• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Happy Tot Shelf

menu icon
go to homepage
  • Find an Activity
  • Activity Membership
  • Learning Space
  • Free Printables
  • About HTS
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • TikTok
    • YouTube
  • search icon
    Homepage link
    • Find an Activity
    • Activity Membership
    • Learning Space
    • Free Printables
    • About HTS
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • TikTok
    • YouTube
  • ×
    Home » Theme Based Learning Activities

    Published: Apr 10, 2018 · Modified: Mar 2, 2025 by Fynn · All activities should be supervised by an adult. This post may contain affiliate links.

    Garden Theme Learning Activities and Learning Shelf

    Inside: A collection of colorful and exciting Garden theme learning activities for preschoolers and toddlers.

    Garden Theme Learning Activities for Kids

    A garden theme is always so engaging and beneficial for children. Exploring a garden theme can:

    • encourage children to appreciate little things in nature like ladybugs, seeds, and leaves. This increases their empathy and capacity to pay attention to details.
    • teach them to take care of the natural world and have respect for their environment. Children that have developed fondness for plants and animals, and have positive memories of interacting with them, are more likely to grow up to care for and protect their natural environment.
    • help them make the connection between the world around them and the food they eat. Imagine the excitement in discovering for the first time that vegetables and fruits come from the ground?!?

    There are an abundance of opportunities for rich learning and colorful discoveries in a garden learning theme. It will also enhance your outings with your child as they connect their home learning with the flowers, trees, and other plants they see out in the world. 

    We had so much fun learning at home with all the Garden theme learning activities and our Learning Shelf.

    Related: Everything You Need to Know about Setting Up a Themed Learning Shelf

    Jump to:
    • Garden Theme Activities for Preschoolers and Toddlers
    • Garden Theme Learning Activities for Toddlers (1.5 to 3 Years Old)
    • Download the Petals Counting Activity!
    • Garden Theme Learning Activities for Preschoolers (4 to 6 Years Old)
    • Download the Flower Parts Puzzle!
    • Garden Theme Crafts and Sensory Play
    • More Garden Theme Learning Activities and Resources here:

    Garden Theme Activities for Preschoolers and Toddlers

    Looking for fun and educational activities to engage your children every day? Join my learning activity membership, The Happy Learners' Club.

    All the activities have been categorized into the six main learning areas: language, numeracy, motor skills, discovery of the world, arts & creative expression, social & emotional development.

    Garden Theme Learning Activities for Toddlers (1.5 to 3 Years Old)

    • Dot the Flowers Color Matching Activity (arts & creative expression)
    Dot the flowers colour matching activity for children
    • Pouch Cap Flowers Counting Box (numeracy, fine motor)
    Pouch Cap Flowers Counting DIY Toy to learn 1 to 1 correspondence
    • Dot Paint Flowers Painting (arts & creative expression)
    Dot Marker Flower Painting
    • Petals Counting Activity. This is a simple activity to do number matching. (numeracy)
    Leaf number matching learning activity for preschooler

    Download the
    Petals Counting Activity!

    Join my mailing list to download this fun printable!

    I'll send weekly activity ideas, resources and learning tips.

      We won't send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time.
      • Feed the Hungry Caterpillar: Make a TP roll caterpillar and invite your little ones to scoop pompoms into the TP rolls (motor skills)
      feed a caterpillar activity for toddlers
      • S is for Snail: Paste dot stickers on a spiral line. For young toddlers, simply invite them to paste the dot stickers randomly on the shell of the snail.
      S is for Snail letter matching activity for toddlers
      S is for Snail letter matching activity for toddlers
      • Plant your Name Activity. My son matched the letters to his name as he planted the flowers in the flower pots. (language)
      Plant a flower letter matching activity
      • We did a second variation of the Plant your Name Activity with play dough. Using the same flower sticks, my son matched the letters to the letters on the play dough. I imprinted the letters on the dough with letter beads. (language)
      Plant a flower play dough letter matching activity

      Garden Theme Learning Activities for Preschoolers (4 to 6 Years Old)

