Sharing Your Backyard
With the Local Wildlife

With Spring coming, bringing lighter days (finally) I bet you’re wondering how you’re going to keep your kids entertained? Why not try attracting wildlife to your garden?

This can be a year round activity the kids can come back to over and over as the seasons change. It is a wonderful learning opportunity too. Teaching them how to care for the world around us, as well as having an appreciation about how the seasons work, understanding life cycles for animals and of plants.

Also, nice idea to teach kids is how their food chain works, as well as, from a wildlife point of view, and what happens if that is unbalanced.

This could also lead to learning how to reduce their waste and recycle in the most natural and basic way possible i.e. compost.

So, here are my favorite activities that you and your kids can enjoy doing together to attract wildlife into your garden. We enjoy these activities here and we’ve learned so much from them. As the weather begins to get warmer we’ll enjoy helping the wildlife in our area with even more ideas.

MAKE A BEE WATERING HOLE.

Bees need water to drink. Collecting all that honey is thirsty work! It can be dangerous too, as the bees can be drowned in a pond or larger body of water. So, providing a bee bath can literally be a life saver to the struggling bee populations. As always, the bees need this by the flower garden. Keep the bees away from your childs play area.

 TO MAKE A BEE WATERING HOLE

• Fill a shallow dish with marbles stones or water-beads, 1 layer thick.

• Place this at soil level near some bee friendly plants.

• Now, fill the dish with water half way up the marbles. The bee can land on the dry marble and stick its long tube tongue through the marbles to get a drink safely. When the local bees find your safe drinking dish your garden will be the place to go for bees all over!

This post from Kidsinthegarden, shows another cute way to do this using a large plastic flower pot water tray. I’m making one like this this Spring in our old stone bird bath.

FEED THE MOTHS AND BUTTERFLIES.

This is a nice easy one for late Spring, Summer. It helps to make sure butterflies and moths get the nectar they need.

Now that they’re adults and nearing the end of their lives. They don’t eat they only drink nectar. So it’s important they can find enough of this. Their only function as an adult butterfly or moth is to find a partner and lay some eggs, and they do all this with the help of a major sugar rush ha!

• We just lay a shallow dish in the garden beside the flowers. I’ve made a small platform from some stacked up bricks to sit this on.

• I then lay a flat sponge in the dish, the type with holes in it.

• Then, I make up a sugar solution of half water and half sugar and stir it until it’s all dissolved.

• You can lay some over ripe fruit in the dish too, oranges and bananas are wonderful and give an instant sugar rush.

GROW WILDFLOWERS

Butterflies and bees are drawn to areas of wildflowers.

Buddleia is a particular favourite of butterflies, and open structured flowers are good for attracting bees, foxglove and poppies.

Other annual plants that are so easy for kids to grow are Cornflowers, foxgloves, bluebells, crocus and sweet peas, Also think about moths and nightlife, Night scented flowers are wonderful for attracting moths and other night insects, which in turn attract bats to roost nearby. We had a resident bat here a few years ago that loved swooping in front of out sitting room window at dusk to catch all the moths and flies attracted by my Sarcococca Confusa plant that smells amazing.

So experiment with flowering times and seasons and see what you can attract. These are just a tiny selection of the plants you could choose to encourage wildlife.

If you need help on the gardening side, why not sivn up here to be the first to hear about my “Gardening with Kids” EBOOK coming soon??

LINK

4. BUILD A TERRARIUM

The kids I care for LOVE creepy crawlies. They really enjoy exploring new habitats, doing bug hunts, getting muddy and slimy at the same time.

This craft is so easy but condenses wildlife down into manageable size for little ones. We have a whole city to explore this year like this one here.

SES Explore Children’s Insect City

I can’t wait to fill it up in Spring and see who moves in. In the mean time we will make mini jar terrariums. Just like these ones here from Allparenting.com  

You can also use the jars as bug collection jars.

Fill a large glass jar with a thin layer of stones or pebbles on the bottom for drainage,

Then fill the jar with a thin layer of soil, leaves, sticks, and flowers.

Put some holes in the lid carefully then let kids outdoors into the garden or forest and see what they bring back. It might be an idea to take spoons or mini spades to help lift the bugs safely.

Keep the jars for a few hours and let kids see a range of behaviours.

REMEMBER TO LET THE BUGS GO BACK TO THE PLACE YOU GOT THEM WHEN YOU ARE DONE.

If you don’t want to make your own terrarium, here are some of the other bug sets we’ve had over the year. 

Butterfly Farm

Insect Lore Butterfly Garden

This is easy to set up and so educational for the kids. My daughter CC checked the cocoons every minutes she could and the kids squealed and cried when the butterflies hatched. Such a wonderful experience and the set is reusable too.

Ant farm

Ant World

I was worried these little critters would escape but they didn’t. After a few days you started to see them making changes to their enclosure.

Wormery.

My Living World Worm World

This one was amazing. The different layers of material like soil and sand really helped us see how the worms make their way through the layers feeding and making tunnels leaving a clear network of tunnels through the layers.

5. PUT UP NESTING BOXES

Nesting boxes encourage birds to stay in your garden and raise their babies.

Chapelwood Wild Bird Classic Nest Box

We put up various sizes and shapes of boxes in a sheltered area under our roof line, away from the wind and hot sun. Every year we get some starlings nesting in the roof line and in some of the boxes. It’s wonderful to see the mum and dad birds flying in regularly to feed the chicks, and we get to hear the cheeping of the babies. I’m hoping, with the aid of our new bird nest cam, we will see a lot more this year and maybe actually see them leave the nest and fly. The kids will LOVE it!

Green Feathers 700TVL Wired Bird Box Camera with Audio, Night Vision and 20m AV Cable- Perfect Nest Box Pack, Bird House Kit, RCA, 940nm Invisible Infrared, Garden Wildlife Camera

This is a job that needs doing in Winter or even late Autumn. So that you do not disrupt the breeding season.

6. GET A BIRD TABLE AND BATH

All birds feed differently, so need the food to be on a flat surface like the ground or on a table where others will feed from a hanging fat ball. Provide a range of options to attract the most birds.

Birds also need a drink and water to clean their feathers, with so make sure you provide a constant source of water so the birds can rely on it.

Just a note on feeders, Try not to put out to much food so it gets wasted. Rats and other vermin with feed off bird food tables if their short on other supplies

7. PLANT A TREE

Native trees to your area will help attract birds and insects. In the UK, go for species like crab apple, conifers, silver birch, yew, alder, or if you have space for a large tree, try elm, beech or ash. Trees provide a nesting place for birds and squirrels, as well as lots of insect life, while if you want to attract bats, willow will give you the best chance.

If you have space to plant a few trees near each other, this will create more of a woodland habitat drawing a wider range of wildlife.

8. GROW A WILDLIFE HEDGE

Hedges provide additional nesting areas for birds and small animals. They also help to shelter the garden and some even produce fruit or berries providing food for the wildlife or you! Suitable hedge plants include blackthorn, buckthorn, cherry plum, elder, hawthorn, hazel and privet. Climbers and creepers are great to grow up through the hedge as they provide further foliage to boost the insect population and draw birds. Clematis, dog rose and honeysuckle are good choices.

9. MAKE A WILDERNESS AREA

Leave an area of lawn to go to seed and grow long, or a pile of wood such as logs piled in a corned will give a home to beetles, bugs, centipedes and snails as well as much more.

10. HANG A BIRD FEEDER

Hang a bird feeder filled with peanuts or seeds. This post here has planty of feeders you can make with the kids. You can also get these wonderful feeders that attaches to a window with a suction pad for a close-up view. I finally ordered ours so we are looking forward to seeing the birds use this too. It takes birds a little while to get used to new feeders but I’m so excited to think that soon we will be able to see them up close.

Meripac Window Feeder

Fat balls and seed mixes are ideal for attracting a range of bird species. We also offer bacon rind raisins and grated cheese when we have them.

11. ATTRACT MAMMALS

This year we are making a hedgehog home in our garden. We saw a hedgehog in the garden a few times last year and we would love to attract him back this year. They are wonderful for keeping on top of the local slug population, so I’m keen to attract him here. In Spring when they wake from hibernation very hungry so we will be putting out food for them and I will make sure to leave out water as well.

NEVER GIVE MILK OR BREAD to hedgehogs as this can be very bad for them.You can buy special hedgehog food or give them dog food tinned meat.

My husband is convinced that he is hibernating under our shed but I will be attempting to build him a hedgehog home soon so he will use that next year.

So! these are the steps we will be working on this year to attract more wildlife to our garden. I hope you will try some too and support your local wildlife so they can in turn support you!

What challenges do you face getting outdoors with your kids?
Do you have a favourite activity or something that always gets in the way? 

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Garden Wildlife Photography Tips

When you think about wildlife photography, most people would think of visiting a wildlife reserve, national park, or just getting out in the wilds. However, you can take great wildlife photos much closer to home.

There are quite a few benefits of photographing wildlife in your garden. The most obvious one being that you don't have to travel anywhere to get there. It's also much more comfortable - if you get thirsty or hungry you can just pop inside for a drink or snack. You don't need to carry a large amount of equipment with you - you can just fetch what you want when you want it.

