I also believe the tools they have for gardening should only be used for that purpose. When tools are used specifically for gardening it demonstrates to children that digging in the garden has a different purpose to digging elsewhere, like a sandpit.

To show the value you place on garden tools as an instrument to produce food and flowers, I suggest you store them in a special place and put them back there when the gardening is finished. That way, when the children see the tools come out they know they are going to be doing important work that will help to feed themselves and others, including any vegetable eating pets they may have, like chickens, rabbits and guinea pigs.

Garden tools should also be kept clean. This will make them last longer and reduce the risk of rust that could then contaminate the soil, which in turn may affect how plants will grow. Health soil equals healthy plants, and a transfer of rust or disease from old soil stuck to tools, may reduce the health of the soil. Therefore, I suggest making cleaning the tools part of the gardening experience, before putting them away safely.

This is another reason why garden tools should be different to sandpit tools. We don't want to transfer contaminants from the sandpit to the garden, and likewise we don't want to transfer contaminants from the soil to the sandpit.

When children have their own tools for gardening they learn to see themselves as gardeners, they learn respect for the garden, and they take delight in growing their own food and plants.