Getting kids interested in gardening doesn’t require a yard, a plot, or even especially nice weather. Some of the best plant projects happen right at the kitchen table — and the ones that work best for kids are the kind where something visibly happens within a few days.
Here are some of our favorite indoor gardening activities for kids, from quick experiments to longer-term projects worth tending all season.
Grow Something From a Kitchen Scrap
This one is genuinely magical to kids the first time they see it, and it costs nothing because everything you need is already in your kitchen.
- Carrot tops: Cut the top inch off a whole carrot (the leafy end) and set it in a shallow saucer of water on a sunny windowsill. Fluffy green tops will grow within a week.
- Romaine lettuce: When you use a head of romaine, cut the bottom two inches off and place it in a shallow dish of water. It will grow new leaves from the center. Let kids pick them for their own salad.
- Sweet potato vine: Press toothpicks into the sides of a sweet potato and balance it over a glass of water, root end submerged. It will grow shoots that become vines — beautiful trailing around a sunny window. In late spring, you can snap off the shoots, pot them in soil, and plant them in the garden.
- Pineapple plant: Cut the top off a ripe pineapple and peel the bottom leaves back to leave a one-inch stump. Set it in a glass of water in a bright window. It’ll root in about six weeks. When it does, pot it up and grow your own pineapple. It takes about three years from there to fruit, which gives kids a long-term project to check in on.
A kitchen window is all you need. These indoor gardening activities for kids teach patience and observation, and kids love checking daily for progress.
Plant an Herb Garden
A small herb garden on a sunny windowsill is one of the most useful indoor gardening projects you can do, and kids love growing something they can actually taste.
Easy herbs to start from seed or transplant:
- Basil: fast-growing and satisfying. Kids love picking leaves to put on pizza.
- Mint: almost impossible to fail with, and it smells incredible.
- Chives: reliable, pretty, and useful in the kitchen.
- Parsley: slower to germinate but worth the wait.
Start seeds in small pots with good-quality potting mix, water regularly, and place in the sunniest window you have. Herbs need at least 6 hours of light, so a south-facing window is ideal. If you don’t have great light, a small grow light works well and kids find it interesting too.
Alternatively, we carry a selection of herb transplants at our Meadows Farms locations if you want to skip the seed stage and start with established plants.
Build a Terrarium
A terrarium is one of the most satisfying indoor gardening activities for kids because it looks great, involves layers and design, and mostly takes care of itself once set up.
The basic idea is a small, self-contained garden inside a glass container. Open terrariums work well for succulents and cacti (dry conditions, low maintenance). Closed terrariums with a lid work for moss and tropical plants, creating a mini water cycle that kids find fascinating once you explain it.
Our full How to Make a Terrarium with Kids post walks through everything step by step with container options, layering, which plants to choose, and how to care for it once it’s built.
And if your kids want to build one with help, our Kids Terrarium Workshop on Saturday, August 22 is a great option. All materials are provided for $20 per child.
Make Seed Paper and Plant It
Seed paper is a craft that doubles as a garden activity. Kids make sheets of paper embedded with wildflower seeds, and when they’re done, they can plant the paper directly in the garden or give it as a gift.
What you need:
- Scrap paper (newspaper, old drawings, paper bags)
- Water
- Wildflower or pollinator-mix seeds
- A blender
- A mesh screen or old picture frame with screen stretched across it
How to make it:
- Tear paper into small pieces and soak in water for at least an hour.
- Blend the soaked paper with more water into a smooth pulp.
- Mix seeds into the pulp.
- Pour a thin layer onto your screen and press flat.
- Let dry completely (1–2 days), then peel off and plant.
To plant, lay the seed paper on loose soil, press it gently, and keep watered. Sprouts usually appear within a week or two. We carry native wildflower seed mixes and native plants that pollinators love if you want to expand the garden beyond the paper.
Propagate a Succulent
Succulents are some of the easiest plants to propagate, and watching a new plant grow from a single leaf is something kids find surprising every time.
How to propagate from a leaf:
- Gently twist a healthy leaf off a succulent; it should snap off cleanly at the base without tearing.
- Set the leaf on top of dry cactus soil in a shallow tray or pot. Don’t bury it.
- Place in bright, indirect light and mist lightly every few days.
- Within a few weeks, tiny pink roots will appear, followed by a miniature new plant growing from the base of the leaf.
It’s slow, but each stage is visually exciting enough to keep kids checking in regularly. We have a great selection of small succulents at all our Meadows Farms locations if you need a starting plant.
Grow Beans in a Bag
This is a classic early childhood science activity, and it works every time. All you need is a zip-lock bag, a damp paper towel, and a few dried beans from the pantry.
- Dampen a paper towel, fold it, and place it inside the bag.
- Tuck a few beans between the towel and the clear front of the bag.
- Tape the bag to a sunny window.
- Check daily — beans usually sprout within 3–5 days.
Kids can watch the whole germination process through the plastic; the root growing down, the shoot growing up, the seed leaves opening. It makes a great introduction to understanding how plants work before graduating to soil-based projects.
Keep a Plant Journal
For kids who’ve caught the indoor gardening bug, a simple plant journal ties everything together. Encourage them to draw or write about each plant they’re growing — what it looked like when they started, how it’s changed, what they watered it with, any surprises.
Over time it becomes a real record of what they’ve grown and learned. And kids who observe plants carefully tend to take better care of them, too.
Find Plants and Supplies at Meadows Farms
Most of these indoor gardening activities for kids need very little, but when you do need plants, potting mix, pebbles, or seed packets, our Meadows Farms locations carry everything you need to get started. Our staff love helping families pick the right plants for indoor projects, whatever the season.
And don’t forget to check our events calendar for hands-on kids’ workshops and free craft events — we have a great lineup of activities for families all summer and fall.