Garden ideas for kids

With the digital world demanding our childrens' attention it is becoming increasing hard to find exciting ways to entice them away from their devices and into the outside world. Even though the weather is on the turn, there is no reason for them not to be out there exploring all the garden has to offer.

Here are my top six garden ideas to get the cool kids outdoors:

Outdoor art studio - What better place to be expressive than in a garden rich with colours, textures and sensory stimulation. Position an easel with a view, add a paint pallet and watch their creativity flow. Mini Constables and Turners in the making.

Space just for children - We are consumed with creating adult specific areas in our gardens, but what about one just for the kids. Define it by laying a funky floor and add beanbags, a chalkboard wall, an outdoor speaker and cool storage for their basketballs, footballs and hula hoops. Their own space to hangout.

Mixing station - Everyone loves a mud pie, so encourage some potion making with a collection of jars, collecting tins, labelling machine and mixing bowls. Just be sure to provide a shelf to ensure these magical concoctions are kept on display outside only!

Floristry - Use wildflowers from the garden to create jars of flowers for the house. Flower arranging is accessible for all and is a lovely stress free way for children and adults to spend some quality time together. Autumn is a great time to sow wildflower seeds, which will be ready for your spring displays.

Forgotten land - Move one step up from the traditional fairy garden and make a zoo or dinosaur park. Rekindle the joy of all those plastic animals the kids have collected over the years, by creating a magical land in an old butler sink planted with small ferns rambling over pebbles.

Secret pathway - What child isn’t tempted by a stepping stone? Source some log offcuts, or paint some large pebbles in bright colours and lay in a line in a secluded part of the garden. It fires up their imagination and you will find the children effortlessly create all manor of games associated with them, from jumping competitions to mythical adventures that lie at the end of the path.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, there are endless activities that children can do outdoors, so much so that countless books have been written on the subject. These six suggestions merely compliment the more frequently practised, such as encouraging children to grow their own fruit, vegetables and herbs, bug spotting and identification, bee, bug and bird house building, sandpits, swings, den making, camping, the list goes on.

Being outdoors is an experience we should all treasure, it provides huge benefits both physically and mentally for the whole family and serves as a source of distraction and inspiration. So despite the weather, keep those wellies by the back door ready for action ;)