Want to get your children or grandchildren outside, away from screens and doing something different? Here are are seven garden ideas for kids.
Although I didn’t start gardening seriously until I was an adult, my love of the garden was sparked early on. My parents gave me a square metre of garden to call my own, and I messed about on it. They also had a handsome old Victorian wooden greenhouse which I pottered in. I loved it – mainly because it was very warm! It had a soil base, with a path running down the middle. So my rabbit and guinea pigs could join me in there. As you can imagine, anything I grew got quickly munched and in fact the rabbit tunnelled out!
Anyway, even if you don’t have much space, errant pets or a greenhouse there are plenty of ways to get children involved in your garden, to spark that early love of plants and nature.
Garden Ideas for Kids – with Containers
All of these ideas will suit children of all ages. You’ll obviously need to ‘help’ a bit more if the children are really little.
1. Planting Containers
Planting up a container is fun at any age, but for children it’s magical. They get an instant result. And if you don’t interfere too much, it’s something they can call their own.
Container-wise I rather like planting up metal buckets, as kids can carry them around. You’ll obviously need to drill some holes in the base for drainage, but you can get the kids to help you do that too – though you will obviously need to closely help them with that task if the children are little!
Once you’ve selected you container, take the children to your local garden centre to choose their plants. Clearly this will involve a trip to its cafe and a cake (well all my trips to the garden centre do!)
The plants you’re after will probably be in the bedding display. Tempting though it may be, resist the urge to police their taste. This is the child’s container. Who cares if your garden scheme is white and they’re choosing eye-watering, bright yellow pansies!
With slightly older children and a decent sized bucket or container, you could introduce them to the idea of the rule of 3 – choosing a thriller, spiller and filler. That means a plant with a a bit of height to create the wow factor (this may well be a perennial or very small shrub), a plant to trail down the side like an ivy, and other plants to fill the gaps. This will introduce children to the idea that plants grow in different ways.
Planting it Up
When it comes to planting, get them to fill the container until it’s two-thirds full, with peat-free multi-purpose compost. Then the children should gently tip the plants from their plastic pots and arrange them in the container. Once they’re happy with the display they should fill the gaps with more compost and give the whole thing a good water.
They then need to choose a good spot for their pot. Somewhere sheltered and sunny. Again let the kids work this out. In my experience they’ll spend quite a bit of time moving the bucket around!
To ensure the pot drains properly it’s a good idea to stand it on some feet. To extend the fun you could get the kids to make these too – out of clay or by cutting up small blocks of wood with a hand saw. Or they could simply look around your garden for three flatish stones of a similar size.
Even in Autumn this can be one of your garden ideas for kids. Here’s some advice on planting up an Autumn container.
2. Decorating Containers
A great extension to container planting is decorating containers. If you’re confronted by a rainy day and you’ve plain coloured brown or clay pots you could jazz them up with some simple paints. Or why not go the whole hog and create colourful wall planters from packaging. For this you’ll need acryllic paints and containers such as plastic milk cartons, soft drinks bottles and ice cream tubs.
I did this during lockdown with two of my grown-up kids and almost two years on, the planters are still looking lovely! Here are the full details for how to create plant pots from packaging.
As garden ideas for kids goes, I think this is a sure fire winner. It’s creative, it gets them thinking about recycling and the end containers can really jolly up a drab spot.
Nature-Based Garden Ideas for Kids
The garden is a wonderful way to get kids thinking about nature and the environment.
3. Bee and Bug Hotel
A good way of getting more insects into your garden is to install a bug hotel. This is one of my favourite garden ideas for kids as it’s so simple and involves lots of stuff you will have readily to hand.
You simply need either an open-fronted, untreated, wooden box or a large flowerpot. Then get the kids to fill this with old bamboo canes, dead wood, branches, leaves, stones – bits and pieces from the garden. Spiders, ladybirds and lacewings will soon thank you for it!
For older children you could get them to drill out an untreated log to create a bee hotel. The log needs to be at least 10cm deep. Simply get the child to drill holes in it of differing widths – taking care that the holes don’t go all the way through. Bees prefer holes that are 3-5mm wide. But if you vary this, with holes in a range of 2-10mm, you will attract a fantastic mix of species!
Pop the log up on a shed or wall and voila – you’ll have a lovely bee hotel.
