As the spring months start waning into summer, the promise of warmer weather, summer activities, and – of course – the summer holidays begin to present themselves. If you have children, the six-week summer break is an ideal opportunity to spend quality time with your little ones, create unforgettable memories together, and do activities you usually wouldn’t get to do (and get a much-needed break from the school run!).
And with the return of the warmer weather, there is no better place to spend this quality time or create these memories than your garden. So, why not take advantage of this time and involve your little ones in fun and educational garden projects? It will give you a pair of extra hands to spruce up your garden for summer and keep your little ones entertained while teaching them about the environment and nature.
You might be thinking, what garden projects? Thankfully we’ve created this article outlining several garden projects parents can complete with their little ones over the summer holidays. From creating a fairy garden and making a bird feeder to using sleepers to create their own mini garden and making a bug hotel – keep reading to discover how your garden can preoccupy your kids this summer holiday.
Make Wildflower Seed Bombs
Bluebell, bramble, common dog violet, and cow parsley – wildflowers are essential so insects and pollinators can play their role in our ecosystem. However, due to industrialised agriculture and urbanisation, they are being lost at an alarming rate, and as a result, insect numbers have dropped in several parts of the world.
Thankfully, there are several garden projects to complete with your little ones over the summer break that can help insects and pollinators like honeybees, hoverflies, bumblebees, butterflies, and much more. One way is by planting the correct wildflowers in your garden using sleepers, window boxes and planters, which can provide a source of nectar for pollinators (and make your outside space look beautiful!).
One of the best ways to encourage the growth of wildflowers is by making wildflower seed bombs, which are balls of wildflower seeds, clay, and compacted compost that disintegrate when hit by rain or water and act as a growing tool for the germinating seeds. Due to their fun design, they are excellent for children because no physical exertion is needed –throw them into your flower beds, sleepers or window boxes and wait for them to start sprouting.
Aside from throwing them into the garden, your children will love the creation process of seed bombs, as it will allow them to get their hands dirty and learn about nature and the environment in a fun manner. You can choose whether you’d prefer to make seed bombs or seed paper; either way, they are an easy, fun, low-cost garden project for parents and their kids to complete together!
Create A Mini Garden Using Sleepers
If the thought of giving your kids free roaming around your garden makes your eye twitch with stress, why not consider giving them their own patch of soil that they can use to create their own mini garden using sleepers? It allows kids to get stuck into gardening without any rules or limitations and gives them creative licence to do whatever they want to their little plot.
They make their mini garden as complicated or simple as they like by using plants and natural materials already in your garden or purchasing new items. All you need is a sleeper to buy; fill it with soil, place it somewhere in your garden, gather materials to go on top, and let your little ones’ imaginations run wild, creating their mini garden.
You should be able to source various sticks, stones, flowers, moss, and small plants to decorate your children’s mini garden; the only expense will be the container to home the mini garden. Fortunately, you can source sleepers in the UK using landscape suppliers like Suregreen, which supplies gardening and landscape products for keen DIY-ers and traders.
Whether you’d like to order a bulk quantity of sleepers or a couple of rolls of butterfly netting for plants and vegetables, consider visiting their website to browse their entire catalogue, read product reviews, and much more. Or contact a team member directly to get the answers to specific inquiries and see how their products could help your and your kids’ summer gardening projects today.
Build A Bird Feeder
Nothing says that the summer months are here than the appearance of wildlife. Nature is beautiful to watch, whether it’s a family of hedgehogs sniffing around at the end of your garden or birds fluttering in and out of your bird bath. It is an educational opportunity for your children to learn more about the wildlife populating the UK.
One of the most recognisable species of wildlife in the UK is birds, with as many as four hundred and five species in the UK (including some visitors from overseas!). Often, these feathery friends take refuge in our gardens to rest up, drink water, grab a bite to eat, and hide from predators. So, why not make your outside space more accommodating by building a bird feeder with your children?
Sure, you could log onto your Amazon account or take a trip to your local garden centre and buy one, but where’s the fun and educational value in doing that? Besides, making a bird feeder can be as simple or complex as possible. If you’d like simplicity, get your children to find a large pinecone from the garden, help them to coat it in peanut butter, roll it in bird feed, and hang it on a branch for the birds to enjoy.
Other ways to create a bird feeder include plastic bottles, yoghurt pots, coconuts, and the shells of vegetables (like pumpkins!). Alternatively, if you don’t want bottles, yoghurt pots and wooden spoons decorating your garden, you could consider making your bird feeder a little more aesthetically pleasing. This could be by using a teacup and saucer to create a place for them to perch and fill their cheeks before setting off on their next adventure!
Create A Hanging Garland
All parents understand that little ones can be picky at the best of times, and others may have sensory issues, which might create tension or reluctance when trying to encourage them to participate in typically ‘messy’ activities like painting, gardening and baking. Therefore, if you’d like to avoid any garden projects involving digging or watering, creating a hanging garland made of natural materials might be your best option.
Making a garland is an excellent way to turn natural materials found in your garden into unique, sustainable decorations. The best part is that your children can use materials from your garden or ones they’ve found while walking, like feathers, sticks, leaves, flowers, seed pods, and much more.
Once your children have found all the items they’d like to add to their garland, it’s a very straightforward process to create. Cut a piece of string to the length your child would like their garland to be and tie each item they’d collected to it; once you’re finished, you can choose whether to hang it inside or outside on a bush or draped around a tree.
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