If you’re the kind of parent or grandparent that laments the limited time kids spend out of doors these days, there are great learning toys to help change that. Kids gardening tools and garden activity sets are perfect for your child or grandchild who needs more time outside. These toys not only teach basic gardening and nature skills, they also help cultivate a sense of responsibility for growing plants.

STEM-Focused Learning Toys

Play-based learning that gets kids outside and into the garden to learn about how plants grow is STEM-approved. These kinds of toys are fun, but they also provide science lessons. Gardening teaches children about how plants start from seeds and grow with the addition of water, soil, and sunlight.

There are so many linked lessons too. Gardening is a great opportunity to learn more about nature and ecosystems. Kids in the garden learn about insects and other critters and how they interact with plants. They can explore how some are beneficial to gardens and that some plants and insects may be invasive and damaging to the local ecosystem.  

Gardening Fosters Empathy and Responsibility

Learning toys that include gardening activities are not just for fun or even for learning basic skills and foundational science ideas. They also help foster particular human values that all parents want to see their kids develop.

Gardening and starting plants from seeds is a great way to learn responsibility. Kids get the reward of seeing their daily efforts to water and tend to seedlings result in full-grown plants. This care for other living creatures, even plants, also helps to build empathy and respect for others.

Gardening Activity Box is Everything You Need

For that child or grandchild glued to screens indoors, the Roca Big Gardening Activity Box has everything necessary to break that tie. With gardening supplies and activities, your favorite little person will be happy to let go of the device and get his or her hands in the dirt. The activity box is designed to present STEM learning, a chance to get outside and connect to nature, and a solid way to develop empathy and responsibility. It has everything you need to get your child more interested in these important skills and ideas.

The all-in-one box comes with a set of kids gardening tools, including a spade for digging in the dirt. It has four biodegradable planters for starting seeds and growing at least four different types of plants. You’ll also get some related toys and activities, like a bee mask and crayons to color it as well as a DIY picture frame. A learning guide about beneficial insects in the garden rounds out this excellent outdoor, educational and fun toy box.