Preschool Growing Fruits & Vegetables Theme and Activities

On this page you'll find preschool activities related to growing fruits & vegetables in the garden.
Use these ideas to help you plan your lessons!

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Growing Fruits and Vegetables Theme planning Guide for free!
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Growing Fruits & Vegetables in the Garden Theme Map

Subscribe to download a free copy of a sample plan we created using ideas found on this page!

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Suggested Fruit and Vegetable Items to add to your Art & Creativity Space this Week

Consider adding Fruit & Vegetable Magazine Clippings, and Stamps to your Art Space this week.
Fruit Markers make a fun addition as well. ​Provide heavy card stock and encourage preschoolers to cut fruit or veggie shapes out. 

Bottle Cap Grapes

Use recycled materials to create art! You can create grapes (and other fruit) by using this fun stamping technique. Try this bottle cap grapes tutorial from Pre-K Printable Fun!

Try this!

Potato Stamping

Create art using vegetables!
Use a potato to make stamps
Another fun idea is to use celery leaves for painting or bottoms for stamping

Try this!

Seed Rolling

Save large seeds or pits from fruit to use with for painting. 
This is the same as painting with marbles. Place a piece of paper in a container with a flat bottom such as a cardboard lid or cake pan. Add a few drops of paints and then the seeds, encourage children to tilt the tray back and forth to make a print. 

Create a Strawberry

Provide white (yup, there are white strawberries, something fun to learn about) and red construction paper for children to cut the berry out of (fun fact: did you know a strawberry isn't actually a "berry" look it up with your preschoolers to see the research behind this). Children can cut out the pieces needed to form the fruit, then use a qtip to dip in paint and add seeds.

Modeling Clay Fruit and Vegetables

Use modeling clay to create your favorite fruit and vegetables. Air Dry clay is a great option for this project.

Fruit & Veggie Seed Mosaics

Supply a variety of seeds for children to create mosaics with.
I love this invitation to create a Seed Mosaic from shared by Robin S. Picking up those tiny seeds is great for finger strength and hand-eye-coordination. Winter is a great time to get out and collect some seeds!

Healthy Fruit & Veggie Snack

This week is a great time to try something new to eat! Provide an assortment of fresh fruits and
vegetables for the children to try for snack this week.

Fruit Photography

Review famous art inspired by fruit! Set up a "photography studio" with digital cameras (check with families in advance they may have some to donate), along with fruit (real or faux), baskets, and child friendly fruit bowls. Encourage students to arrange the fruit, and photograph them. Print your student photographs and display them in the photography studio. This also provides a great opportunity for using positional phrases: "I see in your photo you placed the banana next to the apple, I see you put the grapes on top of the other fruit".

*Create a Farmers Market

Create a Farmer's Market in your Dramatic Space this week. Add pretend Fruits & Vegetables, Baskets, Shopping Bags, a Scale, Signs and play money to your space. Reader Cheryl V. set up this adorable Farmer's Market space using our Farmer's Market Dramatic Play Pack. Take a closer look at this set here.  

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Build a Pretend Garden

Reader Erica P. created this fabulous DIY Garden. She used a large box, pool noodles, Fabric, and Border. For your space you can also add: Gardening Tools, Gloves, watering cans, laminated seeds packs

Erica's Educare Learning Center

Make a Pie Stand

Do your littles have a love of baking? Transform your Dramatic Play Space into a Pie Stand!
The Pie Stand Dramatic Play Pack has all the signs and props you need to create a pie stand. 

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Canning your Fruits & Vegetables

Canning is a way to preserve foods. Provide your students with plastic jars, tongs, and pots, oven mitts, and pretend play food to can. Felt food works great for this (they are easier to squish in side the jars).

Small World Play Vegetable Garden

Add materials to build a pretend garden in your construction space this week. Provide pretend fruits and veggies, brown felt, green felt, containers, craft stick garden beds, and small garden tools. Lincoln logs, are another great option for building miniature gardens.

Build a Garden Box Outside

Plan to build a real garden box with children.
Create a plan on paper and then work together to build it. Follow up by planting veggies and fruit in it. 

Pattern Block Fruit & Vegetables

Use pattern blocks to build Fruit & Vegetables. Provide plenty of inspiration such as real photos and books featuring fruits and vegetables.