It also enables you to do a quick bit of wildlife photography whenever it's convenient. Of course you can't guarantee that there will always be an obvious subject out there whenever you want it. But that would be just the same if you were traveling many miles to a nature reserve.

Squirrel eating a nut in a garden by James Blunt on Flickr (licensed CC-BY-ND)

In nature, habitats tend to cover large areas. But in your garden you can have a wide range of habitats in just a small area. A couple of trees can become a woodland, the lawn becomes fields, and a small pond becomes a lake (well maybe not quite, but near enough). This allows you to attract a large variety of different wildlife to your garden.

When thinking about wildlife photography in your garden, you need to think about the type of wildlife you would like to attract, and then plan your garden appropriately. If you want to photograph birds, then trees / shrubs for them to perch / hide in, water to drink and wash in, and a good supply of food will all help bring them to your garden.

American Blue Jay by anoldent on Flickr (licensed CC-BY-SA)

You can go further than this, if you're looking to photograph a particular type of bird, for example. Look up what it likes to eat, what sort of habitat it likes, and then make sure that your garden will cater to its needs.

Enticing animals into your garden to feed can certainly help you get some photos of them. But if you can get them to live in your garden, then this opens up even more regular photo opportunities. Putting up nest boxes for birds or bee houses for solitary bees, for example.

Male red mason bee (Osmia bicornis), Sandy, Bedfordshire by Orangeaurochs on Flickr (licensed CC-BY)

Do be mindful not to disturb animals when they're nesting though. For example, if you're not usually out in the garden much, but then go out when you get some nesting birds with chicks, the adults will be very wary of you and may stay away from the nest. This could result in the chicks missing out on vital feeds, or even the adults deciding to abandon the nest altogether.

If you're out in the garden regularly though before they choose the nest site, then they'll be much more likely to tolerate you being around, so long as you keep your distance.

If you're after frogs, then a small (or large) pond is a great idea. Put piles of rocks nearby that the frogs can hide under - they don't spend all their time in the water. A pond is also great for many insects, such as dragonflies, damselflies, and hoverflies. And these in turn attract other animals that feed on them.

Frog by Kev Chapman on Flickr (licensed CC-BY)

A corrugated metal sheet laid out in an area that gets some sunlight can prove a magnet for snakes and lizards. As they are cold blooded, they need to warm up at the start of each day. The sheet heats up much faster in the sun than the surrounding ground. This makes it an ideal place for them to hide under, out of the sight of potential predators above.

Adder by Alastair Rae on Flickr (licensed CC-BY-SA)

For butterflies and caterpillars think about the types of plants you have in your garden. While flowers attract butterflies with their nectar, think also about plants that the caterpillars eat. Many have quite specialized tastes. By planting their foodplants you can attract butterflies looking for somewhere to lay their eggs. And it also gives you the chance to record the complete life-cycle, from caterpillar to butterfly.

Roosting butterfly by Martin Cooper on Flickr (licensed CC-BY)

As well as thinking about the wildlife you would like to attract when setting up your garden, also think about it from a photographic perspective. For example, when putting up a bird feeder, you want to place it somewhere that you can get reasonably close to without scaring the birds off. If you can place it near a point where you can easily photograph from the house, so much the better.

A bush growing near the feeder will provide a nice place for birds to perch, allowing you to get nice, natural shots of them. You may want to trim back parts of the bush to reduce visual clutter and make it easier to get a clean shot. You can even go further and just use a cut branch placed near the feeder for the birds to use. This results in much more appealing photos than a bird sitting at a plastic feeder.

European Goldfinch perching on a twig

The bird was actually perching on a stick attached to a feeder

Think about the backgrounds too. Having climbing plants covering walls and fences will usually provide a nicer, more natural looking backdrop than bare brick or wood.

Although photographing wildlife in your garden allows you to get pretty close, for most subjects you're still going to need a telephoto lens (300mm or greater) if you want to capture them at a reasonable magnification. Smaller subjects, such as insects, will generally let you get a bit closer, but due to their small size the maximum magnification ratio of the lens can become an issue. For these subjects a macro lens is highly recommended.

Mexican Bush Katydid by siamesepuppy on Flickr (licensed CC-BY)

For photographing birds, you can use your house as a hide. It is best (though not essential) to shoot through an open window or door as shooting through the glass of a window can reduce the contrast of an image. You may have to deal with reflections caused by the window too if shooting through the glass.

A Caching Steller's by Ingrid Taylar on Flickr (licensed CC-BY)

If you have a door that can slide open, this is perfect as it will let you shoot to the left or right without getting in your way. Whereas with a window you can only shoot in the direction that it opens.

It is best to open the window or door, then wait for birds to arrive. If you open the window / door after the birds have arrived, then you'll likely scare them off. So long as you're not too noisy, and don't move around too much, the birds should ignore you.

Blue Tit close-up by keith ellwood on Flickr (licensed CC-BY)

Lastly, if you don't have much wildlife in your garden at the moment, making it wildlife friendly won't change the situation overnight. You need to think of it more as a long term project. The results can be great, both for your photography, and also just for the general enjoyment of wildlife watching.

Herbs in the
Garden

Grow Your Own Herbs Every Year Without A Lot Of Effort!

Perennial herbs gardens are a gardener’s best friend. They provide an almost never-ending supply of fresh ingredients for salads, soups, and sauces. The only problem is that there are so many different perennial herbs to choose from! In this blog post, we will break down the growing information for each type of perennial herb, so you can find what you need with ease. This guide is not an exhaustive list, but these 12 garden herbs will help you get started answering the question about which herbs are perennials vs. annuals.

Sage

Sage is a perennial herb that can survive in zones five to nine. It prefers dry, well-drained soil and requires very little water. The plant grows two feet tall and has dark green leaves with small white flowers on red stems.

You should harvest the sage by cutting off the stem just above where it meets the plant’s root ball.

Perennial in Zones 5-9

Lemon Balm

Lemon balm is a perennial herb that can survive in zones four to nine and prefers moist soil with full sun exposure. It grows up to two feet tall and has slender stems with small leaves on top of the stem that make it look like grass or wheat blowing in the wind.

Lemon balm has a mild lemony smell and taste, making it more versatile than many other herbs with an assertive or strong scent or flavor.

To harvest lemon balm, cut off the stem above to meet the plant’s root ball.

Perennial in Zones 5-9

Rosemary

Rosemary is perennial in zones five to nine and has a piney, resinous aroma. It prefers total sun exposure in soil well-drained but not too dry. Rosemary can grow up to two feet tall with spiky leaves on top of the plant as it grows taller from the ground.

To harvest rosemary, be sure to cut the stems and not pull them up. Also, their leaves should be dry to touch before being used in a recipe.

Perennial in Zones 5-9

Oregano

Oregano is a beautiful perennial herb that can be grown in zones five to nine—the herb tastes of pine, anise, and pepper with a hint of clove.

The plant will grow up to three feet tall, but the leaves are pretty small, so you should harvest them frequently during the summer months.

Oregano should be watered only when dry through the roots but not over-watered so that its leaves turn yellowish-brown.

It is best used dried for maximum flavor.

Oregano has several different varieties like mint and cilantro, all with other culinary uses.

Perennial in Zones 5-9

Mint

Mint can be invasive and will tend to take over your garden. So before you consider planting mint as a perennial herb, be sure to contain it in its garden bed or pots sunk into the ground.

Mint will grow best in fertile, well-watered soil in full sun.

Mint can be used dried or fresh; for maximum flavor, you should harvest it regularly during the summer months when it’s at its peak of growth.

Did you know there are different flavors of mint? Chocolate, lemon, spearmint are just a few!

Perennial in zones 2-9

Parsley

Parsley is the perfect perennial garden companion. It is not technically a perennial, it’s a biennial, but it will set seed and continue to grow year after year. You may need to replant parsley as an annual in spring in future years, but if allowed to set seed in the garden, it should continue producing.

Parsley grows best in damp soil and full sun. Parsley is best harvested young, while the leaves are tender; you can use both fresh and dried for maximum flavor.

The best time to harvest parsley is when it’s whole-rooted, which means leaving at least a couple of inches attached to the root ball and harvesting before it bolts or goes to seed. If using in salads, you should remove only leaves from the bottom of the stem that is still.

Post Recommendation: Different Types of Parsley and How to Use Them

Perennial in Zones 0-11

Thyme

Thyme is also a great companion plant in the garden. This herb prefers well-draining soil and can tolerate some drought, making it an ideal choice for hot climates.

It tastes like a mix of mint and lemon, making it a great all-purpose herb. It’s best fresh or dried but can also be preserved by freezing the leaves in olive oil (which is what I do).

Thyme leaves should be harvested before they bloom or flower by simply cutting them off at the base with a sharp knife.

Perennial in Zones 0-11

Bay

Bay plants are perennial in zones 0-11 and can tolerate drought, salty soil, alkaline soil (pH > pH) up to a certain point.

The Bay plants are grown from two types: sweet bay and spicy bay; both have culinary uses, but some people use them interchangeably without any distinction.

To harvest bay leaves, cut them off the plant as they grow.

While You can keep bay in a pot for many years, it is best to set out plants with suitable root structures every couple of years and give them room to spread their branches.

