Idea 1: In the garden
Planting and Growing
Planting flowers or vegetables and then watching them grow can bring a great sense of achievement. Not everyone has the luxury of lots of garden space, so why not make a container garden. This is a great way to create a mini garden in a tray or pot using craft materials and items found in the garden.
It’s important to wash your hands after digging or playing in the garden. Earth and soil carry bacteria.
Make a Container Garden
This is a simple and fun way to create a mini garden using a shallow tray or container based on the well known rhyme Mary Mary Quite Contrary.
Mary, Mary Quite Contrary, How does your garden grow?
With silver bells and cockle shells, and pretty maids all in a row.
We’ve added an extra Hands Up for Hygiene verse to remind everyone to wash their hands AFTER playing or planting in the garden!
Mary, Mary quite contrary, now your garden’s ready.
Go wash away the dirt and clay, before your tea with teddy!
What you will need
A large shallow seed tray or similar – a food tray or container. Things you’d find outside - gravel, pebbles, shells, twigs, leaves. Bells and cockle shells template (PDF) Craft material for decoration, for example: Silver paper or foil, cotton wool, paints straws, tissue paper, pipe cleaners and lolly sticks, coloured paper or even just paper to colour.
Mary had bells and cockle shells in her garden. Draw a plan of all the things you’d like to see in your mini garden.
Get together the items you’ll need to make your mini garden, tin foil makes a lovely pond, pathways can made using brown card or paper, mini trees can be made using lolly sticks and cotton wool dipped in green paint – be as creative as you like!
You could even use a small empty yoghurt pot to plant cress seeds in and watch the cress grow over the next few weeks.
Then using a shallow seed tray or similar, and make your mini garden.
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