Time in the garden with the children can be a lot of fun and is a great way to encourage healthier hobbies. Whether you’re planting a garden together or just playing outside, being in the backyard with the children is a lovely way to make special memories. Teach your children about nature by getting them involved in the garden.
Grow Vegetables
If your children are fussy eaters, or your kids have shown an interest in growing things, setting up a simple vegetable garden is a good summer holiday project. If you don’t have a sunny spot to put to use, ask advice from Riverside tree experts about the best way to make one. Use landscaping to create a small raised bed or a corner of the garden can be turned into a child’s vegetable bed to start growing some of your own food.
Kids who avoid vegetables might be encouraged into eating their five a day if they’ve helped to grow it. You can use the garden to teach children about where food comes from and how it’s grown. Use your produce to create recipes together and the garden can become a food source for the family.
Choose vegetables that are easy to grow like sugar snap peas, lettuce, carrots, potatoes or tomatoes. Fun colors, sweet flavors, and vegetables that kids recognize from favorite dishes will help to keep kids interested in growing food with you.
Pot Colourful Flowers
Give your children a large flower pot each. You could suggest that they decorate their pots with outdoor paint to make them pretty. Make a family trip to a nursery and let the kids choose flowers or other things they’d like to plant in their pot.
Seasonal flowers are a smart idea, as the kids can see the results of their choices immediately. This is especially good for toddlers who may have less patience waiting for something to grow.
Make A Fairy Garden
Choose a sheltered corner of the garden and make a fairy garden. Send the children to gather pretty items from around the garden, like stones and fallen flowers to give to the fairies. You could go to the garden center to look for small decorations, or even a pet store to buy pieces designed to go in fish tanks. You could buy small houses, castles, or furniture to put out for the fairies.
Add little plants and encourage young ones to decorate with ribbons and leaves. Put down stones for paths and use twigs for fences. This magical space is sure to intrigue small children, and they can begin to build an appreciation for the outside world.
Make Animal Homes
Do something nice for the smaller visitors to your garden and teach children about how to care for wildlife by setting up a bug box. Lay a plant pot down on its side or use an open-sided box, and send the children to find bits to fill it with. Drill holes in a log for bees to live in. Add stacks of pine cones, leaves, twigs, dried grass, or pieces of broken flower pots to encourage ladybirds and other insects.
Birdhouses for bluebirds or tree swallows keep these visitors hanging around. Feeders not only in the winter will also encourage feathered friends to frequent your garden. We also hang several hummingbird feeders in the warmer months. The more feeders we have about, the more birds we seem to have. Make sure to keep them filled!
These are just some ideas to get you started. What others can you think of or do you do in your backyard garden?