Among many leisure educational activities, we believe gardening plays a key role in developing STEM-based skills, promoting physical engagement, and getting kids tip-toed into the world of plants and the nature we’re inheriting. Yet, gardening equipment used by adults are mostly unsuitable for kids to handle, that’s why we’re compiling the list below to help you find the Best Gardening Tools for Kids – all of which are safe, enjoyable, but sure won’t compensate the experience of authentic gardening.
Let’s get ready to have fun with your young gardeners!
What Are The Best Gardening Tools For Kids?
- Best Overall: Light-up Terrarium Kit for Kids with LED Light on Lid – Dan&Darci
- Best for a School-Aged Child: Paint & Plant Flower Growing Kit – Grow Cosmos, Zinnia, Marigold Flowers – Dan&Darci
- Best for an Infant: Watering Can Toy – Green Toys
- Best for Toddler: Build-a-Bouquet Floral Arrangement Playset – Green Toys
- Best for a Preschooler: Kids Garden Tools Set with STEM Learning Guide – ROCA Home
- Best for budget: Kids Garden Tool Set Toy, Rake, Spade, Hoe and Leaf Rake, reduced size, 4-Piece – G & F Products
- Sprout and Grow Toddler Garden Toys – Learning Resources
- Kid’s Gardening Tool Set – Gardenline
- Kids Garden Tool Set with Tote – Bo Toys and Gifts
- Garden Wagon & Tools Toy Set for Kids – Liberty Imports
Top 10 Gardening Tool Sets for Kids Reviews in 2020
Best Overall: Light-up Terrarium Kit for Kids with LED Light on Lid – Dan&Darci
Product Specs
Dimension | 7 x 4.5 x 7 inches |
Item weight | 1.43 pounds |
Batteries | 1 Lithium Metal batteries required. (included) |
Manufacturer recommended age | 6 – 12 years |
Warranty | N/A |
- Highly safe for kids
- STEM-qualified
- Portable
- Design is highly appealing to various age groups
- Involves little physical activity
- Not budget-friendly
Despite being a product for the bigger kids, this topples the rest due to perfect harmony between all our criteria. As a terrarium (or miniature garden), it could be carried and taken care of almost anywhere at any time. Its portability also promotes indoor usage for urban families as well as households in hostile-climate areas. With this, kids are not only free to be creative with their mini creation but also be more knowledgeable with different elements of a nourishing environment.
Ultimately, its highly decorative feature allows this “garden” to be both a muse to children and adults, either as a fantastic gift or an interesting family challenge!
Best for a School-Aged Child: Paint & Plant Flower Growing Kit – Grow Cosmos, Zinnia, Marigold Flowers – Dan&Darci
Product Specs
Dimension | 12 x 4.5 x 4 inches |
Item weight | 1.1 pounds |
Manufacturer recommended age | 36 months – 12 years |
Warranty | N/A |
- STEM-approved
- Budget-friendly
- Enhance artistic creativity
- Limited to floral plants
- Not portable (or storage-friendly)
- May not suit non-artistic enthusiasts
With the next age group – 6 – 13 years of age, we target those products that incorporate more cognitive skills on plant name recognitions and allows freedom of customization. Another Dan&Darci’s highly-regarded product has caught our attention with its elaborative inclusion to maximum creativity in the gardening set-up: aluminum planter, 3 expanding soil coir discs, 3 wooden plant markers, 3 seed packets, shovel, watering bottle, 6-color paint strip, paint palette, instruction booklet.
However, gardening skills won’t be the only helper to our kids’ success with this challenge, it is an artistic dedication that partially accounts for the produce. Therefore, this toolset is an especially good match for artistic-driven youngsters.
Yet, it is still a super great opportunity for yet-artistic kids to try their hands in something as fun and messy as paints.
Best for an Infant: Watering Can Toy – Green Toys
Product Specs
Dimension | 12 x 6.5 x 6.5 inches |
Item weight | 11.2 ounces (0.7 pounds) |
Available Options | Coral and Green |
Manufacturer recommended age | 18 months – 10 years |
Warranty | 90-day “warranty period” after shipment |
- Design is appealing
- Highly suitable for little hands
- Highly durable
- Portable
- Has little variety of tools
- Rope handle is quite unsuitable in practice
Visually, the green and yellow combination instantly captivates us due to how vibrant it is. And despite the little variety, this set offers, we find it is fairly reasonable since kids this group yet need elaborative tools to know about gardening. Moreover, these three tools are pretty much flexible in functionality that you can bring it anywhere: the beach, a picnic, or any outdoor playground and just get our kids enjoying.
