15 garden activities for children

It’s National Tree Week, the UK’s largest tree celebration annually launching the start of the winter tree planting season which is why this post is all about garden activities for children. As local communities rally around in this great chance to do something positive for their local treescape, I can’t help but think  about how children these days are less engaged with nature than they have been for a very long time.

Connecting with nature – whether that be through garden activities for children or planting trees –  is so important for them – it’s about the fresh air, the activity, the sense of being free and about fulfilling our primal need to reconnect with nature which is often overlooked in the overscheduled life so many of them lead. Quite simply, it’s about their wellbeing.

The good news is that getting them to do things in the garden – like planting a tree –  is a great way of getting them to re-establish that connection with nature that we are humans so desperately crave, but often do not realise. So today I’ve teamed up with Landmark Trading and fab fellow parenting bloggers to share 15  garden activities for children (including planting a tree of course!) to help them get back to nature and re-connect with the environment:

Plant a tree

A lot of people think that you can only plant a tree if you have a large garden – not so! Did you know there are plenty of trees you can grow in a small garden and planting one with your kids is an amazing combination of educating them about nature and enjoying quality time together in the garden?  It will continue to educate them as it grows and changes throughout the seasons too. Here is a handy guide on how to plant a tree to get you started. – Motherhood: The Real Deal 

Grow strawberry plants

We did this last year in a window box and the children loved picking and eating them later in the year.  – Five Little Doves 

Hold a nature hunt

Nature Hunts are always fun. I’ll have a look the day before and then make a picture list and we’ll go out in the garden and my daughter has to find and collect one of each on the list in a little basket. We’ll often use the bits for a sticking craft after too. – Mummy In a Tutu

Grow vegetables

We love to grow vegetables. We have made our own vegetable markers and we also made a rock stone mud kitchen which was super fun. – The Inspiration Edit 

Rake leaves

Turn it into a game and your garden will be clear in no time. Give them a little bucket and see who can collect the most. – The Scandi Mummy 

Hedgehog spot!

Hedgehog-spotting in the evenings with a lantern! This is our fave activity but it has to be the right season of course! There’s something so magical about it. – Soph Obsessed  

Make use of the seasons

Spend all four seasons outside as much as we possibly can. In the Spring, we go Easter egg hunting (I dot Easter egg treats all around the garden). In the Summer we go blackberry picking together and then make lots of blackberry inspired dishes. In the Autumn, we go hunting for as many different coloured leaves as possible and then make an Autumn montage and the in the Winter we make snowmen if it snows, and race up and down the garden if it’s sunny. – The Motherhood Diaries

Plant spring bulbs

There are so many easy things to grow with children – we’ve just planted all our spring bulbs and talked about the flowers coming in spring. My son loved getting his hands dirty, and it’s hard to plant bulbs wrong! – Hot Pink Wellingtons 

Make a water area

My girls made a little water area to try to encourage frogs after learning all about tadpoles in nursery. They were fascinated by them! It’s only shallow so there’s no risk of falling in. – Twinderelmo 

Get close up with the bugs

My little ones love digging in dirt, looking at bugs and collecting natural items. You can make a home for the bugs in the garden by making a bug hotel. – Whimsical Mumblings 

Give them their very own garden

We made our son a little garden of his own out of wood. We lined it to prevent it from rotting and held the corners together with fence posts which I painted to look like pencils. On one side he has sand, stones and bug houses and on the other side we popped compost in for growing. This year we had strawberries, peppers, beans and sunflowers. This is a post I did on it straight after we made it. – Emma Reed 

Keep hens

We have 4 hens, that are low maintenance and an absolute joy. We have given the children responsible jobs such as feeding, cleaning and checking the chickens and also set up a little pocket money enterprise for the kids, as they sell our eggs to the neighbours. – Reduced Grub 

Look for snails

Go on a snail hunt! Take buckets and get the kids to find as many snails as they can. It’s good for them to feel comfortable picking them up and not being squeamish. Then when you have got as many as you can find, chuck them all in next door’s garden. Just kidding, we have a wander to some nearby fields and find them all a new home away from my tasty flowers! – Yorkshire Wonders 

Have a sunflower growing competition

Sunflower growing competitions! I used to love seeing who’s would get the tallest!- Then There Were Three  

Make a rock garden

This is a super easy one and you don’t have to be a green fingers to do it! Most children are fascinated by rocks and so this is a great one because all it requires is the collection and assembly of rocks and a little imagination! – Motherhood: The Real Deal 

So there you go – no excuses not to get out into the garden whatever the season! Here’s some more ideas on  getting your children back into nature.

3 comments

  1. Hello Talya, this is really a nice post. Your garden activities for children are helpful. It is a great chance to learn something new for children. Planting trees are helpful for our health and environment. Thanks for sharing this lovely post. Keep sharing with us.

  2. Hi Talya, this blog is just amazing. I was in search of something like this and finally I landed here. I will also follow these activities. Thanks for sharing this blog.

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