Gardening is a new activity for our kids and so are getting on those little gardening gloves!
I let the kids loose in a large dirt area next to our growing things. I ask them to weed and prep it for our soon to be pumpkin patch but they mostly just dig deep holes.
This little three year old loves to be in the garden. She tracks me down every time she pulls out a weed, "Weeeeeeed" she'll squeal.
Weeding is one of the best gardening activities for little children. The weeds take enough muscle to be interesting but not enough to be over-hard. It's lends itself to repitition and is never-ending. The children seem to be on a treasure hunt when they're weeding and when one is weeding the rest will invariably follow. It doesn't hurt that weeding demands the prehensile grasp.
This is a shot of our one cucumber plant. Flower before Fruit.