Okay, so I’ve been wanting to get my little ones involved in gardening, but those adult-sized tools? Way too big and clumsy for their tiny hands. I decided to make some toy gardening tools for them, and it turned out to be a pretty fun and easy project. Here’s how I did it.
Gathering Supplies
First things first, I gathered my materials. No need for fancy stuff – I just used what I had around the house:
- Some sturdy cardboard (leftover from a delivery box)
- Wooden dowels (I found some old curtain rods I could cut down)
- Duct tape (because what can’t you fix with duct tape?)
- Some colorful paint and brushes (to make them look snazzy)
- Scissors and a craft knife (adult supervision required for the kiddos!)
Crafting the Tools
Next, I got down to business. Here’s the process, step-by-step:
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Drawing and Cutting: First, I sketched out the shapes of a trowel, a hand rake, and a small shovel onto the cardboard. I made sure they were a good size for little hands – not too big, not too small. Then, I carefully cut them out. My kids wanted to “help,” so I let them do some of the easier cuts, with lots of watching, of course.
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Reinforcing the Cardboard: Cardboard by itself is a little flimsy. I added a bit of sturdiness for playing. I cut out second layers of each tool shape and glued them together. Double the cardboard, double the fun, right?
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Attaching the Handles: This is where the dowels came in. I measured and cut the dowels to a good handle length. Then, I used plenty of duct tape to secure the dowels to the cardboard tool heads. I wrapped it around and around, making sure it was super strong. It doesn’t look pretty at this stage, but it gets the job done.
Making it pretty!
Painting and Decorating: Now for the fun part! We got out the paints and brushes, and the kids went to town. They chose bright colors, painted stripes, polka dots, and even some little flower designs.
The finished product!
We had some cute, kid-friendly gardening tools! They’re not going to be digging up any trees, but they’re perfect for playing in the dirt, “helping” me plant seeds, and just having fun outdoors. My children loved their self-made tools.
