In need of some outdoor activity inspiration? We’ve got lots of fun ideas to get your little one to enjoy the fresh air this summer … happy gardening!
Growing activities have many benefits for children. It helps them learn about what’s required to look after a plant, discover new wildlife and develop an appreciation for the world around them.
Here are our favourite garden ideas to get you started.
At Fennies, the children love planting and growing their own vegetables and fruit in the garden. Our Horley Nursery Manager, Louise, shares her tips for getting started.
Before you start planting, always get children involved in choosing which vegetables they’d like to grow. You can research this together, either by looking at pictures online or asking them to help you choose at the garden centre.
Spark conversations with your child about what they will need to grow their vegetables. This is a good way of helping them learn all about the lifecycle of a plant, which is an important part of STEM and will help build crucial knowledge for school.
Involve your child in every stage of the growing, from planting the seeds, watering daily, and harvesting right up to cleaning and cooking the vegetables. When your child is involved in the whole process, they are more likely to try what they’ve grown — this is great for encouraging fussy eaters to try new foods!
Growing vegetables with your child is a great way to encourage sustainable habits. Growing your own vegetables helps children understand where their food comes from and that it has to go through a process before we usually buy it from the supermarket. You will also need to visit the shops less as you'll be growing your own produce- bonus!
Don’t quite have enough space for a vegetable patch? No problem! You can grow vegetables in all sorts of containers. In fact, you don’t even need a garden space for this low-maintenance style of growing that will keep little hands busy for hours.
Whether indoors or outdoors, growing your own herb garden is a great hands-on activity that will keep your kids interested in learning about how seeds grow. The best bit? The whole family will have lots of new herbs to experiment with whilst cooking in the kitchen!
Your child will love watching their grass heads’ hair grow more and more each day! So, head down to your local garden centre to get started with this simple project. All you’ll need is a pair of old tights, some compost, grass seeds, a plant pot and some craft supplies for decorating your grass head with a smiley face.
Has your child grown out of their old wellies? Don't worry- here's a quirky use for them.
Simply use their old boots as a planter for your herbs to add some colourful personality to your herb garden!
Growing activities offer endless opportunities for learning. We love this idea of teaching older children about germination through growing their own tomato plants. By creating a chart to monitor the plant’s progress, your child will get to see each stage of growing up close.
We love this super fun idea of growing your own name into courgettes! Why not get everyone involved and grow one for all the family?
Growing cress is a great introduction to growing, and we love these adorable little cress caterpillars that your kids can grow on your windowsill.
If you don't have much outdoor space, don't worry! You can create your own miniature greenhouse from the comfort of your own home.
Here are some fun ideas on how to create a windowsill greenhouse that will keep the kids entertained.
This wheelbarrow herb garden is perfect if you don’t have too much garden space. It’s one of our favourite garden ideas as you can include your favourite herbs and your little one will love watering and looking after them every day.
Reusing household items in your gardening activities is a good way to teach children about the importance of recycling. You can use old cardboard tubes to make biodegradable pots and seed plugs. Your child can watch the seedlings grow before they get planted. Get the whole family involved and see the full activity here.
What can be more exciting than growing your own initials? Your child will love sowing seeds and watching them spring up in the shape of different letters. This can also be a fun way of getting older children interested in literacy activities.
A seed bomb is a compost or paper ball that is mixed with seeds and can be placed in the garden. Once the seeds begin to germinate, the seeds will break apart from the seed bomb and continue to grow.
Why not create your very own at home? We love these colourful seed bombs that older children will love getting involved in making.
Sowing seeds in egg cartons before planting is a great way to get the kids gardening, no matter what time of year it is. These egg carton planters also allow you to create visual reminders of what’s been planted by writing on them as plant markers.
A fairy garden is a great way of combining gardening with imagination, and your child will love creating their own little magical creations. Creating a fairy garden is fun for all the family, and you will just need some basic supplies to bring your enchanted garden to life.
Here’s some fairy garden inspiration to get you started.
Not only are these wildflower seed bombs a fun way to spread a little joy this summer, but the process of making them is also a wonderful sensory experience for children too.