Perennial in Zones 0-11

Chives

Chives grow exceptionally well in most zones and prefer to be planted in full sun.

They can grow from seeds or root divisions, but the easiest way is by setting out plants with good bulbs every couple of years.

To harvest chives, cut them off above ground before they flower and when it rains.

Chive plants will die back in harsh winters, but they will emerge back in the spring.

Perennial in Zones 2-11

Lavender

I adore lavender, and although it’s an unusual culinary herb, it is delicious in drinks, cookies, and baked goods. In addition, lavender is one of the most fragrant spices available, and I highly recommend trying it in your garden. Finally, as a herb, it has so many uses!

Lavender prefers to be planted in full sun but can grow in light shade with minimal water.

Lavender plants are best grown from transplants, cuttings, or root divisions and should be harvested when flowers are just beginning to bloom for the most aromatic oils.

Perennial in Zones 2-11

Recommended Post: How To Dry Lavender

Lovage

Lovage is a hardy perennial herb native to Eastern Europe and other parts of Western Asia.

It has a celery-like taste with anise, peppermint, and parsley hints.

It likes moist soil in full sun or partial shade.

The leaves are harvested by cutting them off when they are about 18 inches long.

You can add lovage leaves to soups, stews, and other dishes as a flavor enhancer.

Perennial in Zones 4-11

Roman Chamomile

Chamomile grows well in many different soils and likes full sun to partial shade.

Roman chamomile is often used in teas or as a garnish for dishes like a chicken pot pie with mushrooms.

Chamomile can also be grown indoors year-round by planting the seeds around February of each year.

To harvest chamomile, cut the leaves about 18 inches long.

Perennial in Zones 4-9

Hopefully, this article has given you a few ideas for incorporating perennials into your garden. If any other herbs pique your interest, please let us know in the comments! And don’t forget to check out our other gardening posts on plants and flowers so you can get some more inspiration when it comes time to plan next year’s herb garden. Happy planting!

Interested In Growing Other Fresh Herbs? 

The Best Herbs for An Indoor Window Sill Garden

• Guide On All Types of Sage

• Types Of Oregano: How To Grow And Use Popular Oregano Varieties

• Types Of Mints: How To Grow And Use Popular Mint Varieties

• Guide On All Types of Parsley

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Grab the bounty of fresh herbs while you can—and let's dry those leaves for tea. It's simple. See both how to dry your herbs and also how to make a good cup of herbal tea!

Grow Your Own Herbs for Tea

If you grew some of the plants mentioned in this Calming Herbs post, hopefully you have been enjoying them in iced and hot teas this summer. Even though fall is on the horizon, the party doesn't have to end!

Chamomile, lemon verbena, lemon balm, and any of the mints—peppermint, orange mint, and spearmint—are all ideal for tea. 

Read Next

• How to Grow a Tea Garden (And 10 Herbs to Plant)

• What Herbs Help With Anxiety?

• Preserving Herbs: Drying Herbs and Freezing Herbs

Image: Lemon balm ready to cut.

How to Dry Herbs

Before your plants are killed by frost, get a couple last harvests in and dry your remaining leaves to use over the winter.

Ideally, you should harvest before the plants flower for the best flavor—but this is last call!

1. Harvest the leaves in the morning after the dew has dried. (When the growing season has ended, you can cut the plants right back to the ground if you wish.) 

2. Carefully brush off any dirt. Don’t wash the leaves off with water, as they may mold instead of drying.

3. Proper drying will preserve the leaves and concentrate the flavors. Make small bunches and hang them upside down in a warm dry place out of direct sunlight.

Image: Just a few of the last bunches harvested before frost.

Or, you could spread the plants out on a clean screen (or paper towels laid over a wire rack) in a cool, dry spot. If you are having trouble drying in humid weather, you could resort to the oven, but that isn't optimal for tea.

→ Learn more about how to dry and freeze herbs.

Image: Drying on a screen gives good airflow and can be faster than drying in bunches.

It can take up to a week or more for them to dry depending on the humidity in the air. Temperatures that are too hot—over 85 to 90°F—will cause volatile oils to evaporate. When the leaves are fully dried, strip them from the stems and store in an airtight glass jar kept in a dark, cool place.

Put the kettle on and brew up a cup!

How to Make Herbal Tea

Bring the water just to a boil, add anywhere from 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon of dried herbs per cup of water to your teapot, and then let steep for 3-5 minutes, depending on how strong you like your tea. Since herb teas are naturally light in color, test by taste rather than by sight. Keep in mind that overbrewed tea can be bitter.

You can use a teaball to keep leaves from clogging the teapot's spout or use an infuser to brew just a single cup. Many tea aficionados don't like to use the metal strainers, claiming they give the tea a metallic taste and don't allow the herbs to fully swell and release their flavors. I have a friend who uses her French press to make tea. 

A dry summer helps to concentrate the flavors, making for some tasty teas. The chocolate mint was extremely strong and aromatic and the holy basil especially sweet and fruity this year. It grew so prolifically I couldn't keep up! The bees appreciated the blossoms though and the bubblegum aroma wafted over the garden on hot days.

A combination of lemon balm, lemon verbena, and spearmint make a refreshing tea, served hot or cold.

Tired of tea made from a single herb? Try these delicious combinations or experiment and make up some of your own. If you like your tea sweet, add a dried stevia leaf to each cup.

• Relaxing and Refreshing: 2 parts lemon balm to 1 part spearmint. This is my favorite combo.

• Citrus Spice: equal parts lemon basil, bee balm flowers, and orange mint.

• Luscious Licorice: equal parts anise hyssop, sweet cicely, and fennel leaves.

• Victorian Tea Garden: equal parts pineapple sage, chamomile flowers, and lemon balm.

• Mediterranean Blend: equal parts summer savory, marjoram, and rosemary. Better than bouillon!

• Calming Stress Reliever: 3 parts chamomile flowers, 2 parts lemon balm, and 1 part holy basil.

Enjoy a reminder of the garden this winter over a cup of homegrown herb tea.

Related Tea Content

• Lavender and Marshmallow Root Tea

• Best Herbs for Tea

• The Many Benefits of Tea

SUPERSCRIPT

CreatingPopular Wildlife Habitats For Outdoor Family Time

Eco-spaces in your yard add so much interesting flavor and personality to any yard and I don't understand why it isn't more popular. Our 'Brunch and Babes Play Group" pretty much inspired all of us to go alittle bit crazy and over the top in our ecospaces for family fun.  Eco-space just made sense to our whole yuppie dynamic for hosting our playgroups. 

Our family eco-spaces always allowed our kids to observe and explore nature in real time. As your children grow they can learn how to interact with nature as well as how that interaction effects the inhabitants and the eco-space itself. Not to mention the fact that they can become little botanist in the process.

Creating their eco-lab space became a delightful part of my day because it also became a creative outlet for myself and it became fabulous oasis for family recreation and celebrations and a sanctuary for the foster children that passed through our home. 

15 Exciting wildlife garden activities

Lesson Plans

LESSON 1 | Building our Compost Bin

LESSON 2 | Composting with Toddlers {Filling our Bin}

LESSON 3 | Creating Garden Rules with Toddlers

LESSON 4 | Teaching Toddlers How Things Grow | Planting our Garden

Backyard Biology – How to Design A Garden For a Fun Science Lab

ALLURING FAMILY GARDENS-- As a huge botany and wildlife observation area for our older children

We need kids that can tackle the environmental and health problems of the world around us. There is no better way foster their natural enthusiasm than to create a science filled backyard that draws them outside.

I’m not talking about a patch of grass with some bushes around the edges (boring). Rather, a place that starts to teach and inspire them towards the art and science of caring for our environment. Yes, they need a place to burn energy. But they also need a place to feed their curiousity and minds and with a little thought, the battle over screen time can become easier. An inspiring and enticing backyard garden doesn’t just make you happy and increase your property value. It is place where people (especially the littles) are encouraged to explore and learn about nature, biology and natural wisdom in general.

HOW CAN WE MOTIVATE KIDS TO ENGAGE WITH THEIR ENVIRONMENT?

One answer can be found at the home of two Massachusetts scientists. These parents have been experimenting with a living laboratory in their small, suburban backyard. The couple have a strong background in molecular biology, and have designed a space that functions as a small, relatively self-sustaining ecosystem. They use it as an al fresco classroom – a garden science lab and a place for backyard science-  for their three children.

HOW TO DESIGN A BACKYARD SCIENCE LAB

The garden, was designed to invite wildlife and the encroaching woodlands into the backyard, encouraging a seamless flow between nature and the suburban household. Many of the plant species are native to the area, requiring minimal maintenance. The garden revolves around its small pond, complete with koi fish, frogs and a snake, while birds linger and nest in branches overhead. Tall evergreens line the yard, hiding the neighboring properties from sight and drawing the eye outward, over the garden and into the woods.

