements

  • A recycled container, cute flower pot, or flower bed
  • Soil- A well-drained potting mix or soil specifically designed for the plants you’re using is ideal. The soil serves as the base or ‘ground’ of the fairy garden!
  • Plants- a must have! A garden is not a garden without plants (see suggested fairy garden plants list below)
  • Miniature decorations- Fairy figurines, tiny furniture and doors
  • Natural and/or made materials- Adding elements like wood Chips, stones, shells, moss, marbles, and sea glass create structures and add to your fairy garden ‘landscape.’
  • Lights and whimsical touches- Fairy lights or a little water fountain add to the aesthetic and whimsy!

How To Make Your Own!

  1. Choose your Location. You could pick a corner of a flower bed, under a tree to give it a ‘woodland’ appeal, or in any pot or container! A fun way to plant a fairy garden is to use a recycled container, like a teapot, a broken terracotta pot, a basket, or an old wagon or wheelbarrow!
  2. Plan your Theme. It may be fun to plan a theme based on the container or location you chose! A fairy garden planted in a teapot could be a ‘tea party’ garden! Or, a fairy garden planted under a tree could have a forest or woodland theme! Other fun theme ideas:
  • Fairy Village
  • Under the Sea/Beach/Ocean theme
  • Farm
  • Desert
  • Ponds and Waterfalls
  1. Prepare the Container with Soil. Ensure the container has good drainage, or drill a drainage hole through the bottom (parents, please assist the kids with this part)! You could even add stones on the bottom of the container for drainage.
  2. Select the Plants and Flowers you want and plant. A certain type of upright flower could represent a ‘tree’ in your fairy village, or a low-growing plant could be a ‘moor’ or ‘field.’ Have fun with it!
  3. After the plants are in, decorate the fairy garden with your accessories and elements! Tree bark could be a ‘bridge’ over the water, pebbles could be ‘sand’ on a beach, and blue sea glass or marbles could be a ‘pond’ or ‘ocean!’ Moss really adds to the forest and woodland appeal as well. Arrange the fun fairy figurines and furniture any way you’d like! There can be as little or many fairies in your garden as you wish.
  4. Maintain your garden! Water, fertilize, deadhead and prune when needed.

Suitable Plants for Fairy Gardens (these are just a few ideas)!

  • Greenery and Succulents: Sedum, Jade plant, Hens & Chicks, Sensitive Plant
  • Small-stature plants: Pansies, Marigolds, Mini Petunias, Coleus, Alyssum, Impatiens
  • Groundcovers (could be a ‘lawn’): Scotch Moss, Creeping Thyme, Goldilocks Vine

The Pizza Garden

This is a creative type of edible garden, and makes a fun spring and summer project! It is a great way to get kiddos motivated to help in the garden, eat their veggies, and use those veggies to add to recipes in the kitchen! The fresh veggies and herbs that grow in this garden can provide countless tasty toppings for a family pizza night. Make sure the kiddos get involved in choosing the veggies and herbs they love to grow in the garden. They'll love knowing that they’re eating food from what they helped grow!

Key Elements of a Pizza Garden

  • Various veggies and herbs grown in a sunny spot that will make tasty pizza toppings!

How to Plant Your Own!

  1. Plan the types of vegetables and herbs you will grow in the garden and plan out the placement. If it’s possible, use a round bed to resemble the ‘pizza!’ The best location is in full sunlight.
  2. Divide out the portions of the round bed to resemble the pizza ‘slices,’ and plant a different veggie or herb in each slice!
  3. Prepare your soil and add compost. Vegetables and herbs love a high-quality compost.
  4. *Important Step*: Plant your veggies and herbs so that they will all be ready for harvest around the same time- so your pizza can have all the toppings on them! Make sure you check how many ‘days to maturity’ each variety has. Maturity is when the plant produces its fruit (you are able to harvest, or pick them). It will typically take shorter for the plant to mature if you plant them from a plug and not a seed. For example, plug onions take about 80-120 days to mature, and tomatoes and peppers take about 60-100 days, so plant your onions first! If you buy herbs, you can pretty much use those right away- so planting those last would work out well.
  5. Maintain and water the garden regularly. A vegetable/herb garden in the ground should get about an inch of water a week (that could include rainfall) and be consistently moist. A raised bed may require more, and how much water you give will also depend on the type of soil. Clay-like soil retains more water than a sandy soil. As far as fertilizing goes, Espoma “Tomato-Tone” is a great organic fertilizer to use on a garden that you’ll be eating from!

