Let’s dig in and get our hands dirty with these garden fine motor activities for preschool. Just provide your toddlers with simple materials to engage the senses: the ping of dried black beans against a metal shovel, the smell of floral play dough, the feel of jumping like a grasshopper, and the bright collection of pompom pollen. Check out these garden sensory activities to excite the senses.
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Garden Lesson Plans
Picking Pollen
Garden Fine Motor Activities
What do you call a bumble bee trying to make up its mind? A maybee.
And if you are one of those bees thinking about maybee doing a garden unit, this is your sign that you absolutely should!
Your busy bees will love using tongs to collect the pollen pompoms to put into the beehive.
Silicone cupcake liners make the perfect “flowers” to hold the pollen in place while your preschoolers’ fine motor skills are put to the test!
Will they be able to move all of the pollen to the beehive? Find out and snag the FREE flower printables to see.
Materials:
- Subscribe to get FREE Picking Pollen Mats
- silicone cupcake liners
- small tub (for beehive printout)
- rainbow pompoms
- tongs
Move Like Plants
Gross Motor Garden Activity
The educator in me absolutely loves when we tie activities to literacy. In fact, I really love when it involves movement. Especially in primary classrooms!
We all need to get our wiggles out and move our bodies. After reading Plants Can’t Sit Still, it’s the perfect time for your preschoolers to do anything but sit still!
Printable plant action cards that prompt your preschoolers to move will be a huge hit. I’ve also included a brain break video that you can use that also prompts your preschoolers to get their bodies moving.
Get ready to watch your little ones float like a parachute and slither like a snake.
Who knows… you may be reaching for this activity as a brain break all year long!
Materials:
- Move Like Plants
- Plants Can't Sit Still by Rebecca Hirsch
- computer with projector (for brain break video)
Parts of a Plant Play Dough
Garden Fine Motor Activities
Creating with play dough is a tried and true fine motor activity.
The texture is familiar, and the expectations are the same, but the purpose can be different each time you invite your toddlers to create!
For this play dough invitation, your toddlers will make flowers using cookie cutters, rocks, string, leaves, and any other materials you may have on hand. Almost anything goes when little hands are at work!
Simply print and laminate the parts of a plant labels so your preschoolers can label their final creations.
Looking for more hands-on garden science activities? Click on the link!
Materials:
- All About Plants Science Activities
- serving tray (Dollar Tree)
- green pipe cleaners
- flower cookie cutters
- rocks
- white yarn
- wooden leaves (Hobby Lobby)
- applesauce pouch caps
- mini flower beads
Garden Sensory Bin
Garden Fine Motor Activities
Farm fresh fruits and veggies just taste better. It’s one of those things you can’t quite explain, but it makes all the difference when you pick them up at a farmer’s market or grow them in your own backyard.
If planting (and tending to) a classroom garden isn’t in your wheelhouse, you can engage your preschoolers’ senses with a garden sensory bin.
And I am all about digging in and getting dirty but… scooping and planting without dirt stuck under tiny little nails does sound like a dream, right!?
I’m here to deliver the good news: your dream can become a reality with dried black beans, pots, leaves, vegetable counters, and shovels.
The little gardeners can plant, scoop, dig, and explore through their sense of touch.
Materials:
- Garden Sensory Bin Printout (included when you subscribe to the Picking Pollen activity above)
- dried black beans
- small plant pots
- gardening tools
- vegetable counters
- wooden leaves (Hobby Lobby)
Plant a Rainbow Collage
Garden Fine Motor Cutting Activity
Sometimes, I think sight is the most underrated sense. We always rave about how delicious something tastes or how heavenly something smells.
But when was the last time we raved about nature’s vibrant, distinct colors?
There is beauty all around us, and the colors in nature can be absolutely stunning.
Awaken your preschoolers’ sense of sight with our plant a rainbow collage.
I love to read my little ones Plant a Rainbow before giving them free rein to sort the colors on the collage mat. And you’ll get it for FREE, too.
When the final product is complete, you’ll have vibrant color collages ready for display!
Materials:
- Plant a Rainbow Collage Mat
- scissors
- glue
- garden magazines (or use the printable flower photographs)
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MORE Garden Activities for Preschoolers
These garden sensory activities for preschool will give the little ones the perfect opportunity to get their hands dirty! Encouraging them to do so will not only help them to learn and engage with the world around them, but it can also invigorate their senses and work on fine motor skills. It’s a fun way to provide them with an interactive way of exploring the world of gardening.
