Despite Storm Doris causing torrential winds, rain and even snow in parts of the UK, it’s actually not that long until spring arrives — we hope! When spring does roll around, it’s the perfect time to spruce up your garden so that it’s looking fresh and fabulous for the summer.
Getting the children involved with improving the garden is a great way to get them outside and active. Whether you just want to make the garden a little brighter or want a whole revamp with new garden paving, furniture and a patio, there are so many ways to get the children excited and contributing to the new look. Take a look at some fun and handy tips to get your children working with you on a garden renovation project.
Make Cleaning Up the Garden a Game
If your garden has been neglected in the winter months, the first task might be to get rid of any dead plants and weeds. It doesn’t exactly sound like a task that every child wants to do, does it? However, there is a simple way to make it more fun for the children: turn it into a game! Whoever can take out the most weeds or old plants wins a prize. Or give them half an hour to pick out all the weeds, then they get a treat.
Let Your Children Pick the Products
If you’re planning to do a lot of DIY work and give your garden a whole new look, get the children involved when picking the products and design. You want to have an environment which they enjoy playing in, so ask them what they think. Which flowers do they prefer? Which garden walling do they like? Although you may not agree on some of the products they want, asking for their input can make them feel more involved and excited about the project.
Plant Some Flowers or Vegetables
One super-simple way for children to do some DIY in the garden is to plant some flowers or vegetables. They can pick which plants or veggies they prefer and help contribute to them growing using their new watering can. Bear in mind that some vegetables, such as carrots and tomatoes, are easier to grow than others, so these could be a good option for the little ones.
Decorate the Plant Pots
If you’re looking to put some plants in the garden, the kids can get really creative and decorate them. Even if you only have a small garden, placing plant pots along the garden paving or wall can make a big difference and add some colour.
Water-based emulsion paint is the easiest to use and, once it’s dry, you can varnish the pots to give them a gleam and ensure the paint doesn’t erode if it’s outside. As well as using paintbrushes, buy some stencils for the children and they can get extra creative.
Light the Garden with Glass Jars
Get kids involved with lightening up your garden too. Children absolutely love any chance to make pretty things with fairy lights. Glass jar decorations with fairy lights to put on garden walls are some of the easiest DIY garden projects.
Make a Birdhouse
Making a birdhouse can be done quite easily and the kids can get involved in a few different ways. An adult will need to cut the wood and sand it down appropriately. However, the kids can have fun both glueing the pieces of wood together to create the birdhouse and then painting it in different colours.
Create Little Garden Signs
If you have soil in your garden, letting the children make little signs (a bit like miniature road signs) can be really fun. All you need is a small stick of wood (even something like a leftover ice lolly stick), glue and cardboard. Due to the unpredictable weather in the UK, taking the time to laminate the cards afterwards is worthwhile. This will help to protect them from any wind and rain. If you don’t have any soil, consider placing the signs on the garden paving and weigh the signs down with some small rocks or pebbles.
The little signs can say just about anything. An arrow saying “Home” and pointing to the house, “Tomatoes Growing Here” in the shape of a tomato; there are lots of different shapes and words to use.
A Few Final Tips:
- If the children are helping you outside in the garden, apply sunscreen which is at least factor 15. Even on an overcast day, UV rays can be damaging — especially to children, as they have more sensitive skin.
- Doing any work in the garden can get very messy. It’s a good idea to give your children a pair of gloves and some sturdy footwear when doing garden work. And of course, some old clothes which can get covered in soil or paint. If they want to do the painting outside, place some old sheets on the garden paving and let them get creative!
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*collaborative post
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