Once your veggies are ready to pick and you’ve washed them, enjoy what your pizza garden has provided!

Suitable Plants for the Pizza Garden

Vegetables

  • Tomatoes: These would, of course, be used to make the pizza sauce! Good varieties for a pizza sauce include Roma and San Marzano, a Plum tomato.
  • Onions: This popular topping adds a spicy, sweet and savory element to the pizza! They’ll bulb midsummer if planted in early spring.
  • Spinach/Arugula: Not always the most common pizza topping, but this fresh and earthy veggie adds a flavorful taste and healthy element to any pizza!
  • Sweet Bell Peppers: With different colors of the rainbow, these are fun to decorate the pizza with! Plant red peppers for a sweeter taste. Orange and yellow peppers have a mild flavor, sweeter than green but not as sweet as red. Green peppers are the least sweet- they’re slightly more bitter and grassy.
  • Other peppers (like jalapeno or banana peppers) if your family likes spiciness!
  • Garlic: Garlic is a super yummy way to spice up your pizza! Keep in mind that garlic needs to be planted in the fall, so it’s ready for harvest around mid-summer. If you want to use garlic in your pizza garden, plant it in the fall prior to when you want your garden.

Herbs

  • Basil: Is a fresh, fragrant, and peppery herb that complements the rich tomato sauce!
  • Oregano: Provides a rich and earthy taste.
  • Chives/Green Onions: Has a crisp freshness, adds onion-garlic flavor and provides a visual appeal to the pizza.

 The ‘Touch and Feel’ (Sensory) Garden

Sensory gardens are perfect for young children learning about the world around them, providing the enjoyment and happiness that nature brings! A sensory garden is essentially a garden that incorporates all the senses- taste, touch, sound, sight, and smell. Come check out our own “Touch and Feel” Garden in Kid’s Village at Ebert’s. This is a small area planted by our little white picket fence that you can smell and touch.

 Key Elements of a Sensory Garden

  • The incorporation of flowers and plants that stimulate multiple, or all, the senses.
  • A sensory garden encourages interaction with the plants and a space that you can experience nature

 How to Plant Your Own!

1. Prepare the location. Whether your sensory garden is in sun or shade will all depend on the types of plants you have in it. It may be smart to have a larger area that has both sun and shade! You could even do more with the layout like add seating areas and pathways in the garden.

2. Prepare the soil and amend with compost for added nutrients. To enhance the ‘sensory’ experience, try adding gravel or sand as pathways… this adds even more texture to the garden.

3. Select your sense-engaging plants:

  • Sight: Plants with contrasting color, shapes, and heights. Try to evoke different moods- red and orange for excitement and invigoration, and greens and blues for serenity and calmness. Incorporating plants with different growth habits (creeping, climbing, and bushy) diversify the form of the plants!
  • Touch: Plants with various textures and an array of leaf shapes/sizes. Use fuzzy, soft, and prickly plants.
  • Smell: Fragrant plants- both flowers and herbs to give it more of a contrast. Using fresh cedar mulch or cocoa bean mulch will add a pleasant aroma!
  • Taste: Edible plants, fruits or vegetables with unique but tasty flavors, for taste exploration. Try using edible plants in your cooking as well!
  • Sound: Grasses or shrubs that rustle in the wind
  • Start Planting Remember to check the spacing needs of each plant so that they have room to spread and don’t overcrowd each other.

    • Plants Suitable for a Sensory Garden

    These plants make a great starting point for a sensory garden, but get creative and add your own!

    • Sight: Coleus, Celosia, bright-colored Petunia or Calibrachoa, Sunflowers, Angelonia
    • Touch: Sensitive Plants, Lamb’s Ear, Moss,
    • Smell: Jasmine, Scented Geraniums, fragrant herbs like lavender and rosemary, Popcorn plant
    • Sound: Grasses (Northwind Switch Grass is an example). If you have a willow tree, include that in your sensory garden! The weeping branches often make soothing sounds in the breeze.
    • Taste: Strawberries, Mint, Chives

    https://www.thespruce.com/how-to-make-a-fairy-garden-7483245

    https://meganzeni.com/rainbow-garden/

    https://www.theseasonalhomestead.com/how-to-grow-a-pizza-garden/