      • Counting Flowers - Try this FREE popsicle stick flower themed printable to work on number recognition and counting.
      • Dot Sticker Name Flower: Paste the dot stickers around the circle with matching letters to make some dot sticker flowers. (literacy, motor skills)
      garden theme learning activities: dot sticker name flower to learn letters of the alphabet
      Dot Sticker Flower Name
      • Dot Sticker Counting Caterpillar: Paste the dot stickers to form a caterpillar by arranging the numbers in sequence. (numeracy, motor skills)
      Dot sticker caterpillar counting activity
      Dot sticker caterpillar counting activity
      • Ladybug Dot Sticker Symmetry: This activity gets children to explore the idea of symmetry using dot stickers. If you are game, search for some ladybugs in your backyard or find pictures on Google, and look at the beautifully symmetrical spots on the ladybugs. (numeracy, motor skills)
      garden theme learning activities: ladybug dot sticker symmetry
      Ladybug symmetry activity for preschoolers
      • Sticky Note Addition Butterflies: An easy and fun way for children to practice addition. For the preschoolers, offer them several more options, so they can easily find pairs of sticky notes that add up to the number on the butterfly. For the big kids, set our exact pair of sticky notes, so there’s trial and error, mix and match to get the correct combinations. (numeracy)
      garden theme learning activities: sticky note addition butterfly
      • Measure the Worms - Hands-on Way to Introduce Measurement (numeracy)
      Measuring activity for preschoolers
      • Paper Clips Flower and Leaves Counting (numeracy)
      1 to 1 correspondence counting with paper clip leaves
      • Sticky Note Counting Sunflower: Write numbers 1 to 12 on the flower center and draw 1 to 12 dots on the sticky notes. Invite your child to match the number of dots to the numbers on the flower center. To extend this activity: paste the sticky notes (petals) around the room and invite your child to look for them. Or for older preschoolers, write math problems on the sticky notes.(numeracy, motor skills)
      learn math and counting with this sticky note sunflower for a garden theme learning activity
      • Flower Parts Puzzle. Learn about flower parts with this printable. (discovery of the world)
      Flower part puzzle learning activity

      Download the
      Flower Parts Puzzle!

      Join my mailing list to download this fun printable!

      I'll send weekly activity ideas, resources and learning tips.

        We won't send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time.
        • TP Rolls Parts of a Flower DIY Toy (discovery of the world)
        Toilet Paper Roll Parts of a Flower Learning Toy

        Garden Theme Crafts and Sensory Play

        • Invitation to Create Flowers with felt shapes cut outs. (discovery of the world, arts & creative expression)
        Invitation to create a flower using felt shapes cut outs
        • Make some beautiful coffee filter butterflies. Add some water color on coffee filter and let dry. Tie the centre with pipe cleaners. (arts & creative expression)
        Coffee filter butterflies
        making coffee filter butterflies, a garden theme activity for kids
        • Big to Small Flowers: Cut out flowers of different sizes and colors. Invite your children to mix and match the flowers and arrange them from biggest to smallest. Paste them together and you have some beautiful flowers!
        Big to small flowers is one of many fun garden theme learning activities
        • Paper Towel Surprise Flowers - Draw a flower on the paper towel on top with a permanent marker. Then add colors to the paper towel below using washable markers. Now place both paper towels into a tray of water and see the beautiful colors appear! Watch the video tutorial here.
        garden theme learning activities: paper towel surprise flowers
        • Garden Sensory Bin using black beans as fillers, flower pots and gardening tools. (discovery of the world)
        Garden sensory bin with shovels and beans
        Garden sensory bin with felt flowers
        • Use everyday vegetables to make out a flower. This is a simple yet effective activity about the different parts of a plant. My son is fascinated to learn that some vegetables like broccoli and carrots were flowers and roots respectively.
        Learning parts of a plant using vegetables
        • Grow Bean Grow: What better way to learn about plant growth than to grow some plant ourselves? Throw in some green beans and cotton pads into a zipper bag. Add some water and seal the bag. Tape the bag to the window and watch your beans grow, grow, grow! (discovery of the world)
        Grow a green bean with children for a garden theme learning activity
        • Invitation to Create a Flower Potion. I set out some flowers and colorful pebbles and invited my children to make 'flower potions'. The combination of things that float and sink added some interesting STEM discussion to this activity. (arts & creative expression, discovery of the world)
        Flower Potion Invitation to Play using materials from nature
        Flower Potion Invitation to Play, a great garden theme activity for kids
        • Paper plate snail: Decorate some paper plates and make some colorful snails. (arts & creative expression)
        Snail garden theme craft for preschoolers