Tom Wilhelm from A Blade of Grass, the designer of the garden, took the traditional elements of a children’s garden, small benches, thick shrubbery, hidden places to explore, and imbued each with unique properties to enhance learning. Wilhelm explains:

“these moments can be as simple as including butterfly bush or fruit-bearing shrubs that attract birds, thereby allowing children to observe the mutualism between flora and fauna. They can also be somewhat more complex, such as encouraging children to collect and study the tadpoles in a pond, or the dragonfly eggs floating near the water’s surface.”TOM WILHELM – A BLADE OF GRASS

PROMOTE AN APPRECIATION FOR NATURE AND EMPATHY FOR THE CREATURES IT SHELTERS

As a alluring prompt for learning disguised as adventures the eco-space garden should promote an appreciation for nature and empathy for the creatures it shelters, as well as an understanding that everything is connected. The backyard biology of the garden, becomes a microcosm for the world’s environment as a whole.

Encourage children to embrace the outdoors and nurture it by making a garden a place not just to run. But also make it a place to hide, a place to climb and a place to learn, even where space is limited. (We can only hope they will carry this perspective with them into adulthood).

SCIENCE IN THE BACKYARD – LESSON IDEAS

There are so many lessons that can be learned in and through a garden.  While most of the learning that takes place in outdoor gardens is experiential, educational gardens can serve as great ways to start conversations on a variety of topics.

IDEAS FOR GARDEN SCIENCE LAB LESSONS:

1. Science: conservation, evolution, seasons, food (buying locally, pesticides, organic), symbiosis.

2. Horticulture: tending particular plants (shade v. sunlight, varying soil types, water regulation), photosynthesis, plant identification.

3. Literature: as simple as reading outdoors on a shaded bench, or as creative as designing a Victorian-themed garden and reading classics.

4. Art: paint or draw the creatures, plants, and structures in the garden, design new paths/flower beds, create topiaries.

5. Nature & Wildlife: Ecology, habitat maintenance, insects and pollinators.

6. Business: Many garden products can be sold at local farmers markets. Give kids an opportunity to plan small businesses that go beyond the lemonade stand.

Lilies (along with other common garden plants like tomatoes, morning glories, snapdragons, petunias and irises) are ‘perfect’ flowers – meaning that they have both stamens and pistils (the male and female parts of a flower. Perfect flowers are the most common type of flowers and are easy subjects for a wide variety of experiments in hybridization, pollination and genetics as well as investigations in flower structure and basic biology.

TIPS FOR MAKING YOUR OWN BACKYARD GARDEN SCIENCE LAB:

1. Sometimes the best learning is experiential. Gardens that include interactive elements (like a koi pond or a vegetable patch) encourage kids to learn through observation and take a personal interest in various plants or animals. Alternatively, taking a child to a nursery and asking them to pick a flower to grow and tend (ideally from a seed) gives them responsibility and fosters attachment. Herbs are good because they encourage touching, smelling, and tasting. If the plant is a vegetable, it can lead to conversations about where food comes from, buying locally, etc.

2. Choose plants or features that will attract a variety of wildlife. Hang bird feeders with breed-specific feed (or plant a shrub with berries), and see how many varieties you can identify. Plant bright, tubular flowers for hummingbirds and butterflies.

3. Do prior research. Know what you hope the garden will teach your children, or allow them to discover on their own. Decide whether you want largely native species, so kids can recognize them at home or away. Include features that suit your educational goals.

4. Don’t assume you need a large space to make a big impact. This suburban garden in Newton, MA, is only several thousand square feet.

5. Gardens are not static. They change over time in terms of structure and function, so don’t be afraid to tweak either. An educational garden can evolve into a place to read or reflect as children age.

By Alexandra Cronin

EDITOR’S NOTE:

As a testament to the design, these photos were easy. I wanted to photograph the garden with a kid. (and since I had one that lives with me…)

But he wasn’t enthusiastic about an afternoon posing in someone else’s garden. There were bribes involved. But in the end, I didn’t have to pay up.

The koi pond distracted and entertained my son for as long as I needed (and then some). He was having so much fun in this garden science lab he forgot about not wanting to help. We both loved this place. Maybe because there were no distracting and garish plastic toys? Rather, there was mystery and surprise around every corner.

It also felt bigger than it was. The trails that curled around themselves and the obscured views create a greater sense of space. It is not only a small, relatively self-sustaining ecosystem, which the owners use as a beautiful al fresco classroom but a place that he and I both found to be encouraging of play and movement (more than any old patch of grass!) .

Eco-space plans below are to develop awareness and interest in wildlife across the planet makes this section so important to our planets future. We must be determined to mold our children to be great stewards of their own space as adults and leaders for global  awareness in wildlife issues in their day.1. Wetland habitat

​Wetland habitats are some of the most crucial to wildlife garden species. This is because they serve aquatic creatures as well as air and land dwelling organisms.

Mammals and birds come to the water’s edge to drink and bathe. While under the water’s surface, whole ecosystems of fresh, water, aquatic life thrive. 

Wetland habitats typically take the form of ponds but can also be bog gardens or small water features. Ponds can be created with pre-formed plastic pond tubs or excavations lined with butyl rubber liner. 

2. Woodland 

​It is easy to believe that most gardens are too small to incorporate woodland habitat. However this could not be further than the truth! You do not even really need trees to recreate an actual, woodland garden, habitat. A selection of shade loving woodland plants in a dark corner is effective enough.

Most of the time planting a small tree and some woodland shrubs will provide perfect woodland habitat.

If you have overhanging trees from neighbouring gardens this is the perfect opportunity for a woodland garden. 

3. Scrub

Scrublands in nature are typically transitional habitats between woodland and meadows. These typically consist of small trees and shrubs, these habitats are great for species seeking shelter.

Many species of birds seek sanctuary in the canopies of scrublands. Mammals and reptiles utilise the patches of cover to hide and hunt prey.

In Wildlife gardens, scrub can be replicated by planting shrubs which attract wildlife. Many of which produce attractive flowers, foliage and fruit which also look amazing! 

4. Meadow

Wildflower meadows are wild grasslands which are only cut seasonally. Before modern, agricultural, animal, feeds these were grown to provide winter food and bedding for farm animals.

These grasslands became rich with tapestries of wild flowering plants. Many species thrived on the seasonal flora of wild meadows including many pollinator species.

Reptiles, birds and small mammals would also use meadows for shelter and ambush hunting. In wildlife gardens meadows are a great alternative to a conventional lawn.

Wildflower meadows can be seeded; plug planted into existing lawns, or laid using wildflower turf. 

5. Deadwood

Deadwood habitats were once typical when most continents were covered in forest. However, since the felling of most ancient woodland deadwood has become a rare habitat.

Deadwood is vital for the survival of important recycler species in the environment, many of which are crucially important in the formation of healthy soil.

The good news is you can easily create deadwood habitats within your wildlife garden. Simply stack up sticks and logs or half bury them into the soil.

Try to use logs from native trees and shrubs and never use processed, lumber, products. Spreading local woodchip to your flower borders will also help your deadwood habitat thrive.

6. Bare earth

​Bare soil is difficult to maintain at the best of times with the continuous germination of weeds. However it is surprising how many rare species of insect rely upon this habitat.

In nature, bare ground would occur on sandy heath or in areas with unstable ground erosion. Such places provide perfect places for sunbathing insects and reptiles.

Some types of specialised insect require bare soil to complete their life cycles. 

7. Dry habitat

​Dry habitat can come in many forms but in gardens it typically takes the shape of gravel areas. These areas can warm up quickly within the sun and create warm microclimates.

These can be utilised by sunbathing butterflies and reptiles such as the common lizard. There are many species of insect which prefer dry soils and gravels to lay their eggs.

Dry habitats can also look very effective as a part of Mediterranean or dry, succulent gardens. 

8. Mixed border habitat

​Although garden mixed borders would not be found in the natural world they are fantastic wildlife habitat.

Traditional flowerbeds are packed with a wide variety of flowering and fruiting plants. This provides a great diversity of food for many different wildlife species.

The dense plantings create dense jungles of low growing vegetation. These are the perfect places for insects, reptile’s amphibians and small mammals to thrive! 

9. Lawn

Conventional lawn is not always thought of as viable wildlife habitat. However lawns are dense environments where a great number of insects and invertebrates flourish.

Many people are surprised to learn most lawns do have a great number of wildflowers. Due to continuous mowing regimes however the flowers are rarely seen in bloom.

The longer your lawn is kept the more wildlife value it will have. It is always advised to let the lawn get a little longer every now and then!

10. Walls

​Many may assume that walls do not constitute any form of habitat for wildlife. The fact is there are many different species which do utilise masonry walls.

During early spring and autumn, solitary bees and other insects warm their bodies up on sunny walls.

Shady damp walls become complex colonies of mosses and various lichens and algae’s.   Walls which are cracked and fragmented offer the best nooks and crannies for organisms to shelter. 

This can be seen below in a dry stone wall we included in one of our wildlife gardens.

11. Hedges

Hedges create lines of dense vegetation within the landscape which are perfect habitat for multiple wildlife species.

Birds nest inside the lattice of sheltered branches and twigs in the hedges centre.

The densely packed vegetation provides insects and small mammals safe areas to feed and hibernate.

Furthermore, hedges can create green corridors within the landscape linking fragments of habitat together. 

12. Compost heaps

​Although composting is a method of recycling organic matter it is also a habitat type too.

Very much in the same fashion as dead wood compost heaps are rich in garden ecology.

