Following on from our summer holidays on a budget post, this week we have been entertaining the kids in the garden ALL week without spending a fortune.
Here are our top 10 garden activities:
1. Water play.
We’ve a sand and water table and a paddling pool in our garden.
As well as just jumping into the pool to cool down you can make it fun by adding a little food colouring to change the water colour.
Try adding empty drinks bottles and containers for filling and pouring, jugs are also great fun.
You can also add any plastic bodies dolls and have your own hair dressers or dolls swimming pool – Emmy loves this.
Or if you prefer add some mega bloks, Lego etc and some washing up liquid – a fun way to get the kids cleaning their own toys.
You can also have great fun with a garden hose and/or a sprinkler
2. Waterslide
Using a wipe down table cloth or a shower curtain and anchoring down to the ground you can make a very inexpensive water slide.
Either place at the bottom of a slide and pour water down the slide or just lay on the ground and slide across it.
If you are feeling brave, add a little washing up liquid to make it extra slippery.
3. Cafés
We have a lot of toy food, plates etc in the house.
We have loved taking this outside and into the children’s playhouse.
By using the window of the playhouse as a shop window we’ve been placing our food orders and Emmy & Harry will cook our dinner and bring it to us.
This is a great way to help develop imaginative play and encourage language skills.
4. Bubbles
No explanation needed – everyone loves bubbles!
5. Hopscotch
Using chalk mark out a hopscotch grid. We’ve been using a small teddy to throw onto the numbers as quite frankly I don’t trust Harry throwing a stone.
This is good for number recognition and gross motor skills.
6. Mudpies
Ok this is messy but it’s great fun.
We have a plastic kitchen we’ve put in the garden however you can use any old pots, pans and spoons etc.
7. Pavement drawing
Using pavement chalk which is thicker thank normal chalk, allow the children to let their imaginations run wild.
The great thing about this is it can washed down and you don’t run out of paper.
8. Assault courses
Using the garden furniture tents and tunnels we have been setting up courses for the kids to follow.
Anything you have in the garden can be used – run around the sandpit twice, crawl through the tunnel and under the chairs.
The kids love it and it keeps them fit and active too – although they haven’t worked out Mummy can’t fit through under the chairs yet!
9. Balls
Hours of fun on their own.
Make a goal using two chairs and try to beat the keeper.
Piggy in the middle
Catch
Keep ups
Give my kids a ball of any size and they are happy!
10. Watering the flowers
Even if you don’t have any flowers the kids love to water.
Give them a watering can and letting them do their own thing is great fun too
Have you been having fun in the garden? What are you kids favourite garden activities?
Disclaimer: We were supplied with Poundland vouchers as part of our Ambassador scheme to aid with this post – many of the above items can be purchased from the store which helps to ensure you aren’t spending lots of money to entertain the kids this summer.
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Some really simple ideas here, the water slide has to be a personal favourite of mine! x
We love playing in the garden too. It is amazing how much fun can be had there.
We saw someone at Camp Bestival with a water slide and the kids were having a blast – must try it!
I like the food colouring idea as our water is now a bit murky- but would take a lot of colouring to do anything. Great ideas.
Simple, cool ideas! When I visited my half brother (6yrs) he was so bored after a while I couldn't belive it! When I was his age – laptops, ipads or iphones didn't exist and I've spend all days outside with bunch of other kids playing all sorts of games – from bakery to theatre 😉
Cool ideas we have just got some chalk .x
great ideas – we love playing in our garden
We are currently really enjoying pavement chalk. There is so much you can do with it
Ethan loves playing with water in the garden, it's the only thing he really wants to do, I think he could be persuaded with some chalk though, haha
I love summer, it seems easier to come up with cheap activities some how! Mine loved using the outside chalk last year, I must dig it out, they'd spend ages on it. Water play is always a big hit in this house too!
Great ideas! Baby has just started to love to water.. not really the flowers more the grass 🙂 x
The waterslide idea is something we used to do as kids, so much fun and even now I still smile when I think of it x
So simple but some great ideas, thanks.
Very welcome Kate, simple is often the best…plus little planning is involved