4. Log Pile
Birds feed on the insects which live in old wood. So what better than to encourage such insects through a log pile. Indeed a wood pile is a brilliant way to encourage insects, fungi, mosses and lichens. So why not get the kids to help you create one. It doesn’t need to be huge. Just gather up some old wood and put it into a pile in the semi-shade. Deep shade will be too cold for some insects, and bright sun will dry it all out too much. We stick a few old leaves on ours for good measure.
It’s something that can be added to. So if the kids are at a loose end, why not suggest they collect up some old debris from the garden to add to the pile. And of course they can go out and monitor what’s living in the pile (though discourage them from distrubing it too much!)
5. Make a Bird Table or Bird Box
Our youngest son, Henry, made a bird table when he was nine. This still stands very proudly on our patio and is loved by the birds. Henry undoubtedly had a fair dose of advice and supervision from Mr F-W, but the vast bulk of the work he did himself. So if you have a handy child this could be a great task for them.
Or how about getting them to make a bird box. Here’s a full explanation of how to make a bird box in ten easy steps. For a small child this will definitely be one of the garden ideas for kids that needs lots of your ‘assistance.’ But if you’ve an older child, I’d urge you to let them do as much of it as possible.
6. Mini Pond
Frogs in our tiny pond
In my experience there’s nothing kids like more than getting wet and muddy. With the creation of a pond in a pot, you are giving them the perfect activity which combines both!
Obviously, it goes without saying that if you are creating any kind of water feature in your garden, even a tiny one, you have to take care when it comes to small children. In fact I just wouldn’t do it – there are plenty of other garden ideas for kids you can do instead.
But for older children, I think container ponds are a fab thing to create. The kids will love making one and the birds and insects will thank you too.
To make one use a large, shallow container with no holes in the bottom. This could be a washing up bowl or half a barrel. Or you may find a really small, cheap rigid, pond liner at your garden centre. I got the one below for £15 in a sale! Though if you get something this size you’ll need to think about how you aerate the water. I have a solar pump, it works a treat, even in Winter.
Anyway, whatever size container you go for, I’d ideally submerge it in the ground, so its top edge is at ground level. I’d put it in slight shade as if it’s in full sun you’ll be constantly topping it up with water.
Put a layer of gravel in the bottom of the tub. Then create a shallow area or ledge so that creatures can get in and out. A brick will do, or perhaps upside down plant pots. Then place a planted basket of marginal plants submerged at or below the water surface. You will get these from the aquatic section of your local garden centre. (With a lovely stop off at the cafe for cake etc as before!) Before you know it, you will have all sorts of life using your pond.
7. Garden Ideas for Kids – Sow Seeds!
Nothing beats actually growing something from scratch. It obviously requires a bit of patience, but the ongoing task of looking after a plant is fun and it really gives kids the gardening bug.
Ideally you want to choose plants which are easy to look after and are interesting. So I’d suggest sunflowers, sweet peas and tomatoes.
Sunflowers are just so jolly. And with them you have the bonus of them growing tall – so you can introduce measuring, and maybe recording how tall it grows and how quickly. Or you could have a mini competition to see whose sunflower grows the tallest.
Sweet peas are brilliant because you have the additional activity of creating a wigwam for them to grow up. Plus they need constant picking and removal of the tendrils. Something a child with small hands can easily help with.
For obvious reasons tomatoes are a real winner. What could be more exciting than growing something you’re going to eat. Again children can help not only with the initial planting but with ongoing maintenance – removing the side shoots, training the tomatoes up a support and of course, picking the fruit.
For an additional fun idea, you could create pizza pots. In essence this means simply growing some basil with your tomatoes. Then, when the time is right, the kids can make and decorate their own pizzas, using the home grown tomatoes and basil.
What Are Your Garden Ideas for Kids?
So there you have it – seven simple ideas which I think will get children involved in and possibly in love with gardening, as the adorable little chap in the picture clearly is. (I fancy a set of these dungarees!)
I’m very conscious that I’m only scratching the surface with this list. Have you some other suggestions? I’d love to hear your garden ideas for kids. So do share them. I’d also love to hear how you first got the gardening bug yourself….were you an early or late bloomer? What was the catalyst?
Happy gardening – x