On the “not-so-bright-side”, many reviews report that the unique rope handle of the watering can is a nay when they carry water in it. Regardless of that, this product still works fine as an introductory-level kit for our curious children.
Best for Toddler: Build-a-Bouquet Floral Arrangement Playset – Green Toys
Product Specs
Dimension | 17.2 x 5.2 x 4.8 inches |
Item weight | 1.3 pounds |
Manufacturer recommended age | 36 months – 6 years |
Warranty | 90-day “warranty period” after shipment |
- Highly safe
- Enhances creativity and logical thinking
- Materials are eco-friendly
- Dishwasher-friendly
- Not portable
- Model is limited to stereotypical floral plants
Coming from newborn to toddler stage, kids slow down on physical growth, but start to show tremendous intellectual and social development. That’s our case for yet picking a hand-on toolset, but instead, an indoor gardening puzzle that introduces kids to basic plant concept: flowers, stems, leaves, and grounds.
With this playful set, kids can challenge themselves with various arrangements for flowers and have fun along the process. Material-wise, this product is made from BPA-free recycled plastic jugs, so there you go, a perfect option for environment enthusiast households.
However, we are looking forward to more variety of plants including in Green Toys’ upcoming gardening sets beyond the floral family.
Best for a Preschooler: Kids Garden Tools Set with STEM Learning Guide – ROCA Home
Product Specs
Dimension | 9 x 5 x 6 inches |
Item weight | 1.1 pounds |
Manufacturer recommended age | 36 months – 12 years |
Warranty | 30-day-return policy |
- Portable
- Appealing colors
- Highly educative
- High physical activity
- Fairly affordable
- Size could be too small
- Little variety of tools
- Negative feedbacks on seed quality
- Handles are chunky and hard to grasp
- Wordy STEM guide (we prefer a more concise and illustrative manual)
Preschooler age is the perfect time to get physicality and mentality intertwine in the gardening progress. From price, kit inclusion, to external reviews, we believe this classic set is a great assistant to our preschoolers’ relationship with a hands-on gardening job.
This ROCA Home’s set is comprised of a mini fork, rake, trowel, watering can, tote bag, and especially a dedicated STEM learning guide, where kids could start growing real plants with these tools which have been modified for them to handle.
What are you waiting for? Get your family members to gather and plant some real deal while our preschooler gardeners are busy exploring gardening reality!
Best for budget: Kids Garden Tool Set Toy, Rake, Spade, Hoe and Leaf Rake, reduced size, 4-Piece – G & F Products
Product Specs
Rake | Leaf Rake | Shovel | Hoe | |
Dimension | 24.5 inches | 29.5 inches | 28.5 inches | 28.5 inches |
Item weight | 0.6 pounds | 0.55 pounds | 0.6 pounds | 0.8 pounds |
Warranty | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
- Budget-friendly (for an age-friendly set and fairly durable gardening tools)
- Highly educative (yard work involvement)
- Storage-friendly
- Stiff handles
- High physical activities
- Easily broken without proper storage
- Exclusion of other gardening necessity
Finally, most of us’ favorite nomination – the nicest treater to our limited budget on kids’ toys (which, in most cases, are immediately forgotten and discarded after a couple months of kids’ unpredictable fascination). Therefore, we have been looking for a product that could stand the age test – durable, suitable to a wider range of age, and appears at a reasonable price, and there we have it!
With only 4 handle tools, this product strongly encourages involvement on your soil, in your garden, moreover, such a great chance to teach kids proper gardening postures and techniques!
Sprout and Grow Toddler Garden Toys – Learning Resources
Product Specs
Dimension | 12.2 x 9.2 x 4.2 inches |
Item weight | 1.3 pounds |
Manufacturer recommended age | 24 months – 10 years |
Warranty | Within 365 days in unopened or original condition (excludes clearance items) |
- Appealing in design
- Highly suitable for kids to handle
- Highly safe
- High physical activitie
- Lacking in creativity enhancement
Though this product doesn’t make our top-tier list, it comes in as a potential investment for a toddler to grasp the concept of planting at a fairly acceptable price. Not only are these educational pieces specially made for toddlers to handle, the plastic used to make it is soft and wash-friendly
The only setback of this kit lies in how not-so-much it could stimulate creativity and curiosity in toddlers. Simply because each piece was designed to fit in a particular model, and therefore kids won’t have fun experimenting with a variety of arrangements.
In the end, still, this product fits the knowledge cue of its designated age group, which means it’s a try-worthy option.
