Take children outdoors and determine the best location for the preschool garden. Discuss what area of the outdoor area gets the most sun, has good soil and is easily accessible for students to enjoy and maintain.
Return indoors and, as a group, decide what plants children would like to grow in the garden. Make a list on the front board along with basic drawings of each fruit or vegetable to help preschoolers identify the items. Talk about how certain plants prefer full sun (tomatoes), and others enjoy some shade (lettuces).
Look at pictures of gardens with preschool children and discuss how some gardens are planted in rows and others with the plants randomly placed. Talk with children about which type of garden they think is more successful.
Give each child a piece of paper and crayons and have them draw a picture of how they think the garden should be designed, or where the plants should be placed. Help preschoolers finish their drawings by writing a couple short sentences describing their layout.
Take turns looking at children's drawings as a group and determine which types of plants the majority of the students would like to grow. Purchase the seeds to use for planting.
Prepare the soil for the garden with the preschoolers' help. Section off the area for the garden with rope and garden stakes and encourage kids to use children's trowels and small shovels to till the soil. Discuss with children that aerating the soil will help the plants grow by providing proper drainage and that breaking up clumps of sand or hard soil will allow the roots to grow.
Using the children's drawings as a guide, determine the layout that they felt would be the best. Along with their idea, follow planting suggestions on the purchased seed package for planting, such as amount of sunlight and seed placement.
Have children help plant the seeds and place markers with plant names near the seeds.
Spend time daily tending to the garden, allowing the preschool children to do the work. When plants produce fruit or vegetables, enjoy the finished product with kids and their families.