What better way to brighten up your garden than with these wonderful thumbprint flowerpots? Your kids can get creative with colours and materials when making their personalised flower print — this also makes a great sensory experience for under 2s.
Encourage your child to make independent decisions, like choosing which colour paints they want to use during the artistic process. This will allow them to express themselves and make their creation truly theirs. View the full activity here.
This simple growing project is great as children can watch the carrot grow and start to sprout. The best part is you don’t need any outdoor space whatsoever, and this can be done on your windowsill at home!
Why not give this a go after reading The Tale of Peter Rabbit?
Germinating seeds at home is really simple and is an engaging way to teach your child about the lifecycle of a plant. Doing this using cotton wool in a glass jar means that you’ll be able to see what’s normally covered by soil, and they’ll love watching as it grows bigger every day!
Here are some tips to get you started.
Make the most of your garden this summer with these activities that will help you keep the kids amused and make the most of the fresh air and your outdoor space.
At Fennies, the children in our nurseries love getting messy and exploring a mud kitchen! Why not create one at home in your garden?
Here are some of the benefits of building a mud kitchen:
They give children the freedom of exploring and playing freely outdoors, which is good for their mental health
There are lots of open-ended play opportunities where children can be curious and experimental
Using tools and utensils are good for building children’s fine motor skills
A mud kitchen can incorporate lots of real-life tools like bowls and spoons, which allow children to use their imagination through role-play
Butterflies help pollinate plants, keep your garden pest-free and are a good indicator of a healthy ecosystem. Attract them to your garden with this simple homemade feeder.
Why not preserve your favourite flowers forever by pressing them and creating something beautiful? Create bookmarks, unique birthday cards, and custom photo frames with your kids — the uses for pressed flowers are endless. If you have older children, you can create a collection of pressed flowers that you’ve found in your garden at home.
Your child will love creating their very own enchanted garden! All you’ll need to make a fairy garden at home is a pot, compost, flowers, decorative supplies and a sprinkling of pixie dust! This activity is a wonderful way to develop creativity, imagination and keep the kids amused for hours.
You can see the full activity here.
Insects need shelter and safe spaces to hide, and your kids can help by building a bug hotel in the garden. Bug hotels are a great way of keeping the kids entertained as they can watch their favourite creepy crawlies every day. Here's some inspiration to get you started.
We love this idea of creating a door for your fairy garden, as it’s a creative activity that incorporates lots of natural materials you can easily pick up from your local garden centre or collect from outside.
The garden is full of all sorts of materials you can use to create some wonderful artwork with your little one all year round. Transform your outdoor space into an exciting art studio and let your little one’s creativity run wild with this activity!
Making a pollinator journal is a fun way to develop your child’s writing and observation skills as well as help them develop an appreciation for nature. This activity will allow them to observe pollinators in action, you can do this in your garden, local park or any natural space with lots of large plants and flowers (the more diversity the better as you will get to see different types of creatures!)
Your child will be excited to eat their 5-a-day with this activity that lets them turn the fruit and vegetables they've grown themselves into an edible masterpiece.
Make outdoor play extra fun this summer by building your very own climbing wall at home! Climbing can help develop your little one’s gross motor skills whilst supporting their physical development. It doesn’t have to be complicated either, here’s some inspiration for your DIY climbing walls!
This activity is really simple and can be made completely from things you find in your own garden or have collected from a walk in your local park. Creating twig sculptures will strengthen your child’s fine motor skills and allow them to explore lots of new textures from the great outdoors!
Making your very own garden diary is a good way to record all the progress you’ve made using your gardening diary. Your child can record everything from the seeds they’ve planted, the tomato plants they’ve grown and how yummy they were to which insects they’ve attracted. This will help develop your child’s language, literacy and observational skills.
If you've ever come across a traditional Japanese zen garden, you'll know the calming effect these miniature landscapes can have. Creating one at home can be incredibly relaxing for children, no matter what their age.
Fill a sensory tray with sand and natural materials like shells and smooth pebbles and encourage your little one to explore through relaxing and quiet play. Here’s some inspiration to get you started.
