It’s time to get your hands dirty to celebrate National Children’s Gardening Month. We’ve got a range of green fingered activities, most of which are suitable even if you don’t have a garden!
Be creative – make your own bottle composter
This is a really practical way to help girls learn about the importance of recycling food waste. And a handy way of producing compost for the bottle garden activity below – if you can wait that long!
Find out how to make your own food composter out of recycled drinks bottles.
My community – loo roll bird feeder
Over the last few months there has been a lot of talk about toilet paper – let’s make the conversation a positive one by encouraging birds into our garden, on our doorstep, on our balcony.
This bird feeder is good for the birds and your community, as it will attract lots of beautiful bird life to your garden and the surrounding area. Even better, it’s made from bits you’ll just have lying around the house.
Get the easy instructions here.
Happy to be me – tree of me
Bring a little bit of the outside in and take a moment to appreciate all the things that are great about you with this crafty idea. Instructions here.
Be creative – make your own bottle garden
Bottle gardens, or terrariums, are a fail safe way to bring a bit of the outside indoors as they are extremely hard to kill – they don’t even need watering! That’s because once you put the lid on, the plant creates its own ecosystem withing the bottle, so as well as a great way of getting your hands dirty when you don’t have a garden, it also teaches children science.
Our instructions and explanation are here, but if you’d like a bit more guidance London Terrariums are doing a live tutorial for free on the IG TV on Monday 25 May at 6.30pm.
Skills for life – grow your own from scraps
Reducing food waste is becoming ever more important. From finding ways to make leftovers into something tasty, to getting the most from your freezer, there are loads of ways to reduce waste. But did you know you can turn your waste into something totally new and truly sustainable?
Find out how to grow from your scraps.
Further recommendations
As ever, here are our suggestions for more ways to engage your child with gardening if these activities have sparked an interest.
Online resources
The website for National Children’s Gardening Week has lots of things to do and resources to download.
The Bumblebee Conservation Trust has some really lovely resources for kids, including how to tell different bees apart and suggestions on how to make your garden bee friendly.
Books to Read:
The Woman who planted Millions of Trees
By Wangari Maathai
Wangari Maathai received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her efforts to lead women in a nonviolent struggle to bring peace and democracy to Africa through its reforestation. Her organization planted over thirty million trees in thirty years. This beautiful picture book tells the story of an amazing woman and an inspiring idea.
Girls who looked under rocks: The lives of six pioneering naturalists
This book exploires the youths and careers of six remarkable women whose curiosity about nature fueled a passion to overcome obstacles to careers in traditionally men-only occupations. Meet Maria Merian (b.1647), Anna Comstock (b.1854), Frances Hamerstrom (b.1907), Rachel Carson (b.1907), Miriam Rothschild (b.1908), and Jane Goodall (b.1934) who all became renowned scientists, artists and writers.
If you enjoyed gardening week, why not check out some of our other themed activities?