Gardening projects for children

In recent years I’ve really got into gardening and, because I enjoy it, the children like to join in too. Whilst my son would be happy just digging in the mud, and sometimes we do just that, it is nice to have little projects to work on together. Here’s a few little gardening projects you might like to try out yourself.

Fairy garden (any time of year)

A small garden is a great project as a child could do the whole thing themselves, and easily take responsibility for it’s maintenance. We chose to make a fairy garden as we found cheap props in Poundland, but you could just be creative and use what you have at home. You could make a dinosaur land, or a jungle, or a car track. Pinterest is filled with some incredible examples.

Grass caterpillar (any time of year)

I took the instructions for our grass caterpillar from National Children’s Gardening Week but it’s a really straightforward activity. You just need some old tights, compost (or sawdust), grass seed, elastic bands, and some decorations like googly eyes should you want them. 

Growing pumpkins (plant seeds April - June)

When growing plants from seed with children, particularly young children, it helps if what you are growing either a) grows quickly, or b) grows into something fun so is worth the wait. We’ve tried a number of things, but one which really held the kids interest was pumpkins  Maybe not the most successful in terms of fruit yield, but they were really into it. To make it even more fun why not try seeds which grow giant, or funny looking, pumpkins. 

Sunflowers (plant seeds mid-April - end of May)

Sunflowers are good to grow with children as they are pretty straightforward and, like pumpkins, there is an element of fun. In the past the kids have had a competition with their grandad to see who could grown the tallest sunflower.

Make a teepee

We made a bamboo cane teepee in a small corner of our garden. Over the years we had it up we’ve grown runner beans, sweet peas, and Black Eyed Susan up it. All grown from seed.

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Have fun, and I’d love to see what you’ve been planting.