Great ideas for your getting your kids into gardening and keeping them busy during the summer holidays

Experts at GardenBuildingsDirect.co.uk are urging parents to involve their children in small, manageable garden tasks, giving them a fun responsibility over the summer break.
Tips to get your youngsters out into the gardenTips to get your youngsters out into the garden
Tips to get your youngsters out into the garden

During the six week summer holidays, keeping the kids entertained is more important, and difficult, than ever. This is why it is important to plan tasks ahead.

Experts suggest gardening is the best way to keep children engaged throughout their break and promotes a good work ethic through small, hands-on tasks such as taking on their own patch of land, building a den or painting plant pots.

A spokesman for GardenBuildingsDirect.co.uk said: “The six week holidays can be somewhat daunting for parents who struggle to think of ideas to keep their kids entertained and engaged away from screens and video games.

“Encouraging your child to take on gardening tasks gives them a sense of responsibility, which kids love! Tasks like making their own flower bed or creating a vegetable patch are great for the holidays as they can keep coming back to check on their work and upkeep the land.”

“It is important to get your garden prepped ahead of the summer holidays to ensure your kids are able to make a start straight away and see the fruits of their labour.”

Below are GardenBuildingsDirect.co.uk’s top tips to get prepped for summer holiday activities:

Create their own vegetable patch

Whether your kids enjoy eating vegetables or not, make it more fun for them by allowing them to grow the veggies themselves! Ahead of the six week break, make sure you have a good stock of vegetable seeds and seedlings.

Offer your child a good amount of choices of seeds to grow, but explain to them some will take longer to grow than others. They may want to plant a mix of fast growing seeds like radishes and slower growing veggies like asparagus and parsley.

Building a den

A great way to make the garden a more exciting place for you kids is to get them to build their very own den from garden materials. Make sure they have plenty of branches and lumber to build a structure with.

Once the den has been built, children can plant vining plants near the base of the structure. As the plants grow, encourage the kids to guide the vines upwards to cover over their den and create an enclosed space.

Painting plant pots

Plant pot gardening is a great way to ease kids into getting more involved with the garden!

Have you got any old plant pots which could do with a bit of decorating? Let your children get creative with some pot designs and personalise them.

Ahead of the summer break, start to gather up supplies like acrylic paint (which weathers well outdoors) paint brushes, sponges, stamps and stencils. When your child is off school, encourage them to have a go at painting their very own pots. This is a great task to do with a sibling or friends. Leave to try for 24 hours and your pots will be ready for displaying some beautiful flowers in your garden.

Take responsibility for a part of the land

Parents with slightly larger gardens may consider allowing their child to take over the gardening responsibilities for one part of the land. This could mean watering plants, trimming hedges, planting new bulbs or making a new growing area for vegetables.

Ahead of the summer break, decide what part of the garden you want your child to take over and prep a couple of jobs ahead of time. Maybe let the hedges overgrow slightly or plant some new summer-thriving flowers like delphiniums or roses which your little one can look after when they start to bloom.

Make their own flower bed

Before the kids break up for summer, consider buying some children-sized gardening tools. This will make it easier for them to mirror your movements when making a flower bed and will help them to feel a sense of having ownership over their little plot.

Let your child dictate the shape and placement of the flower bed, your child might want to make a round, square or abstract shaped area. Let the kids assume responsibility for planting, watering and weeding in their flower bed and help them along if needed.