The Power of Nature

With the sun shining and quite a few parents and children with higher than usual anxiety levels, today is the perfect day to get out into the garden. With increasing isolation the garden will probably become a bit of a hero of a lot of families homes. Here is a list of 8 different garden activities to keep young minds busy and older parent minds sane.

☀️ - Skipping Competition. 
During isolation we have made this a daily event. We pick three different styles of skipping ( forward jump, forward skip, backwards skip) and then do the most of each style that we can in one go before getting tangled in the rope. 
Each day we compete against each other and then day to day we compete against ourselves to beat yesterdays score.

☀️ - Picnic. 
Yes it's not that warm yet but it's still fun to make and pack up an al fresco lunch, wrap up warm and go and eat in the garden on a rug or benches. Any change of scenery can only be a good thing.

☀️ - Obstacle Course. 
Setting up cushions, upside down plant pots and ladders can create a great obstacle course. You can do water races with cups and bowls or if you're worried about them getting wet put stones in a bowl at one end and see who can get all the bowls from one end to the other one at a time. Normally I'd say use pasta but realise that, at the moment, that would be a bit like suggesting you use pound coins!

☀️ - Nature Hunt. 
Write a list of ten things that would be relatively easy to find in your garden and then set them free to see who can find them all first. Maybe hide some really well so that it takes a while ..

☀️ - Planting Seeds. 
Now is the perfect time to be planting up our seeds. Getting kids involved gives them something to nurture on a daily basis with the watering. Watching something grow and come to life can be soothing at the best of times but feels more important than ever at the moment.

☀️- Treasure Hunt. 
These are great fun and can be repeated with so many different things. Hide their soft toys around the garden to find. Small plastic doll, dinosaur toys can be perfect for hiding as well. Or pick ten things from your house, write a list of what they are and then see if they can go and find them. 
Or if you have any patience left write clues for them to follow with one prize at the end.

☀️ Let them loose with chalk. 
Brilliant for drawing on paving slabs, fences, walls. It'll all wash off and kids love the freedom of drawing all over everything. If you have older kids give them a space to create a graffiti wall. Look on the internet to inspire them.

☀️ Painting Flower Pots for Gifts. 
Getting messy outside with paint is always more fun than indoors. Getting your children to paint flower pots and then plant them with a seed to deliver to an elderly neighbour as a gift is also a really nice idea.

Hx