The long summer holidays can often be a stressful time for parents, no matter what age their children are. All too often the easiest solution is to put them in front of the TV or let them play on their video game console, just so you can get some work done! It’s not always practical to take kids on expensive day trips, but it really is important to get your kids out of the house in the long holidays. So what better place to start than your garden? By having your children appreciate the garden, it will provide them hours of entertainment and hopefully educate them at the same time. Here are a couple of ideas to help get you started.
Helping you in the garden
Children love to feel included, especially when it comes to helping adults. It gives them a sense of responsibility and it can also teach them some good lessons. So if you are planning on doing some garden maintenance this summer, get your kids to help! Weeding is a great place for them to start. Show them the different types of weeds in your garden, maybe even help them make a chart they can use to identify them. You can also show them the plants that you don’t want them to remove, which will help them to know which plants to avoid in the future when they are playing in the garden! Give them their own equipment such as a little trowel and gloves, which can easily be stored in the garden shed, and encourage them to get as many weeds as they can! You could make it a bit of a competition by having them place all their weeds in a bucket and whoever has the most wins. They will feel like they are really helping out and will also educate them on how to look after a garden.
Looking for garden wildlife
It’s a good idea to introduce them to the different types of wildlife you can get in your garden. One of the easiest ways of doing this is to make a bird feeder, and your child can be included from the start. To make a simple bird feeder, you need a plastic drinks bottle, strong string or wire, scissors, and of course bird seed. Cut a hole in the side of the bottle, big enough for a bird to fit it’s head through but not too big that all the seed will fall out (an adult should do this part to prevent any accidents). To prevent the seed from becoming damp too quickly, you can add small holes at the bottom of the bottle to allow rain water to pass through the feeder. The seed can then be added to the feeder, and the string is then used to hang the feeder from a washing line or a tree branch. Give your child the responsibility of keeping an eye on the feeder to make sure it doesn’t get too empty. It could be worth getting a simple wildlife guide, so when birds and animals visit you can identify them together.
These simple starting points will hopefully help your child to develop their own ideas of what they want to do in the garden, and encourage them to learn as well as play.