The breaking down of dead plant matter invigorates decomposer organisms and soil ecosystems. This consequently feeds other wild species higher up the gardens food chain.

​The result is a habitat thriving in bacteria, fungi, invertebrates and insects. The warm mass of the compost heap can become an attractive place for reptiles to lay their eggs.

13. Rocky habitats

In the natural world rocky habitats include cliffs, crags, mountain ranges and outcrops. However gardens can also provide these rich habits.

Old stone walls and rockeries can have many of the same characteristics of these natural environments. Gabions and dry stone walls are fantastic ways to integrate these habitats into your wildlife garden.

​Mediterranean species of spider such as the Zebra spider love to hunt amongst the warm rocky crevices.

The rocky hollows provide perfect nest for insects, small mammals, amphibians and even reptiles. ​

​Buckinghamshire landscape gardeners are experts in wildlife garden design and construction and wrote this section of rare and amazing information.

"Acting as the domestic landscaping part of Ecospaces we have over 20 years experience in ecological landscaping and sustainable construction. If you are interested in our wildlife garden services please do not hesitate to contact us.Acting as the domestic landscaping part of we have over 20 years experience in ecological landscaping and sustainable construction. If you are interested in our wildlife garden services please do not hesitate to contact us or visit us online for more ideas..

Your wildlife garden may inspire your children to seek training for a career in the following fields:

• Wildlife garden design

• Wildlife garden maintenance

• Nature reserve design

• Habitat creation

• Native woodland design

• Native planting design

• Ecological planting plans

• Sustainable landscaping

• Planning for biodiversity

• Ecological masterplannng

• Hard landscaping

• Soft landscaping

• Wildlife garden consultancy

​Thank you for reading our article on the 13 main types of wildlife garden habitats. For further reading we have included more wildlife garden articles you may find interesting. Thank you!

Visit This Wonderful Website for links to the following pages

Please Notice This

In designing a garden with a specific purpose, don't destoy plantlife that that can become a natural source of food for you or the local wildlife!!!

Tree & bushes can also be a home for the local insects, birds and other animals. 

Download "Picture This" AppLoad the app, snap a picture and everything you need to know comes up. It's always in my pocket!!!

WILD EDIBLE PLANTS

Besides the abundance of wild fruits available, there are also wild nuts, seeds, and greens.  While fruits are the most inviting to our palates, there are many other types of wild foods available for harvest year-round.  Be sure to positively identify any plant before consuming, as the risk of inadvertently eating a poisonous plant is very real.

Always consult a good field guide, and I’d suggest verifying your ID with at least two sources.

• Poisonous Berries ~ A Forager's Guide

Read on…

• Foraging Beechnuts

• How to Make Pine Bark Bread

• How to Eat a Pine Tree

Don't Miss out on Bounties Like This

CHOKECHERRY JELLY (AND JAM!)

• Filed Under: Edible Wild Fruit, Water Bath Canning

BLACK RASPBERRY JAM

• Filed Under: Edible Wild Fruit, Water Bath Canning

20+ EDIBLE WEEDS IN YOUR GARDEN (WITH RECIPES!)

FORAGING RED BLACKBERRIES (RUBUS PUBESCENS)

 Violets (Viola spp.)

Though there are not as many edible flowers around in early spring as there are during the rest of the year, you may like to keep your eyes open for violets. 10 fun ways to use violets

There are a number of viola subspecies, wild and cultivated, that you could add to your early spring salads.

Violet Syrup @ RuralSprout.com

Foraging for Wild Violets @ growforagecookferment.com.

One more thing to mention...

While forging in early spring is that you should look up as well as looking down.

You should also check out my article on trees with edible leaves (which is soon to be published here on Rural Sprout), as these are also a great source of foraged greens when leaves first unfurl.

Of course, certain trees can also be harvested for their sap in spring. The maple is of course the most obvious example, though other trees can also be tapped, and their sap used to make syrups.

By now, you should begin to see that there are plenty of wild food sources out there. Of course, you always have to be careful when foraging.

But learning more about which wild foods you can eat throughout the year is a great way to become more resilient. It can be a good way to supplement your home-grown diet. 

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Herbs that may already be in your yard

How to Dry Fresh Wild Herbs at Home – Two Ways!

Drying fresh herbs at home has many benefits, and it’s so easy there’s really no reason not to!

Drying your own herbs is certainly more cost effective than buying them at the grocery store, but there are other benefits too.

Drying your herbs is a great way to use the plant most effectively, as most herbs produce more than we can eat in a single season.

It’s also comforting to know that the herbs you’re cooking with were grown with love and in excellent conditions.

Drying your herbs means that you’ll get to benefit from their uses all year long, not just when they’re growing in the height of summer. 

Dried herbs are wonderful for cooking, baking, making tea, DIY beauty products, and crafting things for the home, like herb sachets!

There are two main methods to drying fresh herbs, air drying and using a machine such as a dehydrator.

We’ll go over the steps for both methods, as well as how to prepare your herbs to be dried.

How to prepare your herbs for drying

Step 1: Harvest the herbs

The first thing to do is cut the herbs from the plant.

Be sure to do some research before this step and find out how to prune/harvest from that specific plant.

Most herbs benefit from cutting the stem right above a set of growing leaves, like basil and mint, so new branches can form where you make the cut.

Related Reading: How To Prune Basil For Big, Bushy Basil Plants

Other herbs benefit from removing individual leaves and leaving the stems in tact. It will help you and the plants in the long run if you do a little reading up before this step.

The ideal harvesting time and method of different herbs vary.

If you are harvesting mid season, be sure to remove no more than 1/3 of the plant so it can keep growing.

If you’re harvesting at the end of the season, it’s perfectly fine to cut the whole plant down.

Step 2: Wash and dry the herbs

Wash the herbs thoroughly under cool running water. This will remove any insects, dirt, and pollen from the herbs. Make sure to be very gentle when washing herbs like basil, which are easily bruised and torn.

Shake the herbs or send them through a salad spinner to remove most of the water, then blot dry with a towel.

Set them on a clean towel to air dry for a few hours, making sure to spread the herbs so they’re not overlapping. Setting out a fan on the herbs will help them to dry quicker.

The goal is to remove as much of the moisture from the herbs as possible, so they’re not likely to acquire mold or mildew while they dry.

This step is especially important if you are air drying your herbs, as you don’t want to bundle them together to dry while they’re still covered in water.

How to air dry herbs

Air drying herbs certainly looks beautiful and homey as they gently sway and spin in the breeze of an open window, but air drying during the summer will only work in certain regions.

If you live in a region that gets extremely humid in the summer, air drying will be very difficult if not impossible without introducing mold and mildew. 

The big benefit to air drying is almost anyone can do it, all you need is a little string and a well ventilated space. There’s no need for fancy equipment or complicated tasks. 

The big downside is it takes quite a long time for the plants to air dry, and as mentioned before, if you live in an area with high humidity, you need to keep an eye out for mold.

Step 1: Bundle and tie the herbs

After you’ve washed and dried the herbs, gather them together in a bunch. The bunch should have no more than 12 branches or stems. Make sure you’re gathering the same type of herbs in this bunch, you don’t want to mix together different kinds of herbs, as they’ll all have different drying times. 

Leaving a little tail of string, wind the string around and around the base of the stems until the herbs are tightly bound together, then tie your wrapping string to the tail you left.

Step 2: Hang them to dry

Use the remaining string to hang the herbs to dry.

Be sure to hang the herbs in a space that is well ventilated and has constantly moving air. We like to hang our herbs in the breezeway of our home. We hang them near the always open windows so they get a constant flow of air.

Hang the herbs leaf side down.

How to dry herbs with a dehydrator

Drying herbs with a dehydrator is ideal because it’s quick, easy, and has very little risk of mold or mildew on the finished product.

Dehydrators can be simple or complicated, cheap or expensive, but for drying herbs it truly doesn’t matter what kind you have. Any dehydrator can handle this task easily.

This is one of the cheapest dehydrators available on Amazon and is more than capable of drying herbs.

And if you’d like to learn more about dehydrating, then here’s an article explaining how to dehydrate all types of fruit at home.

Step 1: Preheat the dehydrator

If your dehydrator has the option to preheat it, do so now. Every dehydrator is different, however, if yours only has an on/off button, skip this step.

If the machine has a temperature setting, set the dehydrator between 95 to 115 degrees. If it only has high and low settings, set it to low. 

Step 2: Place the herbs inside the dehydrator

This step can differ depending on the type of herbs being dried. 

Some herbs, like basil and mint, have large leaves that are easy to remove from the stem. For these herbs, you’ll want to remove the leaves and place them in a single layer inside the dehydrator shelves. Of course you can place the whole branch inside of the dehydrator, but removing the stem saves space on the shelves, and makes for better drying as there’s no overlap of leaves.

If you’re drying herbs that have small leaves or flowers, like rosemary, lavender, or thyme, it’s more beneficial to place the entire branch or stem inside the dehydrator with the leaves or flowers intact.

This will keep those tiny leaves from falling down inside of the dehydrator, and it will be much easier to remove the leaves from the stem once they’re dried. 

How to know when the herbs are done

Both of these methods have the same final step.

Check the herbs frequently to see if they’re sufficiently dry. Herbs in the dehydrator will be dry within a few hours, while air dried herbs will likely take a week or more.

