Fun things to do in the garden!
Garden Games
So many fun games that can be played in the garden! Jenga, Croquet and Boules, to name a few… Others can be made. Get the children to make an outdoor game up or even create a large snakes and ladders or noughts and crosses, dominos or a dart board.
For car lovers – you can create a road bridge for their vehicles – put the box of their cars/trucks in the garden. Planks of wood, magazines, books, logs, old tiles can be used. If you don’t have these materials tell them to make the longest traffic jam from one side of the garden to the other.
Nerf fun – along with the games children create from playing with Nerf toys. You can set up tin can stacks for target practice fun. Painting them keeps them busier for longer
Outdoor Marble runs – using junk modelling recycling or combine with a marble run that you own – how far can yours go and for how long? Let them time the duration on a stop watch or phone!
Potions – for those creative souls (water, teabags, food colourings, shells, stones, bicarbonate of soda, coca cola).
Water
Paddling pools, sprinklers and water pistols are the obvious choice!
But if you have a slide why not pop it in the paddling pool?
We found some old damp proof course matting and created a water slide. Obviously you have to be really careful here but we set this up in 2014 and are still using it 7 years later! This year’s addition is some old car tyre tubes. You can also buy water slides (see example below £12.99 in Aldi) Don’t forget your cheap washing up liquid or bubble mix!
Badminton/Tennis
Nets can be bought, but again created from rope, chairs or as in our case old building materials.
Tent/Den building
Why not suggest the children build a den that they can sleep in. Or put the tent up in the garden and let them play in it/sleep in it.
Treasure Hunt
Ask the children to create a treasure hunt for each other. 5 Clues and hide 5 things. A theme like Harry Potter is always fun!
Gardening
There are lots of vegetable and salad sowing that can be done in July/August. Get the children to grow some salad, radishes, broad beans or carrots.
Garden Art
With pebbles, cardboard boxes, chalk, posca pens, paint, easels
Music
Ask the children to make up a song with their musical instruments. These can be theirs or made. They can play to you at the end of the day. If you can, have a camp fire and toast marshmellows.
We hope these ideas are helpful and bring lots of fun to your garden play! Obviously everything must be supervised and care taken.
Photo credits:
Can stack photo byVisual Stories || Micheile on Unsplash
Paddling pool photo by Peter Idowu on Unsplash
Painting Photo by RODNAE Productions from Pexels
Author: Helen Loder
Co-Director of Sevenoaks Mums