Free Kids Garden Cut and Paste Activities

Here is the garden bed all ready for planting. Cut and paste the seed packets and helpers into your garden. Click image to download full size pdf image.

Print, cut and paste, or print on white printable sticker paper, the cut and create your own vegetable garden. Click image to download and print.

These free kids garden cut and paste activities are designed for children ages 3 to 5, though older children enjoy them too.

Each set includes a beautiful garden scene to use as a background, and a matching cutout sheet filled with vegetables, garden characters, and garden friends to cut out and place in the scene.

The result is a child's very own vegetable garden that they designed and built themselves.

Each vegetable garden cut and paste activity set is available in two versions.

The full color version is ready to use immediately — the garden scenes are beautifully illustrated and the cutout vegetables are bright and realistic.

The black and white version gives children the chance to color the scene and the vegetables themselves before cutting and pasting.

The black and white version also uses far less printer ink, making it the practical choice for classroom teachers printing a full set of copies.

We currently have three complete vegetable garden cut and paste activity sets available for free download. A fourth set — featuring a raised bed garden — is coming soon. All sets are part of the Kids Garden Club printable series from Vegetable Gardening Online.

How to Use the Kids Garden
Cut and Paste Activities

Color the pages, and get ready to plant your own container garden! Click image to download full size pdf page.

Each vegetable garden cut and paste activity set works the same way.

• Print both pages of the set — the garden scene and the cutout sheet.

• If using the color version, go straight to cutting.

• If using the black and white version, have your child color the scene and the vegetables first using crayons, colored pencils, or markers.

Then cut out the individual vegetables, seed packets, or garden characters from the cutout sheet. Younger children will need help with the scissors — the dashed cutting lines on each cutout make this easier. Once the pieces are cut out, children place and glue them onto the garden scene wherever they like. There is no right or wrong arrangement — this vegetable garden cut and paste activity is designed to encourage creativity and personal choice.

For the best results with these vegetable garden cut and paste activity sets, print on cardstock rather than regular printer paper. Cardstock holds up better to handling, cutting, and gluing, and the finished scene is sturdy enough to display on a wall or refrigerator. Regular printer paper works fine if cardstock is not available.

Another option is to print the "sticker" page on white printable sticker sheets on your home printer. Then cut out the shapes, and use as stickers.

The scenes can also be used without gluing — simply let children move the cutout pieces around the scene to try different arrangements before deciding where to place each vegetable. This makes the vegetable garden cut and paste activity reusable if the pieces are not glued down.

Set 1 — Backyard Vegetable Garden
Cut and Paste Activity

Create your very own vegetable garden plan. Choose your favorite vegetables to plant. Click on image to download and print.

The Backyard Vegetable Garden set features a beautiful farmhouse scene with a large stone-bordered garden bed, a windmill, wildflowers, and a charming farmhouse in the background. This is the classic vegetable garden cut and paste activity scene — a traditional backyard garden just waiting to be planted.

The matching cutout sheet includes tomatoes, lettuce, carrots, broccoli, corn, zucchini, red peppers, peas, eggplant, garlic, radishes, and pumpkins. Two children, a friendly scarecrow, and a bunny rabbit are also included on the cutout sheet to add storytelling and imaginative play to the activity.

This set is ideal for introducing young children to the idea of planning and planting a vegetable garden. As children place each vegetable in the scene, parents and teachers can talk about how each one grows, what color it is, and whether we eat the root, the fruit, the leaf, or the flower. The vegetable garden cut and paste activity becomes a natural springboard for conversation about food, gardening, and nature.

Set 2 — Container Garden Cut and Paste Activity

Print this page on plain paper, cardstock, or printable white sticker paper, then cut out and paste or stick onto the container garden above.

The Container Garden set features a sunny patio scene with wooden barrels, ceramic pots, a window box, and a raised planter box — all waiting to be filled with vegetables. This vegetable garden cut and paste activity is perfect for children whose families garden in containers rather than in the ground, and introduces the idea that a garden can grow anywhere there is a pot and some sunshine.