Check for dryness by pinching the herbs, when they’re done the leaves will crumble easily and the stems will break when bent. If there’s still flexibility in the leaves or stem, leave them to dry for longer.

If using a dehydrator, make sure to leave the herbs out to cool after removing them. Once they’ve cooled completely, they can be crumbled or left whole and stored in air tight glass containers.

Don’t forget to label the container with the type of herb and date, dry herbs can all look alike!

Dried herbs are wonderful to cook with year round, and they taste even better when you know you made them yourself!

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SUPERSCRIPT

Creating Art and Play Space in the Garden

14 Mind-Blowing Outdoor Art Spaces You Can Set Up Today

When it comes to innovation, parents can get pretty crafty with just a handful of items. Case in point: these killer outdoor art studios, set up by parents for their creative geniuses. Scroll down to see the ideas and get inspired to make one yourself.

Backyard Nature Weaving Frame

Mother Natured

Give your children the gift of mindfulness and relaxation when you craft a backyard nature weaving frame to express themselves. This version from Mother Natured is made from a simple construction of wood and twine, and is perfect for little hands to create works of art using leaves, flowers, grass and more.

Mounted Outdoor Easel

Made With Happy

Give the kids a constant place to be artistic outside, rain or shine. Craft a mounted outdoor easel like this one from Made with Happy and let the creative juices flow!

Art Station

Where Imagination Grows

Where Imagination Grows proves it's easy to create a colorful outdoor art space without breaking the bank. A simple wooden shelf and metal buckets in an assortment of bright hues and patterns house the supplies, and an upcycled coffee table is the perfect height for young artists. Check out the rest of this outdoor craft corner and find a list of materials you'll need to create your own here.

Use the Windows as a Creative Space

Mess for Less

Washing windows just got a lot more creative. Give your kids brushes and spray bottles, and watch them paint, clear, and paint again. Head to Mess for Less for ideas on how to get the paint/water mixture just right.

Recycled Box Art Studio

Kids Play Box

An ordinary cardboard box easily transforms into an extraordinary art studio by adding a few supplies and your artist's latest creations. Head over to Kids Play Box to see how to make your own portable gallery.

DIY Chalkboard

Amanda Hunter via Dallas Moms Blog

Color, erase, repeat. An oversized chalkboard makes a great reusable canvas, and doubles as a scoreboard for afternoon games. Head over to Dallas Moms Blog to find out how to personalize and hang one in your backyard.

Garden Art Studio

Meri Cherry

This amazing backyard studio was built by the very handy dad over at Meri Cherry. The lucky artists in residence love having their own creative hideaway. Head over to the blog for a peek inside this magical space and a look at some of their awesome projects.

Design Fort

Baddle Dabble Do

A step up from a cardboard box, this outdoor fort is an art project in itself. Babble Dabble Do used a kit to create the frame for this awesome playhouse, draped it with butcher paper and let aspiring designers go to work personalizing the space inside and out. Head over to the blog to find materials and sources.

Cardboard Easel

Pink Stripey Socks

This awesome DIY easel from Pink Stripey Socks is super easy and inexpensive to make with very few materials. Plus, it can accommodate up to three artists at once! Grab a cardboard box and check out the blog to learn to make your own.

Balcony Studio

Not-So-SAHM via Honest to Nod

Even if space is at a premium, it's still possible to set up an outdoor creative space for your little artist. Not-So-SAHM designed this craft room on the balcony of her home. Head over to Honest to Nod for a closer look at the space.

Upcycled Water Table

No Time for Flash Cards

No Time for Flash Cards took finger painting to a whole new level by using her daughter's water table as sensory tub painting project. Find all the materials you'll need to create your own colorful canvases here.

DIY Plexiglass Easel

All the Little Lights

Thinking beyond dry erase and chalkboards, All the Little Lights crafted her daughter's easel out of plexiglass. The attached paint palette is made from a plastic vegetable tray, great for separating paint colors. Easy to wash and reuse, it's the perfect outdoor canvas for artists of all ages.

Picnic Art Studio

Tinkerlab

You never know when inspiration will strike, especially when you're out exploring nature. Tinkerlab set up an impromptu art studio using just a picnic blanket and a few select supplies. Find tips for setting up a garden studio here.

Slate Painting

Doodlebuds

The mom behind Doodlebuds stumbled upon this interactive gallery wall during a visit to the Children's Museum of Manhattan. The medium of choice: water. These quick-drying framed pieces of slate make for perfect reusable canvases, and can easily be recreated in your backyard. Just remember to take a photo of each masterpiece before it dries! The exhibit served as inspiration when creating an outdoor art space for her son. Check it out here!

RELATED STORIES:

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Backyard Garden Safari Space

If you hate garden work and yard work, let it grow...rewilding the backyard is all the rage!!!

Is there apart of the yard that you hate to take care of? LET IT GO...and see what grows. You can still do tons of things with it.

Just tell your world that you are rewilding it for or green space a nature play space. You can tell them all about the wild wild ideas for play in a natural environment. I won't tell...

Create Nature Art

Pack small canvases and travel-sized tubes of green and brown paint. Invite your child to create camouflage art with paint, grass, leaves, dirt, and twigs. The paintings can dry in the sun while you enjoy lunch or explore a creek. Collect items for nature crafts! 

Collect Leaves for Stamping

Invite your child to collect interesting leaves, like tuliptree or sassafras leaves. Back at home, use those leaves to make colorful leaf-stamped shirts.

Build a Gnome Home

Building a gnome or fairy home sparks imagination and creativity! Best of all? All the supplies you need for this nature walk activity are found outdoors!

Make a Flower Crown

The moment you place a flower crown on your child’s head, they become king or queen and are swept into the magical world of imaginative play.

Play a Game

My young boys love to play the color match game, I Spy, and participate in nature scavenger hunts.

Build a Log Fort

Kids love to work with friends and siblings to build log forts. It’s so fun to see what they create!

Things to Look for on a Backyard Safari

There is so much to see and discover outdoors! When I take kids on nature walks, some of the things we look for include:

1. Plants

• Deciduous trees

• Evergreen trees

• Leaves

• Flowers

• Buds

• Mosses

• Sticks

• Pine needles

• Fruit, such as apples, pawpaw, blueberries, and black raspberries

• Edible plants, such as cattails, wild garlic, and dandelions

• Aromatic plants, such as wintergreen

• Bark

• Sap

Photo: catalin30682 | Adobe Stock

2. Seeds and Nuts

• Acorns

• Pine cones

• Walnuts

• Chestnuts

• Maple keys (helicopters)

• Milkweed pods

Photo: Anna Kubczak | Adobe Stock

3. Fungi

• Shelf fungi

• Mushrooms

• Slime molds

• Lichens

Photo: hakase420 | Adobe Stock

4. Animals

• Mammals, such as squirrels and deer

• Birds, such as hawks and woodpeckers

• Reptiles, such as turtles and snakes

• Amphibians, such as frogs and salamanders

• Insects, such as fireflies, ladybugs, and mantids

• Crustaceans, such as crayfish and pill bugs

Photo: Tono Balaguer | Adobe Stock

5. Evidence of Animals

• Nests, such a bird and squirrel

• Cracked seeds or shells

• Munched leaves (leaves with holes)

• Spider webs

• Shells

• Exoskeletons

• Scat (wild animal droppings)

• Feathers

• Bones

• Dens

• Burrows

• Tunnels

• Anthills

• Eggs

• Woodpecker holes

• Snakeskin

• Fur

• Animal tracks

• Cocoons and chrysalids

• Beaver lodges

• Beehives and hornet nests

Photo: Amy Buxton | Adobe Stock

6. Evidence of Humans

• Trails and/or roads

• Trail markers

• Stone cairns

• Carved trees

• Footprints

• Vehicle tracks

• Litter (pick up and throw away)

• Geocaches or letterboxes

• Buildings

• Fairy homes

• Tapped maple trees

• Hunting and/or bird blinds

• Bird feeders

• Birdhouses

• Bat houses

• Bridges

• Shelters, forts, and tree forts

• Docks

• Arrowheads

Photo: Martin | Adobe Stock

7. Geological Features

• Rocks and minerals

• Fossils

• Concretions

• Sand

• Clay

• Landforms, such as mountains

• Rivers, creeks, streams, and freshwater springs

Photo: Paloma Ayala | Adobe Stock

8. Additional Ideas

• Rotting logs

• Ice and/or icicles

• Snow

• Rain

• Mud

• Vernal pools

• Frost

• Puddles

• Dew drops

• Sunsets and/or sunrises

Photo: Alexey Fedorenko | Adobe Stock

Loose Parts Hunting for Nature Art 

Pack small canvases and travel-sized tubes of green and brown paint. Invite your child to create camouflage art with paint, grass, leaves, dirt, and twigs. The paintings can dry in the sun while you enjoy lunch or explore a creek. Collect items for nature crafts! 

2. Collect Leaves for Stamping

Invite your child to collect interesting leaves, like tuliptree or sassafras leaves. Back at home, use those leaves to make colorful leaf-stamped shirts.

3. Build a Gnome Home

Building a gnome or fairy home sparks imagination and creativity! Best of all? All the supplies you need for this nature walk activity are found outdoors!

