Hi all, EcoMama here! I'm always looking for stuff to keep the kids busy, and if we can upcycle some trash in doing it that's even better! So we are starting our blog series of eco-friendly crafts you can do at home that are easy, fun, and give you a couple minutes of peace and quiet! Plus if you are like me right now and looking for educational, fun things for your kids to do while we stay at home right now, then you have come to the right place.
There is nothing more satisfying than growing something. Whether its a whole garden, a flower bed, or some herbs for your kitchen, plants are amazing and watching the miraculous transformation from tiny seedling to flourishing plant is something everyone at every age can enjoy. Its a true sense of accomplishment to pick your fresh vegetables, or build a beautiful bouquet of flowers, knowing the tender loving care you took to ensure that little plant would get to this point.
Today's project is a mini greenhouse. I've done greenhouse kits before at home with seed starters for a garden (when I had time for that!) but I wanted to do something small that the kids could each have their own, and take it to their rooms and watch their own plants pop up (IE no fighting over who has what plants)
To start, you will need:
-a plastic clamshell (strawberry containers worked great)
-a cardboard egg carton
-some soil or seed starter pellets
-seeds of your choice
Cut the egg carton to fit into your clamshell (for the strawberry container, 6 egg slots fit well). Use your seed started pellets per the instructions on the packet, or fill each egg slot with a little potting soil. Insert 2-3 seeds per egg slot, and make sure the soil is nice and moist. Cut a small piece of paper for the kids to decorate or write their name on, and use packing tape to seal it off from moisture on the top of the carton. Make sure your paper isn't too big or it will block the sunlight that your little seeds need to do their thing.
You can plan on sticking the whole egg carton in the ground, or you can cut the carton apart for easy planting. If you use seed starters you can easily pick those out of the egg carton and plant the whole seed starter.
If you want to go BIGGER with this project, an old aluminum food tray with a clear lid ( I save them from take out places) would work well for a bigger garden planting. We took this project to the next level and planted 7 different veggies and herbs and fit 32 soil pellets in the food tray we had. All we had to do here was cut a few holes in the lid to let a little air in, and instant garden!
That's it! Easy to build, fun for the kids, and not too messy (unless your kids love dirt). Now let's hope these guys sprout so we can get the in the ground next month!
