Round and Round the Garden

Kids these days spend so much of their time in front of the computer and TV that it should be every parent’s goal to get them out and about. The best way to accomplish this is not by making them stay outside, but rather by making them want to stay outside. Here are a bucketful of child-friendly garden ideas to set your creative brain into motion.

• Build a tree house, a fort or a kiddies tea garden where they can give free reigns to their imagination.
• Make a DIY tire swing with an old spare, a length of thick rope and perhaps a little help from the husband.
• Rope the kids into a DIY outdoor project such as making bird feeders. Luring these feathered friends to the garden, might just lure your little ones outside.
• Paint a hop-scotch court on a stretch of concrete to save them the trouble of drawing one each time.
• Invest in a magnifying glass, notepad and bug box to encourage little adventurers to explore the garden.
• Compile a kiddies’ picnic basket and allow them to prepare the food themselves.
• Paint a ring-toss game on the the outside wall of the house and drill pegs into the wall.
• Build an obstacle course using an assortment of old barrels, logs (as balance beams) and tyres.
• Bring their favourite school yard elements into the garden such as a see-saw, swing set or slide.
• Supply the little ones with sturdy shovels and turn the old sandpit into an excavation scene. You might even go as far as burying little treasures in the sand.
• Section off a corner of the garden where they can plant their own crops. After all, if you can’t keep little hands out of the dirt, at least put them up to something productive.
• And when their little gumboots get too small, use them as colourful planter pots around the garden.