Gardening Projects for Kids

Watching seeds grow that they have planted themselves; making petal collages or perfume or even just stringing together a daisy chain, are some of the simple pleasures from which rich memories are made. Involving your children in fun gardening activities encourages them to be outside and instils a love of nature that could last a lifetime. Teach them about the great cycle of life, while you potter side by side and chat about the little things or the bigger stuff….just see where the conversation leads.

Here are a few suggestions to encourage your kids out into the garden and away from their devices and screens.

Make some toilet roll seed planters. All you will need are some empty loo rolls and yoghurt pots, some soil from the garden and a few large seeds (such as peas, beans or sunflowers). Simply take your empty toilet paper tube, stand it upright in a yoghurt pot and fill the tube with moist soil. Sow a single bean or seed in each tube, water regularly and once germinated plant the lot, tube and all, in the garden.

Make some pine cone bird feeders. Start the project with a stroll in your local park or woods and gather some good sized pinecones, then make sure you have a supply of nut or seed butter and bird seed. Help the children tie a piece of string on to each pinecone, then get them to smear the pinecones in the butter and roll them around in the bird feed until they are covered (preferably the pinecones and not the kids). Hang the feeders up and watch the birds enjoy their feast.

Grow munching matter. Carrots, peas and radishesare all super easy and quick to grow and the perfect way toget your children interested in growing their own food. Whenever you are all out in the garden and hunger strikes, just pull up a handful of crunchy carrots or pop a pod or two of peas and munch. While waiting for your snack supplies to ripen, maybe plant a few cress egg heads. They only take a few days to sprout and will give the kids a snapshot of what they have to look forward to, encouraging them to take care of the seeds they’ve planted outside.

Plant some brightly coloured, tactile or scented plants. Capture their interest with some vibrant Californian poppies and marigolds or some soft rippling grasses. Or plant some herbs and lavender and use them to make some aromatic play dough. A great, no cook recipe requires just 2 cups of plain flour, 1 cup of salt and 2 tablespoons of oil. Mix with plenty of chopped fresh lavender, mint or lemon thyme and food colouring of choice and get modelling.

And when all the hard work is done, lie back and look at the pictures painted by the clouds or maybe assign the kids a spot of hose duty…blissful on a hot, sunny day.