all
Activities
How to Make a Paper Play Garden for Kids
By Mara Shaughnessy
Images supplied by author
Jul 14, 2022
A garden, whether it's on a balcony, in a kitchen or in your backyard, is a great summer project if you have the room for it. But keeping fruits and vegetables alive can often be a mostly grown-up job. With just a little bit of kid oversight.
Whether you have a green thumb or not, I've created a great activity for kids that's a real joy to make and play with.
It's a farm-fresh garden made of paper, and it's a great way to create a little magic around vegetables in your house.
Ready to make it? Let's get started!
What You'll Need
- cereal or cracker box
- coloured paper
- popsicle sticks
- scissors
- glue
- ruler
- markers
How It's Made
Pop open your box and lay it flat. Cut a piece of brown paper to cover the front panel of the box. This will become the soil of your garden bed.
Glue your “soil” down. Adult job #1 on this project: Cut a hole in the opposite panel of the box. The hole is so you can recover the seeds you plant and play with them again. Set the box aside to let your soil dry.
To make the veggies, we cut simple shapes from coloured paper. Our garden has radishes, carrots, peppers, green onions and eggplant, but you can make any fruits and veggies you like — some summer strawberries, corn on the cob or leafy lettuces!
You can use markers to outline and add details to your fruits and veg if you like, or simply glue your shapes down onto popsicle sticks as-is. I love how the outline work makes them pop!
Once you’ve got everything glued down, give your produce a quick measure to find its width.
Adult job #2 on this project: Use the measurements you’ve taken to cut slots in the soil for all of your fruits and veggies to grow.
Reassemble the box and decorate some more if you’d like. We added some green grass and a white-picket fence around our garden to keep the bunnies out. Make some other accessories for your garden like seed packets (one step of this activity could be dropping the seeds in the holes and "watering" them, only for them to "magically grow" overnight — remembering to put the veg in is adult job #3!), a watering can or a basket for your bountiful harvest!
Have fun planting, growing and harvesting as many times as you like!
Mara Shaughnessy
Mara is a children’s book author and illustrator who’s big into scissors and glue, making cake from the box, wrestling with her dogs and doodling with felt tip pens. You can check out her latest work at The Little Monster or craft along with her at Craft University.
Most Popular
-
Ages:
allStories
I Think Men Should Stop Making Comments About How Women Look — Especially My Daughter
-
Ages:
allStories
As A Kid, Church Wasn’t a Choice — And It’s The Same For My Kids
-
Ages:
allStories
Are The Thousands of Dollars Spent on Lessons For My Kid Worth It?
-
Ages:
allStories
Why I Won’t ‘Hustle Hard’
-
Ages:
allStories
I’m Teaching My Daughter To Be Respectful But Not Nice
Add New Comment
To encourage thoughtful and respectful conversations, first and last names will appear with each submission to CBC/Radio-Canada's online communities (except in children and youth-oriented communities). Pseudonyms will no longer be permitted.
By submitting a comment, you accept that CBC has the right to reproduce and publish that comment in whole or in part, in any manner CBC chooses. Please note that CBC does not endorse the opinions expressed in comments. Comments on this story are moderated according to our Submission Guidelines. Comments are welcome while open. We reserve the right to close comments at any time.
Submission Policy
Note: The CBC does not necessarily endorse any of the views posted. By submitting your comments, you acknowledge that CBC has the right to reproduce, broadcast and publicize those comments or any part thereof in any manner whatsoever. Please note that comments are moderated and published according to our submission guidelines.