Gardening is a wonderful way for children to connect with nature, learn about biological processes and keep active, all whilst encouraging a love for the environment.
Children are natural gardeners; they like to learn and understand by doing hands-on work. And besides, there’s no better time than now to keep those little hands busy with the best hobby in the world.
Here are 20 great activities, projects and ideas to get your kids started:
1 | Make a bird feeder
Making and hanging homemade bird feeders for your backyard is a fun way for you and your children to get to know which birds are native to your area and also to keep a log of the diverse birds that visit the feeder, and an excellent way to help out your feathered friends when their food sources are limited.
2 | Garden scavenger hunt
Give children a list of objects in your garden, and a prize for the first child to find everything.
3 | Let you children camp in your garden
If you have a garden or a backyard, let your kids enjoy the night camping right outside the house. This will give them a sense of what it’s like to enjoy your garden and to appreciate it.
4 | Rock and stone painting
These rocks and stones create a playful environment with the use of bright colours and handwritten letterings. The brighter and more personalized they are, the lovelier they will be.
5 | Collect seeds
A neat way to discover nature's tiny treasures is by helping your kids collect and store their own seeds and even start their own seed collection. Tap the easy how-to guide below to learn how to collect and store seed.
6 | Fairy Gardens
Allow your children to create miniature fairy gardens filled with magic. Tiny houses, chairs, lawns, and ponds - fairy worlds which your children can create in your garden. A corner of a flower bed, under a tree, in a pot on the patio; they are so small they'll fit in any space.
7 | Painted Pots
Let your child colour the pots as this will help the garden look bright and inviting. Decorating pots may assist in boosting your children’s interest in art and design.
8 | Dinner in the garden
Enjoy dinner outside in the garden with each dish featuring a home-grown ingredient, and get your children to join in the making of the dinner.
9 | Create a masterpiece
As painting is usually a messy activity, so where better to do it than the garden? Let your children look around and get motivation from the garden and use watercolours to capture autumn flowers.
10 | Press flowers
Many children like to spend their time creating crafts and homemade gifts. To add to their enthusiasm, you can experiment by adding pressed flowers to their crafts. Glueing pressed flowers on a homemade card can add some personality.
11 | Taste test
Herbs and leaves can be tasted and used in recipes. Experiment and explore the many unique and delicious flavours in your garden by getting everyone to select one edible root, stem, leaf, flowers, fruit or seeds for your meal.
12 | Draw an insect
Encourage kids to draw an insect, bird or animal before it scampers off.
13 | Go on a bug hunt
Set your children off to see how many different insects they can find in the garden. Collect them in a container so that you and the children can see them better with a magnifying glass. Return them to the wild when you have finished!
14 | Make a wormery
Layer a see-through glass container with soil and sand, add leaves for food, then find worms in your garden and place them in their temporary home. Watch them tunnel into the ground, and then release them back into your garden.
15 | Plant some seeds
Give each child a small area of your garden where they can grow their own plants.
16 | Build a den
Use branches and leaves to build a hideaway to observe nature in your backyard. Who knows what animal will pop past?
17 | Go stargazing
View the heavens in your garden on a clear night, and hopefully spot a planet or wish on a shooting star.
18 | Birdwatching
Watch birds fly, sing, chat and eat in your garden. Just be sure not to frighten or startle them.
19 | Create twig frames
Look around your garden for twigs, seed pods and flowers to create your own wood frame.
20 | Make seed bombs
Let your kids make mud, then help them add seeds and shape into balls. Place these on a tray and leave them in the sun to harden before planting these seed bombs in your garden. Tap the easy how-to below to see what you'll need and how to make seed bombs.
We'd love to see how you are engaging your kids in gardening!
