Safe Plants for Childcare Centres, Kindergartens and School Gardens

Young children put things in their mouths, grab whatever is in reach and fall into garden beds. That is what makes a garden valuable to them, and it is also why the plant list at an early learning centre or school deserves more care than the one at home. Kidsafe NSW says the children who reach hospital after eating a plant have mostly eaten mushrooms, brightly coloured berries, or bulbs mistaken for onions. The published lists of poisonous plants are samples, not complete lists, so the working rule is simple: know the name of every plant on site, check it against the lists, and keep out anything you cannot identify.

For the children themselves, Katie Mohar on gardening for kids, with tips and the benefits covers how to get a class or a family started and why it is worth it; the notes below are about which plants are safe to put in their hands.

This guide gathers what Australian poisons information centres, a children's hospital network, Kidsafe and the early childhood regulator publish on the subject, and sets beside it plants we grow that do not appear on the poison lists we checked. It summarises their guidance and is no substitute for it. The sources are linked at the end, and your state regulatory authority, your own risk assessment and the Poisons Information Centre on 13 11 26 remain the authorities.

Quick facts

Emergency	Call triple zero (000) if a child has trouble breathing, collapses, is unconscious or has chest pain
Poisons Information Centre	13 11 26, 24 hours, from anywhere in Australia. Call as soon as you suspect a poisoning, before symptoms appear
What the regulator expects	Premises that are safe, clean and well maintained, with experiences in both built and natural environments (National Quality Standard, Quality Area 3)
Hazards to check	Poisonous if eaten; sap, crystals or hairs that burn skin and eyes; thorns and spines; berries and seeds that look like food; allergy
Remove first	Oleander, angel's trumpet, brunfelsia, cycads, castor oil plant, foxglove, rhus, and any mushroom
The one rule to teach	Nothing from a plant or the ground goes in the mouth unless an adult says so

What the regulator expects

Children's education and care services in Australia are assessed and rated against the National Quality Standard by the regulatory authority in each state and territory. Its third quality area is the physical environment. ACECQA's family site, Starting Blocks, describes the expectation as indoor and outdoor spaces that give each child accessible, age-appropriate opportunities to learn, play and develop, in play spaces that are safe and in good condition. The Standard's elements ask for premises, furniture and equipment that are safe, clean and well maintained, for quality experiences in both built and natural environments, and for resources and materials that allow multiple uses. For centre-based services, the National Regulations also require outdoor spaces that let children explore and experience the natural environment, adequate shaded areas, and premises kept safe, clean and in good repair (regulations 113, 114 and 103).

We suggest treating the plants on site as part of the service's hazard identification and risk assessment, alongside gates, surfaces and water: know what each plant is, check it against a published list, and record whether it was removed, fenced off or kept. Kidsafe NSW's advice for natural play spaces is short: choose non-toxic plants and avoid anything with sharp or spiky features. School classrooms and playgrounds sit outside the Standard, though outside school hours care on the same grounds is covered. The same lists and the same logic apply to a prep playground or a kitchen garden, and a P&C working bee is the moment to apply them. For ideas on the layout of the space itself, The Scape Artist's article on designing a playful garden for young and old looks at movement, texture, mystery and discovery, from ornamental grasses that rustle in the wind to a dry creek bed where water pools.

The hazards

The Sydney Children's Hospitals Network factsheet, the one the NSW Poisons Information Centre points readers to, sorts harmful plants into a few groups. They are worth holding in mind as you walk a site.

• Poisonous if eaten. The factsheet's highly toxic plants include pink and yellow oleander, foxglove, angel's trumpet and datura, castor oil plant, deadly nightshade, white cedar and crab's eye.
• Sap, crystals and hairs. The euphorbia family, including poinsettia, croton and crown of thorns, carries a milky sap that the hospital sheet says can cause severe pain and injury to the eye. Dumb cane (dieffenbachia), peace lily, caladium and devil's ivy contain crystals that cause pain and swelling in the mouth, and arum lily burns the mouth in the same way. Stinging trees and nettles drive their hairs into skin.
• Thorns and spines. The factsheet warns that the long, sharp leaves of yucca can pierce the skin and the eardrum, and that cactus injuries can become infected. Kidsafe NSW says plainly to keep sharp or spiky features out of a play space.
• Berries and seeds that look like food. Kidsafe NSW notes that brightly coloured berries look like lollies to a toddler and are a choking hazard as well as a poisoning one.
• Allergy. The hospital factsheet lists rhus and grevilleas as common causes of allergic dermatitis, and asthma weed as a trigger for hay fever, asthma and conjunctivitis. Queensland's Poisons Information Centre also lists grevilleas as a skin and eye irritant. Remove rhus outright, and keep grevilleas where nobody handles the flowers, or choose another native.