Fruit and Vegetable Silly Rhymes

Come up with words that rhyme with your favorite fruits and vegetables. Pear/Bear, Hairy/Berry

Fruit & Vegetable First Sounds Clip Cards*

Practice recognizing letters and phonics with these first our Growing Fruits and Vegetables Activity pack. ​

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Vegetable story and Discussion

The Vegetables We Eat by Gail Gibbons is a book that describes all different types of vegetables, what type of vegetables they are and how they grow. There are many opportunities for recall and discussion after listening to this book! Watch the Read Aloud on YouTube here!
What is your favorite way to grow vegetables?
What kind of vegetables from the book do you like?
Did you learn about any new vegetables? Which ones would you like to try?

Vegetable Garden Letter Matching*

Practice matching uppercase letters to lowercase letters with this flip and find letter game Included in the Pre-K Printable Fun Growing Fruits and Vegetables Activity pack.
**For added enrichment, try adding the letter cards to a sensory table filled with dry black beans. Children can find them in the bin and then place them on the mat.   ​​

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Build Your Name with Seeds​

Provide black paper and seeds of choice for children to create their name. They can clear the seeds and create more letters or glue them down to make their own name sign.

My Garden Finger play

Watch this video on YouTube to Learn this finger play to share with your preschoolers during circle time. Easily change the words to "vegetable seeds" or leave as is. 

Be A Seed Rhyme

Be a seed is a fun spring rhyme for circle time.
Learn it on YouTube.

Free Fruit & Vegetable Photo Cards*

This set of free Fruit and Vegetable photos cards can be used in a variety of ways to support early literacy. Use them to teach new fruit and vegetables, sort them, or combine them with your favorite games (like our Fruit and Veggie Pick Up activity).

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Anywhere Farm by Phyllis Root and G. Brian Karas
My Garden by Kevin Henkes
The Fruits We Eat by Gail Gibbons
The Vegetables We Eat by Gail Gibbons
Soup Day: A Board Book by Melissa Iwai
Eating the Alphabet by Lois Elhert
The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss

Garden Glove and Watering Can Color Matching*

Practice color matching with this fun garden themed file folder game, included in the Pre-K Printable Fun Growing Fruits and Vegetables Activity pack.  Match-up the watering cans to the same color gardening gloves.

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Blueberry Counting*

Use the blueberry pie mat and included blueberry counters, or add blue pom poms, to practice number recognition and counting! As a bonus, use tweezers to transfer the pom poms for fine motor development.

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Sort Strawberries by size*

Practice sorting items by size. Purchase a container of strawberries (or pick them from your garden) and practice sorting by small, medium, and large. Your can also use this printable included in our Growing Fruit & Vegetables activity pack to sort your berries by size!

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Weigh your Fruit & Vegetable

Gather some of your favorite fruit and vegetables, and a kitchen scale.
Practice measuring your produce! Which weighs the most, and the least?

Sort your vegetables by Length

Purchase or pick vegetables from your garden and practice sorting them by length
(shortest to longest, and longest to shortest)

Sorting Seeds

Cut any fruits or veggies you have on hand to observe the seeds inside. You can sort the seeds by size, texture, where the seed is located, etc. ​

Carrot Counting Craft

Preschoolers can create this fun carrot counting activity using basic art supplies.

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How Does it Grow Sorting*

Fruits and vegetables come from all kinds of different plants. Explore some of the types of plants that different fruits & vegetables grow on with this file folder game. Included in the Pre-K Printable Fun Growing Fruits and Vegetables Activity pack. ​

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Investigate Seeds

Take a closer look at the seeds that can be found in different fruits. Some are on the outside, and some are on the inside. Some are big, and some are small!

Watch Bean Plants Sprout

Start some Lima bean seeds in a plastic baggie with wet cotton balls. Tape the bags to a window for light and to observe growth. 

When the seeds sprout, remove from the bag and examine the parts of the plant. 

Transfer to a container with some soil for children to take home and plant or transfer to your preschool garden. 

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Plan and Start a Garden

Learning how to plan is an important skill for preschoolers. When preschoolers engage in activities that teach planning they are building a solid foundation for success in school and in life.  Planning a garden with your preschooler can be a fun way to introduce planning.  You can use the My Garden Plan Learn Plan and Build activity pack to plan out your garden and facilitate discussion about gardening. 

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Sheena W. of Building Blocks submitted these photos of her garden. She grows zucchini each year, the children help water the garden, observe growth, and help harvest. 

