How to Make an Organic Succulent Garden with Paint Dipped Dinosaurs

Even if you don’t have a green thumb when it comes to gardening – you can’t go wrong with organic succulents. I have them all over my home, they are easy to take care of and come in quirky shapes and sizes. Eben has recently shown quite an interest in succulents – remember this indoor succulent garden he made for my birthday? Whenever we are visiting our local organic nursery, he is immediately drawn to the exotic plants. Anything that comes in a quirky shape, color or texture he finds very interesting and enticing. I thought it would be fun to put together a succulent garden that would be entirely his own. We picked up a few of his favorite succulents, grabbed some supplies from our garage and a handful of small dinosaurs from his toy closet and went to work. What we created is a fun and quirky garden for his bedroom that he was able to create entirely by himself – read on for the simple directions:

1. Gather the Supplies

• organic succulent plants
• recycled container (your local thrift store is an excellent source)
• organic cactus potting soil
• dinosaur toys
• paint
• rocks
• spray bottle

2. Get Planting
Start by adding a layer of rocks to the bottom of your container, keeping your layers as even as possible. Follow by adding the organic cactus potting soil on top of the rocks. Then, arrange and add the plants to the container, leaving enough space for the plants to spread out as they grow.

3.  Dip Paint and Add the Dinosaurs
I gave Eben a set of eco-friendly craft paints to add a little more color to the small dinosaur toys. He simply sponged a little color on them to give them a little pop of color – leaving some of the original color underneath. When they were dry, he added them to the garden.

4. Display and Enjoy the Succulent Garden
We placed the finished garden in a sunny spot on his desk in his bedroom – he enjoys rearranging the dinosaurs, showing it to friends and family who visit our home and sharing the thoughts that it evokes, that is what creative gardening is really about.

EXCITING NEWS: This organic succulent garden with paint dipped dinosaurs will be featured in the spring issue of Green Child Magazine as the Earth Day project. So fun!