3 Best Gardening Apps for Kids That Get Them Outside
The short version: The best gardening apps for kids are the ones that send them outside to look at real things. Seek is best for identifying plants, bugs, birds and other wildlife. Percy is best for the gardening itself: recording what you're doing together in the garden and what they notice, and remembering it over time. Snappit is worth a look if your kid is motivated by scavenger hunts and collectible cards.
| Best for | App |
|---|---|
| Identifying plants and wildlife | Seek |
| Keeping a kid's garden observations | Percy |
| Nature scavenger hunts and collecting | Snappit |
I'd rather a kid stand in the real garden than tend a pretend one. That rule narrows the app list fast. The ones worth your time send a kid toward real plants and real bugs, and they work with a grown-up standing next to them. Three fit, and I should say right away that I make one of them.
Last checked: October 8, 2026. Apps change quickly, so if something here is out of date, let me know.
What makes a good gardening app for kids?
A good gardening app for kids should:
- send them outside rather than keep them staring at the screen
- be easy to use with a parent
- avoid chat, ads, and unnecessary social features
- make observation feel rewarding
- tolerate uncertainty instead of pretending every identification is perfect
- help the child remember what they found
1. Seek: best for "what is that?"
Seek is made by iNaturalist, and it's free. Point the camera at a plant or a bug and Seek tries to name it on the spot. Kids earn badges for what they find and can take on challenges, which suits any kid who likes a collection. Seek doesn't collect personal information and doesn't require an account, which makes it especially useful with kids.
Common Sense Media rates Seek 8+, though younger kids can still use it easily with a grown-up. It won't identify everything perfectly, and that's a good lesson in itself: sometimes the right answer in nature really is "I'm not sure."
2. Percy: best for noticing and remembering it
Most "gardening apps for kids" are actually nature-discovery apps. They help kids notice, identify, collect, and learn about the living things around them. Percy is different because it helps a child take part in the garden itself: noticing what changed, what was planted, what needs doing, what went wrong, and what happened over the season.
Percy isn't a kids' app. I built it for grown-ups who keep a garden journal, and kids borrow it. A kid holds a button and says what they see, so nobody has to type or spell. They say the pumpkin is orange on one side, Percy plays it back, and they tap to confirm. The garden's visitors go in the journal too, each with a date. A photo of an unfamiliar plant gets a name, and the name stays in the record instead of vanishing by dinner. By the end of the season there's a written account of the garden in their own words: a keepsake of the season you spent out there together.
Because it's a journal for the whole garden, it works as a family app. Percy accounts are for grown-ups; kids use it on your phone, with you nearby. Your first full growing season is free, then $39 a year.
What makes Percy work with kids is that it doesn't ask them to learn a child-specific interface. They just talk. A child can notice something, say it out loud, and go back to the garden.
Over a season, those little observations become a family garden record in the child's own words: first tomato, first monarch, first pumpkin turning orange, first time the peas got eaten by something before anyone else got to them.
3. Snappit: one I haven't tried yet
Snappit is one I haven't tested myself yet, so I'm not ranking it above the others. But on paper it fits this list unusually well. It's built specifically for families, with identification for plants, bugs, birds and animals, and every find becomes a collectible card. It has nature scavenger hunts, it's designed for ages 4+, it has no ads, chat or social feed, and finds stay in your family's private collection. It's free to download, with an optional subscription.
Using them together
They do different jobs, so they work well side by side. Seek answers "what is that caterpillar?" Percy writes down that it turned up on the zinnias on a Tuesday in August. One is a conversation and the other is a record, and a kid who does both ends up with a name and a date for what they found.
Which one to start with
If your kid mostly asks "what is that?", start with Seek. If they mostly announce things, or you want to get them involved in the act of gardening together ("the pumpkin is orange!"), start with Percy. If they love collecting and challenges, Snappit may be the better hook.
And if you're not sure, take one phone into the garden and see which question they ask first.
One important safety note: identification is educational, not permission to touch or taste. Kids should avoid handling unknown plants, berries, mushrooms, insects, or spiders until an adult knows what they are.
Seek helps a child name the world. Percy helps them remember their place in it.
Frequently asked questions
Are there gardening apps for kids that aren't games? Yes. Seek identifies real plants and wildlife from the camera, Percy keeps a garden journal kids can just talk to, and Snappit turns real-world finds into collectible cards. All three only work if the kid is outside looking at something real.
What age can kids use plant ID apps? Common Sense Media rates Seek 8+, and younger kids can use it with a grown-up. Snappit is designed for ages 4+. Percy accounts are for grown-ups, and kids of any age can use it on a parent's phone.
Are plant ID apps safe for kids? Seek doesn't require an account or collect personal information, and Snappit has no ads, chat or social feed. The bigger safety point is offline: a name from an app isn't permission to touch or taste. Unknown berries and mushrooms stay a grown-up question.
What's a good garden journal for kids? Percy works well because kids don't have to type or spell. They say what they notice, and Percy keeps it with the date. Here's more on using Percy as a garden journal with kids.