15 ways to make a children’s garden space they’ll love (2024)

Whether you're looking for ways to get your older children growing their own veggies or want to encourage your toddlers to get out into the fresh air, we've compiled some brilliant ideas for small and large garden spaces to entertain every child.

Plant asensory garden

Cosmos is colourful, fast-growing and picking the flowers just encourages more to bloom.

Lamb’s-ear has thick grey leaves that feel super-silky to touch. Or how about planting greater quaking grass, which rustles in the slightest breeze?

Make a hill-and-hole

To make a hill-and-hole in your lawn, attach a short stick and a sharp knife to the opposite ends of a half-metre length of string. Poke the stick into the ground and, keeping the string taut, cut a metre-wide circle into the grass.

Then make another adjacent circle. Use a spade tolift out the two circles of turf and keep them to one side.

Remove soil from one circle to create a shallow hollow, heaping it up on the other circle to create a mound.

Tread in the soil to compress, then re-lay the turf, using cuttings from a roll of turf to cover any bare areas. Water thoroughly. Don’t walk on it or allow it to dry out until the grass shows healthy growth.

Create an outdoor kitchen

Attach a couple of wide sections of wood to a wall to make shelves and paint on a couple of circles to act as hobs.

Stack with a few old pots, pans and wooden spoons, and you have a kitchen that will entertain them for hours.

Stocking up on ingredientsis just as much fun as doing the cooking. Your toddlermight come back from a walk in the woods with a pocketful of pinecones, bring a bucket of shells from the beach, or fill a tub with grass clippings when the lawn is mown.

Pebbles, leaves, seed heads and soil all make for great cookingitems, and if you’re feeling really brave,add a bucket of water anda plastic jug to the mix.

Handling and mixing all these different textures is a sensory experience to boost their imaginative play and they'll learnall about cause and effectas they tip the contents ofone pot into another.

Get thechalks out

To make your chalk board wall, screw a piece of external plywood board firmly to the fence, and cover it with two coats of an exterior blackboard paint, using a roller to get a smooth finish.

Add a bucket of oversized chalks and let your toddler loose to exercise their imagination.

They'll develop their fine motor skills too, and having an oversized canvas to create masterpieces will increase their confidence in mark-making.

Plant a fairy ring

Use a knife to loosen the soil around the daisy plant, being careful to lift its leaves and roots too, and cut a slit in the grass to plant it in its new fairy-ring spot, and water well.

Daisies are perennial, which means they'll grow year after year, so your fairy ring will last more than a summer.

Alternatively, create an enchanting fairy garden in your outdoor space for hours of imaginative play.

Build a den

Attach the top of the tarpaulin to a fence, then peg the bottom out to make a cosy den; suspend it just above toddler head height for an airy but out-of-the-sun picnic. Or peg it over the washing line for an instant tent.

Swapsand forgravel

Add some toy dumper trucks anda digger and their mini-building site is complete.

Alternate between the sand and gravel every month, and your tot will use the pit far more frequently, as it will make for a whole new sensory experience.

Try filling it with watertoo, or in varying combinations of sand,gravel and water.

Choose child-friendly plants

Plants including lavender, marigolds, chives, sunflowers, dahlia and daisies are all safe for children if they touch them or even put them in their mouth.

Check theRoyal Horticultural Society’s list of potentially harmful garden plants at rhs.org.uk

Create a cabin space

Dedicate a space for play

Safety is key when it comes to safe spaces for climbing, so make sure that the climbing frame is on a good stable base, with the foundations and footing buried.

You might want to incorporate a slide, climbing frame, pole and rope swing to help develop their motor skills, imaginative play and their bravery when it comes to taking risks.

Encourage wildlife to visit

Get your kids to help you put up bird boxes, make bird seed balls, insect hotels and introduce plants to your garden that bees and butterflies particularly love such as lavender, mint, pansies, peonies, sunflowers and snowdrops.

Add a small pond

Add a layer of stones and gravel to the bottom of the container. For larger containers, you might want to add different levels like a large stone. Add some pond plants and then fill up your container. It's best to fill this with rainwater if possible.

Make a mud kitchen

An outdoor mud kitchen is ideal for messy play and means all the mess can stay outside while leaving your kids free to explore. The kitchen part is because tots are encouraged to 'cook' with the mud so give up your old unwanted pots and pans for them to play with. Alternatively, there are plenty of mud kitchens you can buy that come with all the equipment you need.

Grow your own

Opt for fruit and veggies that don't take long to grow (children's attention spans won't stick around for veg that takes a while). Courgettes, tomatoes and carrots work well as things for children to grow.

Start a compost heap