Are you looking for some easy seeds to grow for preschoolers? It’s important to choose the right seeds to set you and your preschooler up for success! Read on to find out!
Preschoolers are delightful. They are hungry to learn and experiment. They find the world an exciting place where everyday activities are adventures.
The fun of planting with Preschoolers can turn to tears if the wrong plants are grown. Some seeds are notoriously tricky to germinate. Parsley apparently travels to hell and back half a dozen times before germinating. Alliums need to be scarified and soaked and Angelica needs to be deep-frozen.
You need easy seeds to grow for Preschoolers to keep the excitement going.
Planting Seeds with Preschoolers – Set Up For Success
What you need to start
- Seeds
- Pots (seedling trays) or a garden
- Potting soil
- Water
- A dowel stick
- Small stones for drainage
Sowing Your Seeds with Your Preschooler
Big seeds are great for little hands who can make a hole with a finger or dowel stick and drop the seed in at approximately double the diameter of the seed in depth.
Medium size seeds can be pinched between the fingers and poured into a shallow indentation and covered by patting soil back into place.
Tiny seeds should be scattered thinly onto the soil surface and a sieve of soil shaken lightly over them.
READ MORE: Fun Planting Activities for Toddlers
Pots, Seedling Trays or Garden – The Choice is Yours
Some seeds like to be direct sowed. An old herbalist once mentioned sowing Monday Herbs. Every Monday she would make 3 furrows in the garden and plant Coriander, Rocket and Basil. That way she always had those three popular annuals available for her salads.
Seedling trays are useful for small seeds that germinate less easily than Monday herbs but need a bit of extra attention.
Pots are versatile though. They can be moved to convenient places, painted and decorated and a microclimate can be created for a plant that needs less water or more sun than others.
Choose Your Growing Medium
Pots usually need a few stones for drainage, potting soil and some organic fertilizer.
Seedling trays need a finer mix called seedling mix.
A good loamy garden soil with a pH of about 6 is all that’s needed in the garden.
Watering Your Seedling with Your Preschooler
Pots need to be watered more often than garden seedbeds. They need to be fed more often too as the nutrients leach every time you water.
Seeds need to be kept damp, but not wet until they germinate. Use a soft shower from a spray bottle to avoid enthusiastic kids blowing the seeds out of the ground.
Feeding Your Seedlings
Seedlings need a slow-release organic fertilizer after they have germinated. If you feed too early then algae will grow on the soil.
Pricking Out
Some tiny seeds that are sowed closely together will come up in a tight mass and will fight for light and air and can even damp off because of fungal infections.
They need to be delicately pricked out with a pair of tweezers and planted individually. This is not easy work for Pre Schoolers so give them the task of filling the individual pots.
Easy Seeds to Grow for Preschoolers
It’s exciting to watch the ground and see the little leaves push out through the ground. Some seeds have round cotyledonous leaves which push out through the ground first and the second set of leaves will look quite different.
Easy Flowers To Grow with Kids
Try these easy popular flower seeds to grow with your toddler.
Nasturtium
These are large, easy to handle and germinate seeds. They grow quickly into beautiful plants with round peppery leaves and masses of red, orange and yellow flowers.
The flowers make a beautiful garnish or pathway in a fairy garden and the leaves make a surprisingly tasty addition to a salad.
The leaves can also be munched to soothe a mild sore throat
Nasturtiums are annual plants which means they might only last for a season but they self sow freely, so will definitely be there to stay.
Poppies
Beautiful red poppies can be sowed in situ in the autumn or late winter. Sprinkle them on fertile ground and watch them come up every year without fail. They need a bit of cold to help them germinate.
They don’t last long in a vase so it’s best to enjoy them in the garden.
Poppies often have memories for people so, if it’s appropriate, tell the stories of why people wear poppies on the 11 November each year.
Sweetpeas
These large pea-like seeds are easy to plant directly in the ground, against a trellis. They germinate a bit slowly but their growth is fascinating. Like peas, their tendrils twirl and curl around their stakes or trellises.
They are Spring annuals but should be sown very early in Spring.
Their flowers are a mass of softly scented, pastel colours and they are sweetly scented. They just beg to be picked and placed in a vase.
Busy Lizzies
The main reason kids love these shade-loving Impatiens, besides the striking display, is the seed pods.
They should be grown in seedling trays and planted out, in a damp shady area when big enough but thereafter they are guaranteed to self sow.
The long oval seed pods grow gradually translucent and then, at the touch of a little finger, spring open and scatter their seeds.
Children will love to jump in shock when the seed pods explode. They are worth growing just for the fun of it.
Easy Veggies To Grow with Preschoolers
Try this tasty duo with your kids.
Salad lettuce
Grow mixed leaf lettuce seeds in a big pot or trough. They germinate easily and last for ages as long as they are kept well fed and happy.
(A word to the wise – annual plants will bolt and set seed if their growing conditions are poor. They need rich, well-fed soil, sunlight and sufficient water. If they are not happy, they think they are going to die and go about the business of making seed to keep their line going. When they make seed they put all their energy into that and the leaves become small and bitter.)
A daily picking of Leaf lettuce will keep the family salads going for a long Season.
Radish
This is another easy to germinate seed. It can be planted in a pot or in situ. Children love the quick growth, the little veggie tops sticking out of the ground and the coconut ice colours of this crunchy veggie. It will also help them develop a taste for spicy flavours.
Final Words – Easy Seeds to Grow for Preschoolers
Easy Seeds for Preschoolers are fun to grow, teach lots of important lessons and develop those green fingers so that, as adults, they will be proficient with all forms of growing. Ultimately it is not just about easy seeds, it’s about understanding plants.