Kid’s Gardening Tool Set – Gardenline
Product Specs
Dimension | 6.5 x 9 x 5 inches |
Item weight | 1.2 pounds |
Available options | Blue and Pink |
Manufacturer recommended age | 24 months – 10 years |
Warranty | 365-day free return in unopened or original condition (excludes clearance items) |
- Metal material simulates real gardening tools
- Highly portable
- Good variety of tools
- Unisex color choices
- Metal material is unsuitable for the youngest recommended age group
- Has negative feedbacks on gloves
Let your kids put their imagination to the test safely and securely with this classic and cute gardening toolset. With all the essentials that they will need – gardening gloves, tools, a watering can, and it has a stylish little carry bag for everything, the kit is fairly practical for both gardening and storage.
This great little set is also a yay if you have limited storage, or you just want something small and compact for your little planters. Two available options for colors allow your kids to decide on the color they want – cool or hot, blue or pink.
What sets us back was the metal material – which has both an advantage and a disadvantage to it that we had listed in the Pros and Cons section.
Kids Garden Tool Set with Tote – Bo Toys and Gifts
Product Specs
Dimension | 8 x 8 x 4 inches |
Item weight | 0.7 pounds |
Manufacturer recommended age | 36 months – 8 years |
Warranty | 15-day return policy |
Get your kids out and away from all those screens and gadgets with this stylish red set of kid yard tools. These tools are designed for real work, with high quality enameled metal and hardwood handles, so your children will get hands-on with it.
However, they were specially designed with delicate children’s hands in mind, so they’ll be very comfortable and easy to use. Thus is a reason for many complaints on the small size of the set.
Garden Wagon & Tools Toy Set for Kids – Liberty Imports
Product Specs
Dimension | 15 x 7 x 12 inches |
Item weight | 2.05 pounds |
Manufacturer recommended age | 4 – 10 years |
Warranty | N/A |
We would like to end our list with this adorable plastic toolset. Inside this great kid’s wagon are 8 tools, it will give them a perfect way to get some green fingers or just play around with. It is also great for family trips to the beach or camping.
As this is made of plastic, it won’t be as durable as other sets which are made of metal and wood, and this is more of a children gardening toy than a real tool. However, this will be great for younger kids.
Gardening Tools Buyer Guide: What to Consider When Buying for Your Kids?
Safety and durability
We ensure each product chosen are guaranteed to be safe for kids and even safe for the ecosystem.
Educational Value
We highly regard toy products that induce maximum hands-on involvement of kids rather than mere “pushes of buttons”, since the more a toy does, the less the child does. Toys indeed shape a crucial portion of kids’ sense of reality, that’s why this criterion would be on top of the factors of consideration in our ranking.
Portability (explicitly put, storage-friendliness)
With this, we factor in how flexible the product is between indoor and outdoor usage. Moreover, we highly consider the ease of storage for each product we choose so it would be less of a “nightmare” to us – adults, who mostly have to do the ending tidying up.
Affordability
This factor comes hand-to-hand with safety & durability. Considering the quality of materials, brands, and all other criteria, we will determine its relative affordability.
Customer feedback
We collect many opinions throughout the internet to have a more holistic view of picking our list.
Lastly, how appealing it is to us – adults!
A product that could successfully grab our attention means an even more fantastic family bonding experience.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
Would a gardening tool be good for a high anxiety child?
Yes. According to credible psychology researches, gardening helps practice mindfulness and the ability to cope with anxiety. Therefore, introducing kids early to gardening practice will most likely be a good supplement to help kids cope with a high level of anxiety. (link)
How can a gardening tool be educational?
Good gardening tools help kids develop a sense of nature, learn about plants, proper nutrition, take care of one another, and be disciplined.
What is “STEM” that is mentioned frequently?
STEM is the acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics.
How can gardening be considered STEM?
Gardening is not considered “STEM”, but it enhances kids’ fascination in STEM, which in this case is a natural science.
Could a fake/simulate gardening model be beneficial?
Especially for the early childhood stages when kids aren’t ready to step outside yet, so-called “fake” models could be useful in informing kids about the basic concept of the natural environment. Indeed, we encourage letting kids have fun with simulate toys before allowing them to use real gardening tools.
Our Top Picks
In conclusion, don’t stress yourself over every single criterion we listed. Look out for what captivates your kids, then check those options off with the factors we suggested. Then you’re good to go. Still, we decided to rank our top 3 of this compilation to give you a sense of what we value holistically:
- Light-up Terrarium Kit for Kids with LED Light on Lid – Dan&Darci
- Build-a-Bouquet Floral Arrangement Playset – Green Toys
- Kids Garden Tool Set Toy, Rake, Spade, Hoe and Leaf Rake, reduced size, 4-Piece – G & F Products
Lastly, we wish you a rewarding experience to succeed in picking the right tool to get your kids to start with gardening!