Brilliant Garden Projects For National Children’s Gardening Week

From May 27th to June 4th, National Children's Gardening Week celebrates the joys of gardens for kids and the opportunity to connect with nature. This week aims to inspire both youngsters and adults to explore the great outdoors and learn more about the wildlife that surrounds them.

Gardening is an excellent way to teach children about ecosystem functioning, the significance of environmental conservation, and the pleasure of growing flowers and food from scratch.

We have some enjoyable and straightforward gardening suggestions that your children can easily try at home.

Activity One: DIY butterfly feeder

Looking for a fun and easy way to bring butterflies to your garden? A butterfly feeder is a great activity that kids will enjoy and it's effective in attracting these stunning creatures.

What you will need:

  • Plant saucer
  • String
  • A metal ring
  • Ripe fruit – bananas are ideal

Instructions

To create a hanger for your garden, make holes in the rim of your plant saucer and thread the string through. You can add a personal touch by painting bright designs on the saucer. Tie all the strands around the ring to form the hanger. To attract butterflies, cut up some overripe fruit such as bananas and place them in the garden. Hang the feeder from a tree and wait for the butterflies to visit.

Activity Two: Grow the tallest sunflower

Planting sunflowers is a great activity for kids. They grow fast and can be planted directly outside or in a pot. Plant two or three seeds in each pot filled with compost, and cover with more compost, and water. It takes at least 10 weeks for them to grow from seed to flower. They're also loved by bees and can be a fun competition to see who can grow the tallest one.

 

Activity Three: Make your own seed paper

This activity is perfect to do with children and when finished, you can plant the seed paper in a container or border and watch it grow into stunning, blooming flowers. It's effortless and enjoyable!

What you will need:

  • Pieces of paper
  • Your favourite flower seeds or wildflower mix
  • Hand blender
  • Shallow tray or container

Instructions

To make seed paper, start by tearing your paper into tiny pieces and soaking them in hot water for 10-15 minutes. After that, blend the mixture before adding your seeds. Pour the pulp mixture into a shallow container and spread it evenly over one splatter guard. Place another guard on top, then squeeze to remove excess water. You can then cut the seed paper into different shapes like circles, hearts, and stars, and plant them to grow.

 

Activity Four: Create a fairy garden

A miniature DIY fairy garden filled with gnomes, little fairies, toadstools, or cute tiny fairy houses offers children and adults an enchanted play space to develop their creativity and imagination.

What you will need:

  • Container/pot
  • Compost
  • Moss
  • Stones
  • Succulents/Small plants
  • Fairy and accessories

Instructions

To create your very own fairy garden, start by selecting a suitable container and location. Next, choose the plants, fairy figurines, and garden accessories you want to include. Once you have everything you need, add soil to your chosen container or location. Then, arrange the miniature live plants and fairy garden accessories using stones for a path or glass stones as a stream. Finally, plant and mould the DIY features of your fairy garden, add figurines, toadstools or fairy doors. Enjoy creating your magical masterpiece!

Activity Five: Upside-down tomato container

Children will love this innovative way of growing tomatoes which is an interesting and space-saving way to grow this popular grow your favourite.  This method is particularly effective for growing cherry tomatoes and smaller tomato plants, and all you need is a large container.  We recommend a plastic five-gallon bucket for backyard gardeners when growing tomatoes upside down.

As your tomato plants develop, they will naturally strive to grow upwards towards the sun. To avoid irregular growth and feeble stems, it is recommended that you wait until your tomato plants are approximately a foot in height before transplanting them into an upside-down container.

To grow tomato plants upside-down, create a hole measuring 1-to-2 inches at the bottom of your container. Carefully insert the root ball of the tomato plant through the hole, add soil, and hang it in a sunny location on your porch, fence, pergola, or wall. Keep in mind that the soil will dry out faster than conventional growing methods due to better air circulation. Thus, you must water your upside-down tomato plants often. Enjoy watching your tomatoes thrive and your children will love picking them!

Activity Six: Make rock labels

As our garden blossoms and the vegetable seeds begin to sprout, it's essential to create garden markers for easy identification.  Children will love this creative project of making rock plant labels.

What you will need:

  • Large stones or pebbles
  • Black marker pen
  • Acrylic paints

Instructions

To begin, ensure that your stones are clean and completely dry. Flat stones are ideal for writing and colouring. Select your desired design, whether it be a sunflower or strawberry. Remember to use a marker pen to label each stone accordingly.

We also have some activity sheets that can be downloaded: 

Remember to tag us in your creations on our social media @BritishGardenCentres and use the hashtags #BritainGetGrowing #MyBritishGarden, we would love to see what you have made!

Thank you for reading.