How to Make Garden Markers

We like to give you folks a lot of ideas on how to get your kids involved with gardening, since we bet it can be a huge challenge sometimes.

Today’s idea is making garden markers together. Even if you can remember exactly what you planted everywhere, your kids won’t know the difference between a bean plant and a tomato plant until it difference is staring them in the face (aka, when the tomatoes are red and the beans actually look like beans). Making garden markers together will help kids remember whats what and where it is, get their creative juices flowing and help them feel important in the garden.

There are a lot of ways you can go about making markers and here is a great collection of ideas for you to check out.

But here are our favorite garden marker ideas for you to try!

1. Rocks: Have you ever made a pet rock when you were little? I did. I always turned mine into turtles and I loved those little guys. Try collecting rocks in your back yard or on your next walk together and bring them home to turn into markers! Gather up some paint that won’t wash away in the rain, and start decorating. You can aim for whimsical markers like the ones above, or turn your rocks into pets that double as markers. If my mom thought of this when I was 5 I would have had a whole army of turtle rocks labeling our garden.

2. Ceramic Veggies: Instead of going on the word route, why not label your garden with markers that look like the plant it is marking? Grab some clay and start sculpting! Kids will love this hands-on activity and this will not only help them learn what vegetable will look like, but will be much easier for them to find the plants in the garden if they can’t read yet.

3. Simply Clay: If sculpting out figures isn’t your thing, consider making simple makers out of clay. Directions are here. You can do the heavy work of stamping the tags out and labeling them with words, but let your kids go crazy with the paint.

4. Popsicle Sticks, with a Twist: Popsicle sticks sure are traditional and the most kid friendly, but we thought this was a clever, creative way of using them. You can find directions here.