4. Make a Flower Crown

The moment you place a flower crown on your child’s head, they become king or queen and are swept into the magical world of imaginative play.

5. Play a Game

My young boys love to play the color match game, I Spy, and participate in nature scavenger hunts.

6. Build a Log Fort

Kids love to work with friends and siblings to build log forts. It’s so fun to see what they create!

Things to Look for on a Backyard Safari

There is so much to see and discover outdoors! When I take kids on nature walks, some of the things we look for include:

1. Plants

• Deciduous trees

• Evergreen trees

• Leaves

• Flowers

• Buds

• Mosses

• Sticks

• Pine needles

• Fruit, such as apples, pawpaw, blueberries, and black raspberries

• Edible plants, such as cattails, wild garlic, and dandelions

• Aromatic plants, such as wintergreen

• Bark

• Sap

Photo: catalin30682 | Adobe Stock

2. Seeds and Nuts

• Acorns

• Pine cones

• Walnuts

• Chestnuts

• Maple keys (helicopters)

• Milkweed pods

Photo: Anna Kubczak | Adobe Stock

3. Fungi

• Shelf fungi

• Mushrooms

• Slime molds

• Lichens

Photo: hakase420 | Adobe Stock

4. Animals

• Mammals, such as squirrels and deer

• Birds, such as hawks and woodpeckers

• Reptiles, such as turtles and snakes

• Amphibians, such as frogs and salamanders

• Insects, such as fireflies, ladybugs, and mantids

• Crustaceans, such as crayfish and pill bugs

Photo: Tono Balaguer | Adobe Stock

5. Evidence of Animals

• Nests, such a bird and squirrel

• Cracked seeds or shells

• Munched leaves (leaves with holes)

• Spider webs

• Shells

• Exoskeletons

• Scat (wild animal droppings)

• Feathers

• Bones

• Dens

• Burrows

• Tunnels

• Anthills

• Eggs

• Woodpecker holes

• Snakeskin

• Fur

• Animal tracks

• Cocoons and chrysalids

• Beaver lodges

• Beehives and hornet nests

Photo: Amy Buxton | Adobe Stock

6. Evidence of Humans

• Trails and/or roads

• Trail markers

• Stone cairns

• Carved trees

• Footprints

• Vehicle tracks

• Litter (pick up and throw away)

• Geocaches or letterboxes

• Buildings

• Fairy homes

• Tapped maple trees

• Hunting and/or bird blinds

• Bird feeders

• Birdhouses

• Bat houses

• Bridges

• Shelters, forts, and tree forts

• Docks

• Arrowheads

Photo: Martin | Adobe Stock

7. Geological Features

• Rocks and minerals

• Fossils

• Concretions

• Sand

• Clay

• Landforms, such as mountains

• Rivers, creeks, streams, and freshwater springs

Photo: Paloma Ayala | Adobe Stock

8. Additional Ideas

• Rotting logs

• Ice and/or icicles

• Snow

• Rain

• Mud

• Vernal pools

• Frost

• Puddles

• Dew drops

• Sunsets and/or sunrises

Photo: Alexey Fedorenko | Adobe Stock

Loose Parts Hunting for Nature Art
and Play

Children observe and learn about the natural environment around them as they play outside. As children climb, balance, and jump, they strengthen and develop their major muscle groups. 

Natural loose parts are both FREE and accessible and can be easily incorporated in home spaces, neighborhoods, backyards, apartment balconies, parks, and schoolyard settings. Allowing them to take their favorite blocks, action figures, small play animals or vehicles and beach toys outside will allow them to construct and play creatively in miniature toy worlds of their own making.

Natural loose parts play often ignites imagination and divergent thinking opportunities, and supports curiosity about the natural world. What makes loose parts play so compelling is that there is no single way to play, and, for the most part, loose parts are also found parts like twigs, branches, stones, seed heads, water, and so on. These natural loose parts can be combined, moved, manipulated, redistributed, and reassigned many times over, taking different roles in different settings and play times. 

List of things to collect on your Nature hunt

(Use the Photos in this section below for ideas on how to collect and use nature)

If you’re looking for ideas, here are some things that you might be able to collect on your next walk.

• Sticks – by far our favourite thing to collect. Kids love sticks. I even wrote a post with ideas for 30 fun things to do with sticks.

• Pinecones – another great free natural craft material. How about using them with play dough and making hedgehogs?

• Leaves. Fallen leaves are easy to collect even for toddlers. How about asking them to find 5 different coloured leaves or 5 different types of leave. They’re also great for taking home to paint like in this autumn process art activity.

• Acorns

• Conkers – Wondering what to do with all your autumn treasures? You need my autumn activities for preschool post.

• Helicopter seeds

• Stones. Why not take some home to paint?

• Shells, the ultimate things to collect on a trip to the beach

• Drift wood

• Seaweed

• Fossils if you’re really lucky

• Wildflowers (never pick flowers from other people’s gardens, parks etc and don’t pick protected wildflowers like bluebells. We only ever take a few. Leave more than you take.) Once home why not try making these beautiful gelatine flower suncatchers.

• Moss

• Feathers

Creative ways to collect nature on a Backyard Safari

You could simply give your child a list of things to collect on a nature walk or you could try one of these different ways. They are still all about collecting nature but they add a creative element to it. Sometimes they even add a competitive element too if you have more than one child to entertain.

 Nature weaving

I saw this gorgeous idea on one of my favourite blogs for nature crafts, Little pine learners. All you need it some cardboard and some rubber bands or string/wool.

Create a journey stick

We love to creating journey sticks on walks. They’re a really fun way to collect things on a walk. All you need is a stick and some wool or string to tie your nature finds to your stick as you walk.

Go find it cards

Why not make collecting nature into a game using a set of go find it cards. We love our set and use them regularly on walks.

Heading out into nature is a great way for the family to enjoy quality time together. It's also a fantastic opportunity to put down the tech and learn to appreciate the world around you. If you happen to have some public woodland near your home, it's a great destination for a family day out. You can pack a picnic, get some exercise, and reconnect with each other away from the stresses of busy family life.

I'm not sure what the attraction is with hunting, does it attach us back to our prehistoric roots and make us hope that we could survive even if everything wasn't handed to us on a plate?

The boys definitely enjoy all kinds of hunt (although strangely, finding a missing shoe when we're late for school is the one time it doesn't seem to appeal.)

Found one!

Ascavenger hunt is a great way to keep the kids active in the great outdoors. Basically you challenge them to find particular things, either on their own or in teams, and see if they can collect the lot. There are loads of different ideas for scavenger hunts on the internet. Some we've tried have been finding things which:

•  are a particular colour-  can you find 6 yellow things, or can you find one thing for each colour of the rainbow?  

• begin with a particular letter- who can find the most things which begin with the letter b?

• are a particular shape- can you find 4 round things?

• the same but different- can you find 5 different leaf shapes or different feathers?

If you're doing it as a party activity, you could give them a list of things to find- there are lots of printables online, either in words or pictures, but I'm not generally that organised, it's usually a spur-of-the-moment challenge when they're flagging on a walk or wondering how to occupy themselves in the garden.

Can you find a creature with lots of legs?

Can you find something which rustles?

 We also used to hunt for imaginary things! If we walked through the woods we inevitably searched for Gruffalo tracks, walking cross country often included a bit of a bear hunt- "Uh oh! Mud! Thick, oozy mud!" When the boys dressed up in their Knightly costumes they hunted dragons and other monsters, foam swords in hand.

What can you find at the bottom of a rock pool?

My own favourite place for hunting is at the beach. Beach combing is such a relaxing activity and you never know what you might find. Searching for interesting shaped pieces of driftwood, pebbles with a hole through, particular types of shell or beautiful sea-smoothed bottle glass is my idea of a perfect holiday activity, plus you can use the things you find to create pictures on the sand.

One of the highlights of our summer was when dad set up an island-wide treasure hunt, with a series of written clues to follow, and all the kids would set off on a mission to find the treasure. I remember one year it was a 50p for each of us in the zip pocket on Grampa's hat! My boys are a bit little for this kind of hunt just yet, but I hope I can find a safe place for them to enjoy the same kind of challenge when they're older- it gave us such happy memories.

Of course, if the weather continues to be this cold (please, please let it be for not too much longer!) our main source of hunting fun will have to be indoors hide-and-seek or sardines, tho how many more times I can pretend to be surprised to find Danny under our bed I'm not sure!

Have you ever been on a flower hunt?

We as adults have a tendency to only look at the end result – and though I’m not against this line of thought, we do need to look at the process as well, especially when it comes to kids. If you think of picking flowers with your little ones as a sure way of getting a small bundle of random flowers at various size and lenght to slowly wither away on your counter top, then you’re not wrong per se. But flower picking can be so much more – and to be quite frank, you don’t have to pick the flowers if you’re not allowed to (or don’t want to) in order to have a great time going flower hunting.

These are the top reasons to go flower hunting with your kids:

• it can easily be made into a game

• it’s a great opportunity to spend time with your children as a family

• it’s an excuse to get moving outdoors

• it can have quite the educational purpose, even for the adults. Be honest, how many names of flowers do you know? And do you know which are edible and which are not?