Start a Garden with the Children! If you are short on yard space consider a Re-usable Grow Bag .
This fun Garden was shared by our reader Christie Iof Gananda Family Daycare.

Photo Credit: Gananda Family Daycare

Our reader Candasa C. shared this lovely image of
Scarlett runner beans she has climbing against her fence.

Photo Credit: Candasa Crumb

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Blooming Fruit Walk

Take a nature walk around the yard and look for blooms on your Fruit Trees.
These beautiful Apple blossoms belong to reader Carolyn K.

Carolyn Kropp.

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Investigate your Favorite Fruit

Explore Kiwi! Record your findings using our free  free anatomy of a Kiwi  investigation form.

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Lemon Science Investigation

Try out this Lemon Fizz Experiment with your preschoolers to work on the Scientific Process.

Try this!

Fruit and Vegetable Washing Station

Set up a wash station with water and scrub brushes. Children can wash fruit or veggies for snack or practice with lemons, limes, and oranges. Then use these to make a yummy juice or smoothie. 
Use this activity to talk about the importance of washing produce before consuming. 

Fruit & Vegetable Sensory Table Ideas

In the sensory table this week place pretend or printed & laminated fruits and veggies. 

• Dry black beans (as soil)
• Dirt
• Water (wash fruit and veggies, supply scrub brush)
• Dry coffee grounds (you can get used coffee grounds for free from some coffee shops)
• Shredded newspaper
  

Make Fruit Scented Play Dough

Natural Fruit play dough is an amazing sensory experience. Add scent and texture to your favorite no cook play dough recipe by folding in fruit zest, and juice! Some fruits that work great for this experience include orange, lime, lemon, and berries. Play dough is also a great fine motor workout-BONUS!

Try this!

Dissect a Bean Seed

Soak beans in water for at least a few hours. Dissect a bean by first removing its outer skin, then splitting open to examine the inside. At each stage, stop and talk with the children about what they observe. ​

Grow Seeds in a Jar 

You will need:
-Clear glass jar with lid
-Potting soil
-Seeds of choice
-Water

​ Place a small amount of soil in the jar. Make a small hole in the middle of the soil and deposit the seeds in the hole. Spray with water just to moisten. Place the lid in the jar to serve as a greenhouse just until the seed has sprouted. Continue to water and keep soil moist. Once the seedling has reached the top of the jar you can lead the lid off. Continue to water and enjoy your new plant!

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 Plant Seeds: Fine Motor

Gardening a great fine motor workout. Provide a variety of seeds, and individual potting containers. Preschoolers can fill each pot with soil, poke a hole, plant the seed, and cover. 

Fruit Seed Drop: Fine Motor

Set up a fine motor invitation using a plastic bottle, tweezers and larger seeds (pumpkin seeds work great). Encourage your student to practice picking up the seed using the tweezers and dropping them into the jar!  For some added math fun you can have the class guess how many seeds are in the jar, and count them.

Fruit & Vegetable Hunt*: Gross Motor

Travel around the yard, neighborhood or garden center to see what fruits and vegetables you can find! 
Bring along the I Spy Fruit and Vegetables checklist from our Growing Fruit and Vegetables Activity Pack. 

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Fruit & Veggie Pick-up: Fine Motor

Encourage preschoolers to build fine motor skills  while learning about fruits and veggies. Pair a grabber tool , our free set of these Fruit & Vegetable photo cards and pretend fruits and veggies for this activity.

Try this!

Dig in the Soil: Gross Motor

Digging around in mud or wet soil is a serious workout for little arms! Provide a space in the garden or fill up the sensory bin. 

Harvesting Fruit and Vegetables: Gross Motor Game

For this activity you can use inexpensive pretend fruit and veggies, colored balls to represent them, or our free printable Fruit & Vegetable cards like the ones above.  This activity is perfect for outdoor play. Place your vegetables in the soil or sandbox. Choose places that encourage children to stretch, crawl, dig, squat...get those little bodies moving! Place a basket in a central location for children to place their produce in. 

Sing and Move to your Favorite Fruit or Vegetable Inspired Songs on YouTube

Sing and move to Hot Potato from The Wiggles. 
​Follow up by playing a round of hot potato! Their Song Fruit Salad is another classic!

