DIY No-Sew Garden Planting Set

Whenever we visit our local children's museum, one of my boys' favorite places to play is in their Little Farm dramatic play room, particularly planting and harvesting toy vegetables in their large pretend garden. Pinterest is loaded with pictures and tutorials to make your own smaller version of this toy at home and I finally bit the bullet and made one, but in my own, super lazy, use-what-you-have-and-can-reuse way! Here's how:

What I used:

• A double sectioned wooden crate I found secondhand a while ago and had been using in our play garden as a dollhouse. It needed a good wipe down before coming inside, but it was the perfect size and set up for our toy garden! You can use a shallow cardboard box or box lid, a basket, a bin--whatever you have!
• Burlap I had on hand from our needlepoint adventures. Don't worry--this is a no-sew project, so all of the burlap used to make this can be reused to make other projects! You can also use brown felt, fabric or towels. 
• Poly-fill Stuffing I had left over from other projects. When it comes to stuffing, you can use whatever you have on hand or even ball up some old rags and socks if you don't have fiber fill. This is as easy to disassemble when you're done playing with it as it is to assemble in the first place (or reassemble when you want to use it again) so nothing will be lost in there forever!
• Toy Produce and Flowers! If you have felt or plastic vegetables at home, that's great! Silk flowers are a lovely addition. You can make your own felt set if you feel so inclined or even print and laminate pictures of vegetables and flowers. You can be as realistic in your portrayal of gardening as you like and choose produce that do grow directly from the ground (carrots are a fabulous example) or you can be creative and add in some less realistic options like cucumbers and eggplants and peppers--whatever you have, whatever looks lovely and whatever is fun, that's the only rule!

Here's how to assemble your garden:

Depending on how big your base is, cut as many squares of burlap (or whatever fabric you're using) as you'd like rows for planting. I cut four sections of burlap.

Fill each section with enough fiber fill to create a plush roll. Next, roll your fabric over, shaping and tweaking until you have a look and firmness you're happy with. 

I made sure there were no openings on the bottom where there are openings in the crate so no fiber fill would fall out. This is a very forgiving project, so you can smoosh and tweak and move your fabric and fiber fill about as much as you need to until you're happy with the setup.

Voila!

Happy Playing!