• it’s the perfect opportunity to connect with nature and get familiar with your local natural settings

6 fun and educational ways to pick flowers with your little ones

Picking flowers is a such a simple activity, but kids love it. Though you might not have thought about it before, picking flowers doesn’t have to be done the exact same way each time – you can actually make it into a game, a gesture and even give it an educational spin or two. ("Picture This" app is always in my pocket and I find it very useful.)

Below you’ll find 6 ideas to change up the whole flower picking ordeal. And keep in mind – you don’t actually have to pick the flowers to enjoy most of these ideas:

1. Pick or identify as many different kinds of flowers as you can find. If you either can’t or decide not to pick the flowers you find, you could instead take photos of the flowers to count afterwards or simply just take note of every flower you find. You could also make this activity into a competition for older kids to see who can find the most – or even make it into a family challenge to see how many different kinds of flowers you can find everytime you go out to pick or every time you go to a new place. Does the trail to the forest have more different types of flowers than the road to grandma?

2. Use your smartphone and an app to identity the flowers you find on your way. Either on the go or when you get home. This is not only a good way to learn the names of the flowers, but also quite handy to figure out in a jiffy if a flower is poisonous, endangered or maybe the opposite. There are many different apps out there, so just go to your playstore or appstore and find the one you like.

3. Find or pick flowers of different colours, sizes and maybe even looks. Maybe make a few small bouquets or simply choose a colour for the day. Saying “Today we only pick the yellow flowers” can also be an easy way to limit the amount of flowers you bring home or the time spend picking, which can sometimes be necessary. For younger kids this is also a great way to learn about sizes and colour shades. When is a flower yellow and when is it orange? Which is biggest? Which look like trumpets or a sun?

4. Make picking flowers into a nice gesture. Instead of just picking flowers for the tabletop yet again, decide to pick a bouquet for someone. Maybe as a way of saying thanks or simply to surprise them. I’m sure they’ll appriciate the gesture and sometimes it can be nice for us adults to have a purpose with the flower picking. Just make sure that the flowers you pick are some of the more common kinds, so you’re not messing with the cosystems for bees, butterflies and so forth. Making a daisy chain for a friend or a bookmark for a grandma is also variations of this idea.

5. Use flower picking as an opportunity to practice counting and doing simple math. I like to tell  my kindergartner Eva to pick 3 of one sort of flower and maybe 5 of another. When she gets older I’ll make it into math problems like “pick 1 +2 of these dandelions” and asking her how many we have picked so far and so forth.

6. Pick flowers that you can eat and use them in a meal. When I was a kid my parents would sometimes make schnapps for Easter, so we would head out to collect yarrow flower. I absolutely loved it (picking the flowers – not drinking the schnapps). There’s something so satisfying about foraging that every child should experience. While we don’t make schnapps, we have collected both elderflower for lemonade and dandelions and daisies as salat toppings. Here’s a great list of edible flowers and how and when to pick them.

A few guidelines to picking (wild) flowers

Take your time to get to know the laws that apply to your area before heading out to pick bucket loads of flowers. Make sure you know which flowers are legal to pick and enjoy at home. You also need to know which one are poisonous or flowers have insects that sting near by.

• Don’t drag up the whole plant by it’s root. How to pick flowers is not a given – especially for toddlers, so remember to show and guide them. It can actually be quite tricky to figure out for little hands.

• Don’t pick every flower – and sometimes don’t pick any at all. You don’t actually have to pick all the flowers you find – sometimes looking can be just as fun. Especially if challenge your kids to see what the plant look like from the other side without touching it. Leaving flowers on their stems make it possible for others to enjoy and might help preserving the ecosystem. This might not apply to a huge meadow filled with daisies, but if you only see a small gathering of a specific flower, look it up or simply leave them.

• Don’t pick flowers from people’s gardens without asking or if there’s a sign asking not to. You might think this is common sense, but it might not be for a toddler. Also try to teach your children the difference between flowers that have been planted and wild flowers. Usually this means avoiding picking flowers in most parks and recreational areas, national parks and of course in botanical gardens.

• Avoid picking endangered, rare or posinious flowers. Instead of steering away from them completely talk about why you should not pick these flowers, teach your children how to recognize them and simply take your time to admire their beauty on their stems.

• Bring a container for the flowers you pick. We have often just used a paper bag, but a bucket or similar would work as well. Avoid plastic bags. You could of course also hold them in your hand, but my experience tells me everyone quickly gets tired of holding them.

If you can’t remember the last time you went flower picking with your kids, then this might be the reminder that you needed. Even though looking for flowers – and even picking them – can seem overwhelming (what do I know about flowers?), changing it up, giving it a purpose and making it into a game can make it a awesome experience for eveyone. Installing a flower identification app is something that changed the way I pick flowers with my kindergartner and have definitely taught me more about flowers than I knew before.

Easy Containers
(to show off your collection)

Nature Basket

Nature Exploration Tray or Shadow Boxes

Journey Stick

Fall Treasures in Play Dough

Flower Drying Mobile

 Nature Sensory bottles

Put them in a clear container to investiagate them or use them as displays or shelf decorations.

Mobiles are a great way to display nature.

A fun way to get them to carry their water bottles back home is to fill them with nature on their way home.

Spread them on Contact Paper - then cover them with another level  of clear Contact Paper to seal them in for a wall hanging or suncatcher.

They make great loose parts for outdoor play

50+ Creative ways to Use Nature's Treasures

Nature walks are fabulous activities for both kids and adults. But what should you do with the treasures found along the way? I’ve rounded up over 50 lovely, creative ways to use the materials found on your nature walks.

Here are lots of creative ideas you can use at home or in the classroom with a variety of ages.

Nature Exploration Table (The Imagination Tree)

Flower Exploration Center (Buggy and Buddy)

Invitation to Play and Learn with Numbers and Natural Materials (Fun with Play and Learn)

Nature Exploration Station (Mama.Papa.Bubba.)

Investigating Nature Trays and Nature Tables (my roundup post)

Nature Mobile (Danya Banya)

Nature Sensory Bottle (Lemon Lime Adventures)

Nature Pocket Art (5 Minutes for Mom)

Nature Suncatcher Wind Chimes (Hands On As We Grow)

Nature Sensory Bag Suncatcher (Hands On As We Grow)

Stone Pendant (Red Ted Art)

Story Stones (Inner Child Fun)

Zentangle Rocks (Edventures with Kids)

Puffy Painted Rocks (Babble Dabble Do)

Painting with Rocks (Fantastic Fun and Learning)

Building Towers with Natural Materials (Nurture Store)

Story Stones – Farm Animal Families Treasure Basket

Story Stones – Farm Animal Families Treasure Basket (my post)

Beach Memento Windchime (Mama Miss)

Shell Painting (Fun-a-Day!)

Driftwood and Broken Shell Rattle (Photo from Red Ted Art)

Seashell Decorations (Crafts on Sea)

Seashell Wall Hanging (Crafts on Sea)

Seashells Sensory Bottle (Rhythms of Play)

Driftwood Boat (Red Ted Art)

Nature Paintbrushes (Messy Little Monster)

Painting Feathers (Danya Banya)

Painting Nature Objects (Natural Beach Living)

Printing with Nature (Danya Banya)

Painting with Flowers (Teach Preschool)

Dandelion Blow Painting (Teach Preschool)

Flower Petal Glitter (Teach Preschool)

How to Make Rose Petal Perfume (my post)

Wind Chimes with Sticks Painted in Rainbow Colors (Happy Hooligans)

Syllable Sticks (In the Playroom)

Nature Tree Craft (Rain or Shine Mama)

Accessories for Playdough Creations (Mom Inspired Life)

Stick Art (Buggy and Buddy)

Bug Hotel (Red Ted Art)

Painting Leaves (Simple Fun for Kids)

Leaf Rubbing Collages (Mama.Papa.Bubba.)

Leaf Threading (Stimulating Learning with Rachael) – blog is no longer available

Leaf Printed Rocks (The Pinterested Parent)

Stick and Leaf Butterflies (Artsy Craftsy Mom)

Nature Resist Tie Dye Shirt (The Pinterested Parent)

Pictures Made with Pressed Flowers (5 Minutes for Mom)

Bookmark Craft Using PressedFlowers and Leaves (Buggy and Buddy)

Flower Mandala Design (Nurture Store)

Bark Owls (Fireflies + Mud Pies)

Bark Painting (Tinkerlab)

Pinecone Mobiles (Happy Hooligans)

Pinecone Bird Feeder (Tinkerlab)

Acorn Necklaces (Arty Crafty Kids)

Nature Weaving (True Aim Education)

Nature Impressions Crafts (Paging Fun Mums)

Nature Journals for Kids (Simply Rachel) – blog is no longer available

Nature Impressions (Arty Crafty Home)

Nature Stampers – Impressions in Playdough (Danya Banya)

Nature Ornaments (Danya Banya)

Tactile Nature Letters {Free Printable Letter Templates} (my post)

What is your favorite way to use materials from your nature walks?

FOR MORE SUMMER Garden Play IDEAS,
YOU COULD CHECK OUT

Summer Planning Printables

101 Fantastic Ideas For Summer Fun With Your Kids