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Adventures Close to Home.
I sometimes feel that we spend so much time planning amazing trips to take with our kids, that it is easy to overlook what we have right on our doorstep. Quite literally.
So this weekend we made a conscious decided to spend an entire day outside in the garden. Our garden is only small, but I am constantly amazed at the adventures that can be had there.
Both girls are avid bug finders, and even in our small and newly established garden we always find a huge variety of insects, although catching a slow worm was probably one of our best finds to date! As with everything we catch, we make a point of keeping it only briefly before letting it go, in the hopes that the animals and insects we find will choose to visit us again. Emily (age 5) is convinced she has caught the same beetle at least 6 times now!
Every year the girls plant a butterfly garden. They have a large pot which they fill with seeds of flowers and plants specifically chosen to attract butterflies. The flowers look pretty, and we love sitting back and counting all the butterflies (and bees) that visit. And whilst we don't have space for a huge vegetable garden, we always make sure we have herbs growing in pots as well as a couple of food plants. The girls love harvesting their home-grown tomatoes and strawberries, although they rarely make it inside before they get eaten.
Another favourite thing to do in the garden is to make a fire. We specifically chose a low fire bowl for this purpose, so the girls can easily be involved with laying and tending the fire. Not to mention it makes it super easy to roast marshmallows! I think it is easy to associate making a fire with cooking an entire bbq meal, but some days we make a small fire just to cook toast on as an after school snack.
And of course there is always den making (an old sheet over a clothes airer works well). So those are some of our top tips for having fun in your garden. We would love to hear how others make use of their outdoor space.
Comments (4)
I think you're quite right about the best fun being had in the garden. And I've never actually seen a slow worm before - now I know what they look like! Cool catch (and release) :o)
Fiona its so funny you have just thought that too! We had so many adventures over the summer that we got to a point when we suddenly decided we should just spend some time around at home so have not really been anywhere for about a month now! The girls have had great fun climbing trees in the garden and exploring and making up games but I will admit we have itchy feet again already! Trying not to get too carried away though as we've planned a winter ski season in the Southern Alps (NZ) so we're off on a big adventure in 6 weeks time. By the way is that the view from your garden!!??...ah if I could just peruade my husband to move to Europe!!....I reckon its the perfect spot... just a little closer to family than we are now!...although almost anywhere else in the world would be a little closer than we are now!!
Oh the other thing I was going to say was what great fun with the fire!....we are not allowed to have fires in the garden in Auckland but perhaps like that it is really classed as a BBQ!.....you've given me an idea!! :o)
Oh Joanne, you had me all excited when you said you were coming to the 'Alps'.
I was about to start arranging a LT meet up...
And yes, that is the view from our back garden. I am starting to realise that living in Switzerland means there is no such thing as a 'bad' view. Infact I hauled my camera along to the local supermarket today to take a photo of the view from the car park. Seriously breath taking!