Fun gardening activities for children
It’s National Children’s Gardening Week from 29 May to 6 June, so it’s the perfect time to get children into gardening. Whether you have a small patio or a large lawn, gardening is a great and inexpensive way to get your littles ones outside, appreciating nature and getting creative.
Here are some fun ideas from Squire’s Garden Centres to get your children into gardening.
- Quirky Planter Creations
Turn unwanted items into perfect plant pots! You’ll be amazed at what can be recycled – old wellies, a pair of jeans, empty food tins or even plastic bottles all make fantastic planters. Then watch as your flowers bloom.
2. Create Crackin’ Cress Heads
Carefully remove the top of your eggs, wash the shells and dab them dry. Draw faces on your shells with felt tip pens. Dip some cotton wool in water, squeeze out the excess, then place one cotton wool ball inside each shell. Sprinkle a few cress seeds on top. Sit your cress-filled shells in egg cups or an egg box on a sunny windowsill and watch them grow! Cress seeds £1.99 at Squire’s.
3. Grow Your Own
Try growing tomatoes, strawberries or even a pumpkin in time for Halloween! Pumpkin seeds can be sown outdoors in May and June and are £1.99 per pack at Squire’s.
4. Encourage wildlife into your garden
Add flowering plants such as lavender, foxgloves or roses which provide nectar, plant a shrub or tree for shelter, create a log pile for bugs and insects, or add a pretty ladybird tower to your garden.
5. Sensational Sunflowers
Sunflowers are bright and cheery and very easy to grow. Sow seeds outdoors in May and the flowers will bloom from June to September. Sunflower seeds £1.99 per pack at Squire’s. Squire’s also has a ‘tallest sunflower’ competition that children can enter. Simply take a photo of your child next to their tallest sunflower between 1-20 August 2021 for the chance to win £100! Click here for more details.
6. Make your own miniature terrarium
Use a clean glass or jam jar and add a layer of decorative stones and sand. Top with soil, then add moss on top that will act as grass. Plant miniature plants or cuttings into your jar. Add a small rock, or even mini people, Lego figures, plastic dinosaurs or animals to really bring your terrarium to life!
There are 16 Squire’s Garden Centres across the South East. Shop instore or buy online for local delivery.
