Dear mummy, the weather has been glorious recently and we’ve taken full advantage of it spending every hour of sunlight in our garden. It was like a jungle when we first stepped foot outside last week. After weeding, mowing the lawn and raking the leaves we turned our attention to the lack of plants. We have no flowers in our garden anymore *sob* so we decided to sow some seeds and grow some more!
Unfortunately a lot of our unkept plants have withered away and died so this time we are going to look after them. We are planting some more seedlings before the summer hits. It’s early May and only just hotting up, so now is the perfect opportunity.
We grab my trusty tuff spot which we picked up from Wicks at £15.99 and it’s great to contain the mess. Loose seeds and soil can be scooped up quite easily in this large ridged tray. We originally bought it for crafting activities to do inside the house and off the carpet but it’s great outdoors too! We also use a propagator tray which creates a green house environment for the little seeds and keeps the soil nice and moist. It also means we can keep the seeds in the house and watch their progress!
My mummy starts off with helping me fill up the little containers with soil. A mixture of compost from a bag and our clay from the garden. I love getting mucky and enjoy getting stuck in, scooping up the soil and patting it down in the compartments. It’s very messy and we haven’t any gardening gloves so dirt gets under our finger nails, between my toes and in my hair!
We try to dodge the little baby snails and slugs which have made their way into the compost bag, and we save them and put them out on the front fence….far away from mummy’s prized roses! They look sooo cute and I spend ages looking at them, I even take one inside the house to show daddy! eeeek….it could still be inside somewhere?!?
My mummy opens the packets of seed, some are so small they are like grains of sand! Others are large like nuts! We poke holes in the soil with our fingers and plop the seeds inside. I tuck them up in their little beds with more soil on top and give them a good water.
I’m fascinated with all the different shapes of the seeds. And my mummy and I inspect them closely wondering which does which. My mummy places some inside on the windowsill, others in the conservatory and some in plant pots outside. It will be a competition to see what grows first!
I’ve been watching them eagerly to see if they have grown, checking back every 2 hours. Still disappointed I can’t see anything! My mummy chuckles. If they are anything like last year they will do well.
Fingers crossed they will grow into big and strong healthy plants. Here’s our top tips for kiddie friendly gardening and to remember in the great outdoors!
1) Creepy crawlies and bugs are awesome!
Kids aren’t inherently afraid of things that crawl and creep. They learn that these bugs are scary or icky from adults. Enjoy finding them and creating little homes for them. See the bugs as an integral part of the outdoor ecosystem and the kids will be amazed and curious, not afraid. My mummy is trying not to pass on an aversion to something because of how it looks, she doesn’t like her prejudices being passed on to me. So bites her tongue when she sees wiggly worms, caterpillars, insects, spiders and wasps.
2) Dirt is your friend.
All kids are washable, don’t worry if they get mucky! Playing outside with mud is a great sensory experience.
3) Kids and chemicals don’t mix.
Obvious really, keep it all ‘Au Natural’. Water, soil and no nasty plant sprays unless it’s natural. Kids might rub their eyes or thumb suck and running around wiping their hands isn’t practical. Also I wouldn’t want loads of chemicals on my cherry tomatoes! A little dirt never hurt anyone. I eat grass all the time! 😉
4) Let the kids take control.
Let them wander free (but within sight) it’s how they learn on their own. Let them get dirty and make mistakes, venture into the unknown and climb a fallen tree. Just be on hand to guide them occasionally. When creating a kids garden adults need to facilitate and show how, but not do everything!! I kinda like weeds in my little garden patch especially the yellow ones and hate my mummy…or grandma interfering! (She knows what we’re talking about – last year she ‘weeded’ my precious sunflower shoots)
5) Reinforce the lessons from the outdoors while indoors.
Get kids ready for their outdoors adventure by asking questions like, “What will we see today?” We like visiting our seeds and plants and seeing if they have grown. When I’m a bit older my mummy wants me to keep a field journal so I can record all my outdoor discoveries. She’s thinking pressed leaves and drawings of the seasonal flowers we find….maybe even fairies at the bottom of my garden!
Progress update: It’s been a couple of days and already we have seen shoots coming from our propagator tray on the windowsill! We can’t believe it!
What have you planted this year?
