Are you looking for something a little different to put in your kids’ Easter baskets this year? Are you trying to focus less on candy and chocolate? Why not embrace spring another way and get your little ones excited to get into the garden? Here are our top 5 garden themed Easter basket ideas.

1. Get started early – Easter falls at a different time each spring, sometimes a little early to go tilling the soil. There might even still be snow on the ground! That’s a great excuse to start plants inside, though. Fill your basket with potting soil, small peat pots, popsicle sticks for labeling, and easy to grow seeds, and you can get planting that very day.

2. Beat the sun – Gardening means being out in the sun, and gardening in spring usually means being out in the sun for the first time in a while. It’s important for everyone to protect themselves, but especially little guys and gals. Sunglasses and hats (with garden patterns like bugs and flowers for extra fun) will get them excited to get outdoors and planting, but with a practical bonus.

3. Find the right tools – It’s easy to find small, fun garden tool sets for little hands, and they look great poking up out of basket, too. Kids’ tools often come in different colors that you can coordinate a whole basket around, if you’re making up several.

4. Add something sweet – It is Easter after all, and if you want to have a little something sweet in your basket, look for garden themed candy, like chocolate flowers or carrots. (In a pinch, remember that bunny rabbits do love gardens just as much as we do).

5. Carry it all – It’s good to have a way to carry everything, especially if you’re trooping in and out of the house. A garden-themed bag can double as an Easter basket, but a blank canvas bag is a lot more fun to decorate.