Do not rely on appearance. The NSW Poisons Information Centre says there are no common characteristics of shape, colour, smell or taste that separate a poisonous plant from a harmless one. It adds that a bitter taste, an unusual smell, milky sap, or red seeds and berries can be warning signs, and the hospital factsheet adds black, dark purple and blue berries, spikes and fuzzy textures. Signs like these are a reason to check a plant, never a reason to trust one that lacks them.

Keep the risk in proportion. Kidsafe NSW says plant poisoning in children is not common, that most incidents end with nausea, a sore stomach or diarrhoea, and that toxic parts usually taste unpleasant. Kidsafe Australia's poisoning sheet says most childhood poisoning admissions involve medicines, with plants among the other causes, and Kidsafe SA cites 1,185 hospital admissions for accidental poisoning of all kinds in children under five in 2021/22. The NSW centre says children under two are most at risk of eating poisonous plants. The aim is not a bare yard. It is to remove what the lists name, keep out what you cannot identify, and then plant generously.

What makes a plant right for a play space

• Not on the poison lists, in any part. Leaves, flowers, fruit, sap and bulbs all count, because a two year old does not distinguish between them. The hospital factsheet's advice is that if you are unsure whether a plant is dangerous, keep it out of children's reach.
• Soft to handle. Children pick, crush, strip and sit on plants. Fine leaves and herbs tolerate that.
• Something for the senses. Kidsafe NSW's sensory garden list includes lavender, rosemary, thyme, lemon balm, sage, native mint, bottlebrush and banksias: scent on the fingers, texture, colour, and the birds and lizards they bring in.
• Tough enough to be trampled and dug. Plants that regrow from the base after being flattened are the ones that last. Give digging its own patch and accept that bed edges will wear.
• Shade. Kidsafe NSW calls adequate shade an important element of a children's service's sun protection strategy. An evergreen tree with a dense canopy gives lasting shade, provided it goes in early and away from paving and pipes.
• Something to harvest. An edible bed teaches the rule better than any sign: food comes from the bed the adults tend, and nothing else goes in the mouth. Kidsafe NSW's veggie patch list is deliberately ordinary, with sunflowers, parsley, basil, carrots, lettuce, snow peas, beans and strawberries, and it advises teaching children to check with an adult before eating anything from the garden.

Climate shifts the answer. Tuckeroo, lemon myrtle and midyim berry belong to the subtropical and warm temperate coasts from Queensland to Sydney and Perth. Water gum and the culinary herbs carry the list through Adelaide, Melbourne and the cool south. Inland, lean on the drought-hardy natives and give everything mulch and a drip line.

Plants that fit

None of the plants below appears on the poison lists we checked: the NSW Poisons Information Centre page, the Sydney Children's Hospitals Network factsheet, Kidsafe NSW's Plants to Avoid brochure and its Grow Me Safely list, and the Queensland Poisons Information Centre's list of plants and mushrooms. That is not the same as proof of safety, since the lists are not complete. Where Kidsafe NSW names a plant as a suggested alternative or on its sensory list, we say so. Most are in our Australian natives collection, and some also appear in our pet-friendly plants guide.

Shade trees

• Water gum (Tristaniopsis laurina) in its compact form: smooth bark and glossy leaves, and it copes with wet feet. Suits Sydney through Melbourne and Adelaide.
• Tuckeroo (Cupaniopsis anacardioides): dense evergreen canopy, salt and wind tolerant, widely planted for shade on the Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australian coasts. Frost tender. It drops orange fruit capsules, which are the size and colour a toddler picks up, so plant it away from the under-threes' area or sweep beneath it.
• Lilly pilly (Syzygium australe): soft foliage, and it can be a small shade tree, a clipped hedge or a tunnel. The pink fruit is edible, but any berry is a choking hazard for the youngest children and red berries are one of the warning signs children are taught, so adults pick and adults hand out.
• Lemon myrtle (Backhousia citriodora): crush a leaf and the whole class smells it. Best from Brisbane to Sydney and in Perth; protect it from frost further south.

Shrubs

• Coastal rosemary (Westringia fruticosa): one of Kidsafe NSW's suggested alternatives. Soft grey foliage, flowers most of the year, and it shrugs off wind, salt and neglect. Good in Perth and Adelaide as well as the east coast.
• Bottlebrush (Callistemon) in a compact form: on Kidsafe NSW's sensory list, and the brush flowers bring honeyeaters within a metre of a window. Bees work the flowers, so keep it a step back from the main path.
• Correa and swamp banksia: common correa and swamp banksia are both among Kidsafe NSW's suggested alternatives, and banksias are on its sensory list.

