Cardboard Tube Planters

Now that spring is here it’s the perfect time to start your garden.  This activity was a fun way to recycle paper towel rolls and avoid buying small pots for our seedlings.

Planters Supply List: 2 paper towel tubes, seeds, dirt, tupperware or box for your seedlings

Start by cutting your cardboard tubes into 3 pieces.  They make small slits all the way around one side of the tube.  The slits should go about 1/3 of the way down the tube.

Start at the top and progress around the tube folding down each slit until the bottom is completely covered.

Once I showed him how to fold the pieces over Cole was able to do it himself.

Place the tubes in your tupperware or box and fill them with dirt and seeds.

Water your seeds regularly and when the seedlings are ready to be transplanted spread the bottom of the tubes open a little and just put them right in the ground.

Book Suggestion: The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle follows the miracle of a seed as it becomes a giant flower.  This is a great book if the seeds you are planting are flower seeds.  Cole choose onion seeds to plant this year, but we still enjoyed this book and the journey of a tiny seed.