I love to follow a child-led approach to gardening with my kids, but they also enjoy more structured kid-friendly projects from time to time. I keep several of my favorite gardening books for kids on hand, so that I don’t have to think too hard when we have the urge to create something new. If you’re looking to start your first garden with your kids or are an experienced gardener trying to inspire your kids, these books will keep you busy all year with awesome projects!

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Gardening with Kids “How-to” Books

Gardening with Emma: A Kid to Kid Guide – This was written by a 12 year old (with the help of her Dad), so it’s a gardening book that really does approach gardening from a kid’s perspective. I love that the first page of the book compares the differences between an adult’s garden and a kid’s garden. There are only a few structured activities, but it is packed with great info and pictures for inspiration. It’s written for kids by a kid. Love it!

Gardening Lab for Kids: 52 Fun Experiments to Learn, Grow, Harvest, Make, Play, and Enjoy Your Garden – This book is divided into six units with the first unit covering gardening basics. The experiments are split between the other 5 units based on themes such as garden art, theme gardening, and green gardening.

Compost: A Family Guide to Making Soil From Scraps and Grow: A Family Guide to Growing Fruits and Vegetables – These are small but well done books that will get you started gardening and composting. They’re not geared specifically towards kids and projects, but they are fun colorful books that kids will enjoy.

300 Step-by-Step Cooking & Gardening Projects for Kids: The Ultimate Book For Budding Gardeners And Super Chefs, The Best Ever Step by Step Kid’s First Gardening, and Gardening Projects for Kids are from Jenny Hendy with Nanacy McDougall as a co-author on the first book. I point this out because these 3 books have a lot of similarities. The first one is split between cooking and gardening projects. The second is very detailed with 120 projects plus lots of info about parts of plants, what plants need, pest control, seasonal task lists, and plant profiles. The third book has 60 gardening projects but less info in the extra “how-to-garden” sections. Many of the same gardening projects are in all three books.

Square Foot Gardening with Kids – This is based on the very popular Square Foot Gardening method that is perfect for beginner gardeners. Build a Square Foot garden with your kids while doing science and math activities along with way!

Bug Hotel is a fun lift-the-flag book for exploring all the creepy crawlies that we find in our gardens. You’ll even find directions for making your own bug hotel!

The Magic School Bus Plants Seeds: A Book About How Living Things Grow – My kids love the Magic School Bus books so I always look to see if they have one that matches up with different topics that we do throughout the year.

Jr. Master Gardener Handbook – My girls had so much fun at the Junior Master Gardner’s class last year. This is the student handbook for the course, but you can get it without going through the course. You can find it on Amazon and also through your local cooperative extension. I love that it has community service ideas in each unit. Volunteering is an important part of our family culture.

Gardening Picture Books

Secrets of a Vegetable Garden is a Shine-a-Light book that will reveal the secrets found in the garden. Turn out the lights and grab a flash light for this fun book!

The Gardener – This book takes place during the Great Depression, so it’s a great discussion starter for talking about this difficult time in history. The little girl in this story keeps an optimistic outlook while using plants to try to get her uncle to smile.

The Wild Garden is a beautiful coloring book with rub-down transfers to add flowers to the wild garden scenes. I love this for myself! It’s also fun for kids who need to keep their hands busy during read aloud time.

We are the Gardeners – This is a beautifully told and illustrated story of a family who starts their first garden. We follow their hard work and see the reward of a beautiful garden!

Little Lift and Look Garden is a fun “life the flap” board book for our youngest learners. Follow a mouse through the garden to see learn about all the creatures found in the garden.

How Does My Garden Grow? – This book has some great gardening information, but it’s presented in more of a picture book story format. I love how it starts out showing the eight vegetable families. It’s fun to see how the plants within each group are similar and the differences between groups.

Whose Garden Is It? – This is an adorable simple picture book. We watch as the gardener and all of the creatures in it try to claim the garden as their own. They all play an important role within a garden!

Zinnia’s Flower Garden – Follow Zinnia’s garden as she plants seeds and watches them grow. Follow up with planting your own zinnia seeds with your kids!

Oh Say Can You Seed?: All About Flowering Plants – We love the Cat in the Hat books, so I was pleased to find a gardening one to add to our collection!

These are great books to check out at your local library and a few you may want to add to your own collections. The gardening books with projects will keep your kids busy with plenty of engaging projects. What are your favorite gardening books for kids? Leave a comment if you have something you’d like to see on this list!

Butterfly Books for Kids

Hornworm Experiment – Garden Fun for Kids

Ladybugs in the Garden

Gardening with Kids – Child Led Activities

Nature Study Ideas for Your Family