The matching cutout sheet for this set includes the same range of vegetables as Set 1, plus two children gardening together, two friendly cats, and garden tool characters to place in and around the containers. Children can decide which vegetables go in which pot, creating their own personal patio garden arrangement.

This set is especially well-suited to children who live in apartments or homes without a traditional yard. It shows them that container vegetable gardening is a real and exciting way to grow food, even in a small space. Teachers in urban school settings find this vegetable garden cut and paste activity particularly relevant for their students.

Set 3 — Seed Packet Kids Garden
Cut and Paste Activities

What shall we plant in our nicely prepared vegetable garden? Color the pages, and then choose your favorite vegetables to get started! Click image to download full page pdf to print.

Print this page on paper, cardstock, or white stick sheet paper. Cut out the images, and paste or stick on the garden. Click image to download.

The Seed Packet Garden set is the most educational of the three kids garden cut and paste activities. The base scene shows a beautiful raised garden bed with a white picket fence, surrounding flowers, and garden tools — ready for planting. The matching cutout sheet features fifteen illustrated seed packets instead of individual vegetables.

Each seed packet on the cutout sheet is labeled with the vegetable name and illustrated with that vegetable on the front of the packet — just like real seed packets from the garden store. The fifteen vegetables included are tomato, lettuce, carrot, cucumber, pepper, squash, beans, peas, radish, spinach, broccoli, cabbage, onion, corn, and strawberry.

This vegetable garden cut and paste activity introduces children to the concept of seed packets and the idea that vegetables start from seeds. As children cut out and place the seed packets in the garden scene, parents and teachers can talk about what each vegetable looks like, how it grows, and which ones the child has tasted. A young gardener, a golden retriever puppy, a garden rake, and a hoe are included on the cutout sheet to complete the scene.

Tips for Using These Activities
at Home and in the Classroom

See our Free Printables page for many more children's activities and crafts. Download these free bookmarks, print on heavy paper, or laminate, and use for gifts.

Visit our Free Vegetable Garden Printables page for many more vegetable gardening themed activities for kids of all ages; including grownup kids! 

These kids garden cut and paste activities work well in many different settings. Here are some ideas for getting the most out of each set.

At home, the vegetable garden cut and paste activity makes a wonderful rainy day project. Set out the printed pages, a pair of child-safe scissors, a glue stick, and some crayons if using the black and white version. Sit with your child and talk about each vegetable as they cut it out — what color is it, have they eaten it before, does it grow under the ground or above it?

In the classroom, the black and white version works best since it uses less ink and gives children the coloring experience as part of the activity. Print the scene on one sheet and the cutouts on a second sheet for each child. The vegetable garden cut and paste activity works well as a center activity, a quiet time project, or as part of a plant and garden unit. The seed packet version (Set 3) pairs especially well with a classroom seed starting project.

As a family gardening activity, use the set that matches the type of garden your family grows. If you have a container garden, use Set 2. If you have a traditional backyard garden, use Set 1. Let your child use the activity to plan which vegetables they would like to grow — then actually plant some of those vegetables together.

Finished scenes make wonderful refrigerator art, bedroom wall decorations, or gifts for grandparents. Print on cardstock, have your child sign their name, and add the date — in a few years it will be a treasured keepsake of their early gardening years.

More Free Kids Gardening Printables

Our scarecrow paper dolls are just one of many fun vegetable gardening activities for kids! Click on the link to download these little scarecrows in time for the fall gardening season.

These kids garden cut and paste activities are part of our growing Kids Garden Club printable series. All of our free kids gardening printables are designed to help children learn about growing vegetables through play, creativity, and hands-on activities. Our coloring books, worksheets, mazes, dot-to-dots, word searches, and bookmarks are all available for free download.

• Vegetable Garden Coloring Books — free printable coloring books, coloring pages, and seed packet magnet art for children
• Free Worksheets for Kids — printable mazes, dot-to-dots, word searches, bookmarks, and learning activity pages
• Preschool Art Activities — free printable art and learning activities for preschool and early elementary children
• Kids Gardening — complete hub for children's gardening activities, printables, and growing guides
• Free Vegetable Garden Printables — all our free printable downloads in one place