Grasses, climbers and ground covers

• Kangaroo grass: another of Kidsafe NSW's suggested alternatives, soft to walk through and brush past.
• False sarsaparilla (Hardenbergia): on the same Kidsafe NSW list, for a fence or frame.
• Kidney weed (Dichondra repens): a living carpet for light foot traffic between stepping stones. Our kidney weed guide explains how to establish it.
• Native violet (Viola hederacea): soft, shade loving, spreads under trees where children sit to read.
• Pigface (Carpobrotus): fleshy, spineless leaves and big pink flowers, and it grows in pure sand. Made for coastal centres and the Perth and Adelaide climates.

Herbs and the edible bed

These belong in a raised bed at child height, which Kidsafe NSW suggests where space is limited or digging on site is not possible, and they sit within our edible plants collection.

• Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) and lemon thyme (Thymus citriodorus): rosemary and thyme are both on Kidsafe NSW's sensory list, and both tolerate being brushed and picked.
• English lavender (Lavandula angustifolia): on the same list, the classic scent plant along a path. Best in the dry, cool and Mediterranean climates; it sulks in humid Brisbane summers. Bees work it, like bottlebrush.
• Blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum) in a low-chill form: a harvest for a large pot of acidic mix from Queensland to Perth and Melbourne. Adults pick and hand out, and do not plant it anywhere near a blue berried ornamental.
• Midyim berry (Austromyrtus dulcis): a knee-high native with sweet speckled white berries, for a bush tucker lesson with older children. Suits the Queensland and New South Wales coasts; frost tender.

Rhubarb does not belong in a children's edible bed: the hospital factsheet notes that its leaves contain oxalate.

Plants we have left off this list

• Flax lily (Dianella). Often planted in school grounds, and sold as blueberry lily. The Queensland Poisons Information Centre lists Dianella species as potentially toxic and says plants in that category should not be grown where young children have access, such as preschools and childcare centres. It says the berries are regarded as poisonous, though the evidence is limited. Keep it out of children's services.
• Lomandra. Tough and useful on boundaries and in older children's areas, but the flower spikes of Lomandra longifolia are prickly, which puts it outside Kidsafe NSW's advice for a play space.
• Citrus. A Meyer lemon suits a school kitchen garden, but young citrus carry thorns, so it is not a plant for a toddler yard.
• Kangaroo paw. Not on the poison lists, but the flowers are covered in fine hairs, and the hospital factsheet treats fuzzy textures as a warning sign. A plant for beyond the fence.

What to keep away

The plants below appear on the Sydney Children's Hospitals Network factsheet, Kidsafe NSW's Plants to Avoid brochure, Kidsafe NSW's Grow Me Safely list of plants to avoid, or the Queensland Poisons Information Centre's list. Kidsafe Queensland's two-page poisonous plants fact sheet, prepared with the Queensland Herbarium, Poisons Information Queensland and Professor John Pearn, covers the same ground for Queensland gardens. Kidsafe NSW calls its brochure only a sample of the plants that can endanger a child. Remove them, or fence them beyond reach and record the decision.

• Oleander (pink and yellow). Every part is poisonous, and the hospital factsheet says the smoke from burning yellow oleander is toxic too. Kidsafe NSW says one yellow oleander kernel can be lethal to an infant.
• Angel's trumpet and datura, foxglove, castor oil plant, deadly nightshade, lily of the valley, delphinium. All on the NSW lists as plants that can put a child's life at risk. All parts of the castor oil plant are toxic, the seeds most of all when chewed or crushed; Kidsafe NSW says two or three seeds can kill a child.
• White cedar. All parts are toxic; Kidsafe NSW gives six to eight of the fallen fruits as a fatal dose for a child.
• Brunfelsia (yesterday, today and tomorrow), cestrum, duranta, lantana. All four are on the Queensland list. Kidsafe NSW says all parts of cestrum and lantana are toxic, especially the berries.
• Cycads and zamias. On the Queensland list as potentially toxic. The large seeds are the risk.
• Arum lily, cunjevoi, dieffenbachia, peace lily, devil's ivy, philodendron. Plants that burn the mouth and swell the lips and tongue when chewed.
• Euphorbias including poinsettia. Milky sap that injures eyes and skin; Kidsafe NSW says the whole poinsettia plant is poisonous if eaten.
• Yucca, cactus and agave. The hospital factsheet names yucca and cactus. Agave is our own addition, for the spine at the tip of each leaf: Kidsafe NSW's sensory list includes it, while its natural playspaces advice says to avoid sharp or spiky plants, and we side with the second.
• Rhus, chillies and daphne. Rhus causes allergic dermatitis. Chilli is on the Queensland list, where it is marked as an irritant to skin and eyes. Kidsafe NSW says a few daphne berries can kill a child.
• Common garden plants on the Queensland list. It also lists agapanthus, hydrangea, frangipani, wisteria, privet, daffodils and sweet pea as potentially toxic, and Kidsafe NSW's list adds English ivy and hellebore. Check an established garden for these.
• Any mushroom. The NSW Poisons Information Centre says never to eat wild mushrooms, and to call 13 11 26 if anyone has eaten one, even with no symptoms. Kidsafe NSW says all wild mushrooms must be removed from an outdoor learning environment, so check lawns and mulch after rain.
• Bulbs and seed. Kidsafe NSW warns that bulbs are mistaken for onions, and says to label them and store them separately. Keep bulbs, seed and fertiliser locked away from the children's gardening kit.