Give the birds in your garden a tasty treat by making them a cake! Get your child involved in the whole process. They’ll love chopping, mixing and forming the cake into shape, before they spot their new feathered friends in the garden.
If your child loves creepy crawlies, this activity is for you! Making a worm farm will help produce nutrient-rich soil, especially if you don’t have space for a compost bin. You will need a few supplies and some willing little helpers.
Find out more here.
If you plan to plant vegetables at home this year, extend your child’s learning with this activity that explores all the different kinds of vegetables that you can grow at home.
Compost is really good for your garden, and you don't need to head to the garden centre to pick some up ... You can make your own! Your little one will love this messy activity and learning all about how to look after their garden.
Find out more here.
Here’s a gardening activity that your little explorers will love! Creating your own dinosaur garden is perfect for encouraging your child to spend time outdoors and will allow their imaginations run wild.
Can’t make it to the garden centre? Don’t worry! You can make a lot of your own gardening tools yourself. These can be the perfect hands-on project and your little gardener will love helping to make them.
Before you throw your empty milk cartons in the recycling bin, why not try turning them into your very own mini watering can for your garden? This is an easy way to get your child involved in gardening and will help them learn about how to look after plants to make them grow.
Make your own CD scarecrows with this quick and simple idea that will get your child involved in decorating the garden as well as helping to deter any birds in areas where you have seeds growing.
Give the feathered friends in your garden a yummy treat with these simple pine cone feeders. All you will need is some pine cones collected from your garden, some string, bird feed and peanut butter or lard.
These DIY butterfly protectors will help protect your garden by keeping the birds away from your plants. It’s also a great way to use up any unwanted craft materials you already have lying around your house, and they’re fun for your kids to help make.
Your little one will love helping you make this super simple bird feeder that’s smothered with tasty seeds to attract all sorts of birds to your garden.
Transform stale slices of bread into bird feeders that you can hang outside your window with this feeder project and wave hello to all the little visitors in the garden. Stale bread will never go to waste again!
Using recycled materials in junk modelling activities has so many benefits for your little one's development. You can create this feeder using cardboard, lolly sticks and string — it’s perfect for hanging in the garden.
Calling all Lego lovers! We love this child-friendly feeder that’s built entirely from Lego. This is a great way to get your children excited about exploring the wildlife in their garden as they will love observing the new visitors their feeder has attracted.
We love this innovative take on winter feeders that older children will love getting involved in. You will need a few materials you should already have around your home to create these brightly coloured unique feeders.
Once you start growing your own plants, you might want to think about making a scarecrow to scare away any unwanted visitors to your garden. Follow these simple steps with your child, and you’ll have your very own scarecrow in no time!
Whether you're planting your own flowers, a herb garden or creating a fruit and vegetable patch, you can make your own crafty garden markers using recycled lolly sticks. This is also a great way for children to practice their reading and writing skills.
Find out how here.
These birdseed hearts are one of our favourite garden ideas and a really easy activity that your little one can get involved in. They will brighten up your garden and can also make a wonderful gift!
Spruce up your child’s space, whether it’s their garden or bedroom windowsill, with these tin can flower pots. These beautiful planters will add a splash of colour, and your child will love being involved in the decorating process just as much as they’ll love planting the flowers.
The best garden ideas are the ones that utilise what you already have around the house. We love this idea of transforming old Play-Doh tubs into tiny plant pots. Why not give it a go yourself next time that Play-Doh dries out?
Add a personal touch to your garden with these steppingstones you and your family can create together. Walking across steppingstones is great for children's physical development as it can help improve balancing and their gross motor skills.
For another unique twist on labelling your plants, why not give these painted pebble markers a go? Painting the fruit, vegetables or type of flower you’ve planted is a great visual label for your child, and they’ll also love the process of getting creative when making their pebble designs.
If you give any of these ideas a go, we’d love to see them! Don’t forget to tag us in your pictures on our Instagram!
Content Writer
74+ Amazing Summer Activities
27 Early Years Literacy Activities and Games
50 Easter Activities for Children and Toddlers
View All