Love Bella xx
dearmummyblog.com 
I bought some seeds and bulbs last week to plant with Sophie. I planned to do it today but it is raining a lot! I was going to throw them straight into the ground but this looks like a more successful way of doing it…! Can you tell I’m not a gardener? I never thought of sitting in our tuff spot to do it either. Glad I read this post! Also love that children love the bugs. Hope the slug isn’t in your house leaving a trail though! haha. #letkidsbekids
….the slug has gone missing….he could be anywhere!!
Its great to see children getting involved in the garden. My kids always love finding all the bugs and worms. Hope you manage to find your runaway one.
Thanks for linking #Letkidsbekids
Planting seeds is such a magical experience for children. We always plant sunflowers with the preschoolers at our library. They get so excited and we get progress updates as the seeds sprout and grow. Last year one of our sunflowers grew 9 ft tall! Visiting from #Letkidsbekids
This is so amazing! I am so okay with my son getting muddy too thats why when we go to the beach I let him play in the sand and water. I am looking forward to seeing how your plants grow! #letkidsbekids #whatevertheweather
That’s so sweet, I wishh I could still do that, would be a bit weird for a twnty year old wouldn’t it. When I was little I used to collect them in a shoe box and they all died, I was shocked:(
These look such fun for the little ones. Wish we had a garden.
My daughter loves playing in the mud at the park
It’s so lovely to see children getting involved in the garden. I hope that the seedlings continue to flourish and grow into gorgeous flowers outdoors.
This looks lots of fun I wish we had a garden so thst Blake can have lots of fun and get messy.
How lovely that you’re teaching your little one to garden at such a young age. Id love to plant some things with my boy, he loves the garden.
Mine love to get involved in the garden although I have to admit I am not green fingered at all – mine are fascinated with woodlice and are forever bringing them inside
It looks like you had lots of fun. My little girl loves gardening, she does it at nursery and I really must start doing it with her at home as she loves exploring the garden xx
I think it’s great that little ones learn from an early age where things come from and also that creepy crawls are not necessarily bad. I remember as a child playing outside, helping mum in the garden and also making a few mud pies along the way!!!
This is such a lovely post, it is so good to see the kids getting involved and clearly enjoying it x
Great post! Your little one must be so excited to see the seeds come to life. In our house Daddy’s in charge of the garden, so I just do as I’m told and remove weed and rake leaves 🙂 Our little boy loves helping out, though he hasn’t quite learned that soil isn’t for eating #whatevertheweather
Nadia – ScandiMummy x
WE love planting seeds and I can’t wait to get ours started!! Looking forward to the nice weather and gardening with the girls here. I love your pictures it looks like you had a great time together 🙂
Gardening isn’t my strong suit buy it looks like the parsley I let got to seed has propagated itself. Does that count??
Kids just love digging and being outdoors don’t they. I love seeing little ones getting stuck in and mucky.
Looks like you had lots of fun, my little man loves bugs and worms too
We love planting too. So far only our leeks have sprouted this year. Good to get them gardening young. #whatevertheweather
What a fab activity, it’s great that you got your hands dirty and helped plant the flowers ready for summer. It’s great to get some hands on gardening fun and all little kids are enthralled at the idea of playing with creepy crawlies, I wonder when they start thinking they’re not so cute. I bet you can’t wait to see what pretty flowers grow from each seed. Thanks for linking up with me on #CountryKids.
We’re not green fingered at all in this house but getting muddy does sound like fun. Good luck with your little shoots. I’m sure there’s a lot more by now! #whatevertheweather
Such fab fun in the garden! I wish I wasn’t so afraid of bugs and slimy slugs. I’m trying not to be so we can show Evie them but it is hard. Good luck with your growing!!!! I hope they’re doing well. Thank you so much for sharing with #whatevertheweather x
We’ve been spending lots of time in the garden recently getting it ready for planting. Arthur loves the bugs, especially the woodlice. He’s happiest when he’s covered in mud too 🙂
Lovely post! So important to get kids learning about plants and minibeasts!
Love this post! We also love our tuff spot, great for all sorts of things 🙂 We haven’t done any planting yet this year… life has been chaotic and the garden at the bottom of the list. You’ve inspired me to get going and tidy things up a bit!