Thorny plants such as bougainvillea and roses, and ochna with its black berries on red bases, are not on these lists. We would still keep them out of a toddler yard, on Kidsafe NSW's advice about sharp features and bright berries.

Getting it right

• Audit what is already there. Identify every plant. Kidsafe NSW suggests taking a photo, a leaf or a piece of the plant to a nursery, forestry or botanical service. Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria says its identification service will attempt to identify plants suspected in poisonings, from a specimen and not from a photo alone. Add the list to the risk assessment.
• Remove or fence, then record. The NSW Poisons Information Centre's advice is to fence off or remove known poisonous or dangerous plants. Dig out roots and bulbs, not just tops.
• Keep a plant register. One page, names and locations, updated whenever a plant is added. Donated plants from families go on the register before they go in the ground.
• Handle potting mix carefully. Kidsafe NSW's gardening tips: read the bag, open it slowly, dampen the mix, wear gloves, wash hands afterwards, and store bags sealed and away from children.
• Mulch and edges. Kidsafe NSW suggests woodchip, sugar cane or pea straw on beds. Garden mulch is not playground softfall: Kidsafe NSW says a natural playspace must still meet the Australian Standards for playgrounds, including the surfacing under and around equipment. It also asks that rocks have rounded edges and are not slippery when wet.
• Plant for the wear you expect. Put the tough ground covers where feet go, the herbs along paths where hands go, and the edible bed where an adult is always nearby.
• Teach the rule and repeat it. Nothing from the garden goes in the mouth without asking. Kidsafe NSW's garden safety tips add a second: do not touch the bees.
• Keep both numbers by the phone. The Sydney Children's Hospitals Network says to act immediately and not wait for symptoms: remove any plant pieces from the mouth, wash skin with running water, flush eyes with clean running water, and call 13 11 26. Call triple zero (000) if a child has trouble breathing, loses consciousness or has chest pain. Keep a piece or a photo of the plant for the operator.

A word of caution

This is a summary written by a nursery, not a medical or regulatory document. Plant names are confusing, cultivars vary and toxicity lists differ between states and are not complete, so check any plant you are unsure of with the Poisons Information Centre on 13 11 26 and with your regulatory authority's guidance. Your risk assessment, your supervision ratios and your own site conditions decide what stays. If a child has eaten or touched a plant you are unsure of, call 13 11 26 straight away, even if they seem well. If they have trouble breathing, collapse, lose consciousness or have chest pain, call triple zero (000) first.

Sources

• NSW Poisons Information Centre: Poisonous plants, warning signs, prevention, first aid
• Sydney Children's Hospitals Network: Poisonous or harmful plants and children, plant groups, named species, first aid
• Queensland Poisons Information Centre: Plants and mushrooms, toxicity categories and plant list, including blue flax lily
• Kidsafe NSW: Plants to Avoid brochure, ten plants with symptoms
• Kidsafe NSW: Grow Me Safely, plants to avoid, suggested alternatives, sensory and veggie lists, gardening tips
• Kidsafe NSW: Natural playspaces, plant selection, loose parts, standards
• Kidsafe NSW: Shade, shade and sun protection
• Kidsafe NSW: Poisoning prevention, who is at risk, resources
• Kidsafe Australia: Poisoning information sheet, causes, statistics, prevention messages
• Kidsafe Queensland: Poisonous plants fact sheet, two pages prepared with the Queensland Herbarium, Poisons Information Queensland and Professor John Pearn
• Kidsafe SA: Poisons prevention, admissions figure, what to do
• Starting Blocks (ACECQA): Understanding the National Quality Standard, seven quality areas, physical environment
• Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria: Identifications, plant identification service
• healthdirect: Stinging plants, stinging trees, nettles, first aid