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Looking for a simple way to add some fun and structure to your summer at home with little ones? Theme Week Summer was designed with preschool and early elementary-aged kids in mind, giving you a low-pressure rhythm for the season with flexible, intentional ideas. Each week centers around a new theme, and you can grab my free printables to create your own summer schedule and plan out books to read, activities to try, snacks to make, and more! 👉 Click here to visit the main blog post and get your free calendar and planning worksheet.

This week’s theme is Gardening — a fun way to help your kids explore plants, dirt, seeds, and the beauty of watching things grow. Keep reading for easy garden-themed activities, book suggestions, snack ideas, and more! 🌱

Theme Week Summer: Easy Ideas for an Intentional Summer at Home

*Theme Week Summer* is all about simple, intentional fun at home with your preschoolers and early elementary kids! Grab free printables to plan your own summer themes and follow along with weekly inspiration, activities, books, snacks, and more.

See the post

Gardening 🌱

Planting seeds of curiosity this week! We’re starting our summer with Gardening — digging in the dirt, planting flowers and veggies, and learning how things grow. I already knew that we had plans to get some flowers and veggies into the gardens around our home, so this feels like an easy way to make that a bit more intentional with my kids!

Activities to Do

Plant a special flower in a small planter
Paint a flower pot
Paint and put together a special wooden flower craft
Create your own garden markers (use popsicle sticks or smooth rocks)
Computer Game: Curious George’s Flower Garden

shop activities & crafts

see ideas on pinterest

Places to Visit

A greenhouse
A flower field
The Children’s Garden at Hershey Gardens - Hershey, PA

Snacks to Eat

Flower Garden Graham Crackers
Dirt Pudding Cups
Veggie Straws

see ideas on pinterest

Books to Read

We Are the Gardeners by Joanna Gaines
Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt by Kate Messner
The Curious Garden by Peter Brown
Click to scroll below to see even more book ideas to request from your local library or click to shop online!

Shows to Watch

Curious George - “The Magic Garden” (S2E9)
PBS for Parents - What’s Good - “Gardens” (E3) - This link takes you to the video and includes lots of extra resources like parent info, online games to play, and activities to play.
Sid the Science Kid - “Growing Plants”
The Garden Cartoon - a sweet, faith-filled show for little ones! It follows two best friends, Lenny the Lion and Lucy the Lamb, as they go on fun adventures inside a magical garden where anything can grow. But it’s not just about imagination and wonder — each episode helps plant little seeds of faith in your child’s heart in such a simple, engaging way.

Memory Verse

“A good tree doesn’t produce bad fruit... a bad tree doesn’t produce good fruit.”

— Luke 6:43

Here’s a recap of our Gardening Week:

Summer Theme Week Photos - Gardening (1).png

Here’s a peek at what we actually did during Gardening Week! 🌱
The kids each planted their own special flower in small self-watering pots (just $3 each!), we made super easy dirt pudding cups with crushed Oreos and gummy worms, and took some fun nature walks around the neighborhood with cute little Nature Walk notepads in hand. We watched a few garden-themed shows (loved the old-school Magic School Bus episode about seeds!), read some sweet garden books like Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt and A Seed Grows, and finished the week with a fun wooden flower painting craft. It was simple, flexible, and fun—just the way summer should be!

I hope this post gave you some simple and fun ideas to enjoy Gardening Week with your kids! Whether you try one activity or a few, the goal is to create sweet summer memories together. 🌼 If you’re following along with Theme Week Summer, be sure to check out the other themed weeks linked below for even more inspiration. Each one is filled with easy, kid-friendly ideas to help you make the most of your days at home this summer!