Harvesting a Mini Garden

Provide kinetic sand along with mini vegetables for children to plant and harvest on repeat creating a fun opportunity for working on those fine motor skills. This would also be an excellent opportunity for patterning practice

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Social and Emotional Development

The activities in this section are suggested to help preschoolers gain a better understanding about Feelings, Emotions, Themselves, and Others  (Family, Friends, People in their Community, and People from other cultures/around the world).

Gardening Requires Planning and Patience

Growing Fruits & Vegetables takes a lot patience and planning. 
Preschoolers are learning all about both of these important skills. Utilize this theme engage in activities, stories, and discussions that emphasize these skills. 

Planting a garden requires planning, and A LOT of patience! 
Join Lola in the book Lola Plants a Garden, by Anna McQuinn, as she plans and plants a garden. This story is great for sparking a discussion about patience in preschoolers. 
Encourage preschoolers to share about a time they had to be patient. Ask them to share ways they practice being patient. 

Preschoolers are busy people! They are learning so much and developing at an incredibly rapid rate. It can be hard to stand still and be patient. 
Take time this week to talk about feelings that come arise when trying to be patient and what children can do with these feelings. Here are some examples you can talk about with your preschooler

Feelings about Patience

Be ready to support children during this discussion. Perhaps display a poster about feelings and bring classroom resources you have available for managing emotions such as a Calm Down binder or items from your Calm Down Space. 

• Frustration when waiting for a turn
• Anger when they can't do what they want
• Boredom when waiting in line

• I feel frustrated when....
  • When I'm frustrated I can feel better by....
• I feel angry when....
  • When I'm angry I can....
• I feel bored when...
  • When I feel bored I can...

Make a Class Book About Patience

Make a class book about patience. Read the following sentences (or create your own), ask children for responses. Record their responses then create a book for the classroom. 

Play a Fruit & Vegetable Game together*
-Learning to take turns

This fun Roll a Garden game found inside our Growing Fruits & Vegetables Activity pack is great to play with a friend to practice taking turns. Roll the playing cube to add seeds to the garden.

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Fruits & Vegetables Around the World

Many fruits and vegetables grow best in a particular environment. This theme is an excellent time to talk about climates around the world and where much of the fruit and vegetables children eat come from. 
This is a great time to taste a new fruit that you may have never tried before!

From Field to Fork

Watch a fascinating video on YouTube about how potatoes go from growing on a farm to being ready for eating. 

Meet the produce manager at your local grocery store

Call ahead to your local grocery store to arrange a trip to meet your local produce manager! Have them share fun information about their job, and Fruits & Vegetables. 

Where Does it Grow?* Group Sharing Activity

Use the 3-part vocabulary cards from the our Growing Fruits and Vegetables activity pack or pretend fruit and vegetables along with the Where Does It Grow sorting mat from our Fruit & Vegetable Activity pack. This activity encourages young children to practice taking turns in a group. Place the mat on the floor and the fruit & veggie cards or toys in a basket. You can invite children to pass around the basket to take turns taking a fruit or veggie.  As children select their fruit or veggie encourage them to identify it, then try to guess if it grows on a tree, bush, or in the soil. Provide support as needed! Keep a gardening book nearby as a resource to use as needed. 

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Apple Orchard Virtual Field Trip 

Take a virtual field trip to the apple orchard to see all of the different kinds of apples there are. Have an apple-tasting party to see what different apples taste like. Discuss as a group which ones were your favorites and least favorites.

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The activities in this section are suggested to help educator's with classroom management,
improve parent participation, and communication.

Parent Participation

Ask clients if they have extra gardening supplies to donate (Pots, used trowels, small gloves, etc.)

Community Garden

Ask families to help contribute to the creation of a community garden in your preschool. You can build a large garden box or use large pots. Parents can contribute by donating their time or materials. 

Stone Soup

Ask each family to bring in a vegetable to contribute to making lunch one day. Work together to create stone soup. Read the book Stone Soup before this activity for added enrichment. 

As a follow-up be sure to add plenty of pretend fruits and veggies to the housekeeping area as well as some bigger pots for pretend play. 

Transition Idea

Dismiss students from circle time by using fruit or vegetable colors. For example, "If you are wearing red like a strawberry you may get up." 

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Fruit and Vegetables Activity Pack

$7.00

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Farmers Market Dramatic Play Pack

$5.00

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Fruit & Veggie Photo Cards

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Garden Planning and Building STEM Activity

$3.00

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Pie Stand Dramatic Play Set

$5.00

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Banana Science Activities

$3.00

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