I don’t know about you, but my favorite time of the year is when I can spend the summer months with my family in the garden. The flowers are out, the sun is warm, and the barbecue is sizzling. Perfection.
Every parent knows that lazing in the sun isn’t the kid’s idea of a good time. They want to be up and about, playing games and running around. A great idea is to channel all this youthful energy into updating your garden. Children love everything hands-on and it will teach them about working on a project.
Ideas For Kids Garden Projects
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Make A Vegetable Patch
Creating a vegetable patch is a fun way to teach children about self-sufficiency, and where food comes from. They will love watching all their hard work turn into vegetables. Just like magic!
To get the best results, pick a spot that gets at least 5 hours of sun a day. Dig over the ground and get rid of stones and weeds. Add compost and space your seeds out. Then don’t forget to water them!
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Plant Flowers
There’s nothing more lovely than a garden full of flowers. Choosing flowers to plant and watching them grow is a very visual task that children will enjoy. Spend some time considering which flowers you want to plant and which colours will go well together.
Most DIY shops will sell a variety of seeds for you to choose from. Make sure to look up the conditions that will most suit the type of flower. Easy to grow varieties such as hardy geraniums and marigolds are best suited for children.
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Make Animal Habitats
Creating animal habitats is an interactive way to teach children about where animals like to live, as well as encouraging lots of critters to come into your garden. Make a list of all the animals that you made homes for. Get your kids to tick them off when they spot them.
Installing feeders and boxes will attract a wide variety of birds to your garden, whilst shallow ponds will attract frogs and dragonflies. Plus, making your own bird feeders, bat boxes, and bird houses can be lots of fun! The Guardian suggests a number of great ideas.
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Decorate Your Picnic Table or Outdoor Furniture
Kids love drawing on any available surface; usually a strict no-no inside the house. Let them explore their artistic abilities by decorating a picnic table. You can buy wooden picnic tables online at very reasonable prices, and jazz them up with paint to create a personalised piece of garden furniture. Make sure to use paint designed for wood and outside use.
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Make a Bird Bath
8 DIY bird bath ideas from spoonful.com/crafts/8-diy-bird-baths
You can simply make an attractive DIY bird bath to attract birds to your garden. It needs to be reasonably sturdy, but light enough to easily refill. It should have sloping sides with a shallow approach to the water. The simplest example is a plant saucer with a stone in the middle. Another option is to sink a dust bin lid into the ground.
The ‘Mum I’m bored’ moment is an inevitable part of the summer holidays. Updating your garden in these simple ways, is a great way to improve your home and keep the kids entertained.
Do you have any easy garden updates to share?