Twelve Steps To
Happy Garden Memories

by Alex Freeman

The Plant For Life Campaign lists 12 garden activities every child should experience by the time they are 12.

Research has shown that children are spending less and less time in their gardens, choosing instead to spend their time in front of televisions and computer games. Only a quarter of children spend an hour or more per week in the garden. The Plant for Life Campaign is aiming to change this by recommending 12 must-do things that every child should experience before they are 12 years old.

These 12 essential activities are as follows:

1. Pick strawberries or other fruits. In summer many parks, gardens and hedgerows have blackberries growing wild. Don't forget to wash them before eating them!
   

2. Pick flowers and press them. This can be done between sheets of newspaper, inside a telephone directory, with lots of heavy books placed on top. Otherwise flower presses can be obtained from Amazon.co.uk, Early Learning Centre or Hawkins Bazaar.
3. Build a tree house and create a space to which children can withdraw and where adults aren't allowed.
   
4. Make a private den in the bushes. This will provide hours of entertainment and can become anything you want it to be –a castle, a fortress, a home and so on.
   

5. Create a garden plot and watch it grow. Children can gain so much from planting seeds; this also links to the National Curriculum.
   
6. Look for creepy crawlies under rocks and stones. Again, links to the National Curriculum; many websites will help you to identify what you have found, e.g . UK Safari
7. Hang a bird feeder and count the number and variety of birds it attracts. The RSPB website will help you to do this, and to identify the birds you attract.
8. Plant a sunflower and watch it grow into a 10ft tall beauty. Very satisfying for children because of the size of the resulting plants. Seeds are widely available from garden centres.
   
9. Plant a spring or summer flowering bulb and develop patience by waiting for it to grow. Daffodils and tulips, among others, are best planted in September; advice can be found on the RHS website
   
10. Look out for frog spawn in the pond and study the life cycle of a creature. Many of us have filled in our ponds on safety grounds, but look out for pond dipping events locally.
    
11. Collect caterpillars and watch them transform into butterflies. See the “Bug Club” website for help.
12. Kick or roll through autumn leaves.

For more details of the Plant for Life campaign follow this link;
http://www.plantforlife.info/pages/home.asp

text © Alexandra Freeman 2006

About the Author:
Alex Freeman is a freelance writer specialising in parenting and family topics and can be contacted via eParenting.

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