Tips for gardening with a LO

[PeachP]

Hello,

I wondered if anyone has any tips for gardening with a little one, any tips welcome.

I used to enjoy gardening and did more before I had my little one - but since he came along I've struggled to find a way to garden while he's around. I bet it's just me though as I hear of people doing lots more gardening on/after mat leave! Does anyone have any tips? He's 1 so is crawling and exploring and putting everything in his mouth. I want him to get used to the outdoors so know he will start getting independent in his own time - so perhaps it's just a question of having a go and trying it?!

He has a swing, and I can bring toys out but he would crawl off and explore. I guess once he's old enough he could have things to dig?! And exploring is a good thing - but maybe just in a supervised way at the moment.

Our garden isn't very child friendly so I suppose that might be a first step. It probably just needs a thorough tidy up to start with, to get rid of the most dangerous things. Theres a lawn area and a patio area but both have hazards around (old broken wooden border edging, some pebbles in odd places, metal spikes with lantern holders hung on them, spiky weeds), plus a glass greenhouse that I'm guessing isn't safe glass. We moved here 2 years ago so lots is from the previous owners, who were avid gardeners and blessed us with lots of bushes that we have not kept well tamed 😬

Perhaps a silly question and also perhaps a bit of a mind dump but oh well!! Tia 😊

I got this tip from here at least ten years ago:get a pot of water, and a paint brush. You can ask them to 'paint' whatever is nearby - a fence, some paving, leaves... mine also liked a sand pit.

I think it is just a bit young. Mine would behead anything they came into contact with at that age. At 2/3 they were much better and happily helping with planting seeds and bulbs. A patch of mud to dig in is great as long as you don't get cats going in there. Mud kitchen is always popular too.

Too young, get a mud kitchen might give you some time to garden

My DS is 2.5 and still haven’t mastered this. For the last year or so he’s been able to “help” a bit.

He has a bucket and when I deadhead my roses or trim things he puts them in his bucket and takes them to the compost bin. He also likes using the watering can. He can pick up leaves off the lawn and put them in the compost bin. This is all from about 2 years onwards though.

But really the only proper gardening I can do is when he’s not there. Or when DH is in the garden to play with him while I do the work.

Baby cage playpen until he's old enough for a mud kitchen. Once he's walking, the Little Tikes climbing cubes with a slide are great too, as are the sit on rockers. Once toddling properly, the Little Tikes cars are a very popular addition to the garden (I promise I don't work for LTs! 😂). Gardening comes later IME - 3+? Before then you are better to have plenty else for them to do whilst you get on with it alone.

DD2 is 4 and I'd say it's only in the last year I've been reliably able to do much gardening. Before then it was just a case of keeping it as tidy and low maintenance as possible.

I did do more gardening on mat leave but that was because DDs could be in the baby walker or a playpen i.e. safely restrained. Once they were at the toddling stage gardening went out the window for a couple of years.

Thanks everyone 😊 better fit it in where I can then, til he's ready for a mud kitchen!

Could you put the sand tray/ pit in a playpen -and keep the play pen there- so playing in the sand is always done in the play pen , so he gets used to that.- though he will still prob eat the sand.

Play pen and buckets with small toys and a pear. Hopefully will love putting things in and out of the bucket and eat the pear 😁😁