        More Garden Theme Learning Activities and Resources here:

        • 15 Spring Activities For Kids to Celebrate the Season
        • 10 Simple and Fun Leaf Activities to explore nature together
        • Pinterest Idea Board: GARDEN Theme
        • Unique Hashtag on Instagram: #gardenhts
        • Spring books for Preschoolers by Days with Grey
        • 30+ The Best Garden Themed Crafts and Activities by Happy Toddler Playtime

        The Garden theme is such a perfect preschool theme for Spring. Need more theme based learning ideas? Be sure to check out our list of Fall Theme Activities, and the rest of our theme learning activities and shelf!

        25+ Garden Theme Learning Activities for Preschoolers and Toddlers

        SaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSave

        More Theme Based Learning Activities

        • Printable earth day activities for children
          10 Earth Day Activities for Kids to Nurture A Love for the Environment
        • fun spring activities for kids such as this button bouquet
          15 Spring Activities For Kids to Celebrate the Season
        • Preschool activities for valentine's day
          10 Heartfelt Preschool Activities for Valentine’s Day
        • Fun fall theme preschool activities for kids
          10 Fun & Easy Fall Theme Preschool Activities 

        Sharing is caring!

        60967 shares
        • Share
        • Tweet

        About Fynn

        Fynn is a Math and Science teacher from Singapore, author of The Happy Learning Book for Siblings and founder of Happy Tot Shelf. She helps parents enjoy home learning with their children through her highly popular kids' activity membership, The Happy Learners' Club. Fynn has been featured in various newspapers, websites and on radio shows as an expert in early childhood learning and creative hands-on learning ideas.

        Reader Interactions

        Comments

        1. April says

          May 03, 2020 at 10:51 am

          Love these ideas! Where can I find the peg a bee activity?

          Reply
          • happytotshelf says

            June 06, 2020 at 10:04 am

            Hello I made that by attaching bees' button to wooden clothespin.

            Reply
        2. Julie says

          February 02, 2022 at 12:34 pm

          I really enjoyed yr practical experiences shared.

          Reply

        Leave a Reply Cancel reply

        Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

        This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

        Primary Sidebar

        Hi there! I’m Fynn—educator, author, and mom of three. I believe a lifelong love of learning starts at home, and I’m here to help you nurture that spark. Together, let’s create joyful learning experiences that strengthen bonds and inspire curiosity for both you and your little ones!

        More about me →

        Fall Activities for Kids

        • Fun fall theme preschool activities for kids
          10 Fun & Easy Fall Theme Preschool Activities 
        • 10 simple leaf activities for 2 to 5 year old kids
          Leaf Activities for 2 to 5 Year Olds
        • Learning shelf with farm theme activities for children
          15+ Delightful Farm Theme Preschool Activities
        • Halloween ghost theme color matching activity for toddlers
          15+ Halloween Activities for Preschoolers

        Popular Posts

        • Fun number activities for kids
          10 Low Prep Number Activities for Preschoolers to Play at Home 
        • Haircut Number Game - A fun counting and cutting activity for preschoolers
          Haircut Number Game - A fun counting and cutting activity for preschoolers
        • A collage of Singapore theme learning activities for children
          9 Fun Printable Activities for Kids to Learn about Singapore
        • Easy printable phonics activities for preschoolers
          Learn to Read Part 1: Hands-On Phonics Activities for Preschoolers 

        Footer

        ↑ back to top

        About

        • About Fynn
        • Meet the HTS Team
        • Contact
        • Privacy Policy
        • Disclaimer
        • Terms of Use

        Resources

        • Activity Index
        • Activity Membership
        • Free Printable
        • Learning Space Course

        Buy my books

        • Sibling Activity Book
        • Happy Learning Math Books

        Copyright © 2023 Happy Tot Shelf

        60967 shares