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As my 7 and 4 year old are both at home today sick, my thoughts are drifting off to getting stuck in outside! My expererience with both, but especially the younger one is that their attention span demands many different activities to kep them interested. Both are past the stage where a spade and a muddy patch will keep them happy for hours!
Wondered if we could create an ideas section to keep us going....?
Here are some of mine...not all allotment garden based, some on a more general theme.
1. Making an ivy dinosaur/heart/any other shape you can make out of plastic coated wire! A bit blue peter I know! Squeeze wire loop into shape and stick into soil in a container and plant ivy at the base of the stem. Underplant. If a dinosaur you can use prehistoric looking plants such as houseleeks and stonecrop. Encourage child to feed and trim ivy round frame as it grows.
2. Rainbow planting - plant a rainbow with various seeds of different colours
3. The obligatory scarecrow making!
4. Making willow dens, structures. Haven't done this but really fancy giving it a go!
5. Making a pea/bean den! Same as above.
6. Wands - These are made from willow or other pliable stems and can be shaped into various forms. Can be really pretty in pots or just for mucking around with.
7. Growing monkey nuts
8.Growing pumpkins, getting kids to write their names, faces on them. Adult can trace over witha knife and it will grow. Or put the pumpkin in a square plastic milk container and it will fill the space looking like a dice. Or tie a rope round the middle and it will bulge at both ends, looking like a russian doll shape.
9. Spider web collection. If you put pva glueo black paper and then put that behind a spider web, it will stick. Make sure the web isn't in use!
10. Spider net. Tie together 3 sticks in a triangle shape, and attach this to a stick. place it where spiders gather and in the morning if you are lucky a spider may have built its web there
11. Ice mobiles - Get small plastic containers, fill with water. Place a large peice of string between them. In each container the child places pine cones, lavender heads whatever is available, even glitter and leaves out over night when ice is forecast.
In the mornig remove the ice from the containers and hang up outside. These can be very beautiful.
12. Mosaic decorating of pots etc
13. Projects such as making a bog garden,
14. Making bird cake
.......Ideas can save your sanity....please post more....
Wondered if we could create an ideas section to keep us going....?
Here are some of mine...not all allotment garden based, some on a more general theme.
1. Making an ivy dinosaur/heart/any other shape you can make out of plastic coated wire! A bit blue peter I know! Squeeze wire loop into shape and stick into soil in a container and plant ivy at the base of the stem. Underplant. If a dinosaur you can use prehistoric looking plants such as houseleeks and stonecrop. Encourage child to feed and trim ivy round frame as it grows.
2. Rainbow planting - plant a rainbow with various seeds of different colours
3. The obligatory scarecrow making!
4. Making willow dens, structures. Haven't done this but really fancy giving it a go!
5. Making a pea/bean den! Same as above.
6. Wands - These are made from willow or other pliable stems and can be shaped into various forms. Can be really pretty in pots or just for mucking around with.
7. Growing monkey nuts
8.Growing pumpkins, getting kids to write their names, faces on them. Adult can trace over witha knife and it will grow. Or put the pumpkin in a square plastic milk container and it will fill the space looking like a dice. Or tie a rope round the middle and it will bulge at both ends, looking like a russian doll shape.
9. Spider web collection. If you put pva glueo black paper and then put that behind a spider web, it will stick. Make sure the web isn't in use!
10. Spider net. Tie together 3 sticks in a triangle shape, and attach this to a stick. place it where spiders gather and in the morning if you are lucky a spider may have built its web there
11. Ice mobiles - Get small plastic containers, fill with water. Place a large peice of string between them. In each container the child places pine cones, lavender heads whatever is available, even glitter and leaves out over night when ice is forecast.
In the mornig remove the ice from the containers and hang up outside. These can be very beautiful.
12. Mosaic decorating of pots etc
13. Projects such as making a bog garden,
14. Making bird cake
.......Ideas can save your sanity....please post more....
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