Adventure box/bag for the garden - what to put in it?

[MovingOnUpMovingOnOut]

I'm thinking of putting together a box of stuff that the children can use for playing and exploring in the garden. It should all be stuff they can get out, play with and put away on their own in my dreams. I have a preschooler and a 7yo so something that's suitable from 3-10 years would be good.

So far I've thought of bug catcher pots, magnifying glass, torch, trowel, old yoghurt flower pots, seeds, watering can, paint brushes (useful for getting bugs from a to b), pencils and notebooks, old saucepan and wooden spoons for making mud kitchens, bits of twine threaded with big, blunt, plastic needles, string, scissors, bird spotter sheets.

Wondering if anyone's done this before and if so, what was particularly good and if I've forgotten anything obvious. All ideas and tips welcome :)

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My son loves exploring the garden, he uses a bucket, spade, sieve, watering can and sticks the most.

i just let him get on with it, we do planting seeds, bird spotting and preparing garden and allotment for new season

He rarely tidies it up though, so be prepared for that!

What about chalk for drawing on the patio/wall etc?
I think this is a great idea btw.

Hurrah, replies

I was on the fence about chalk because they make SUCH a mess with it but maybe a small amount of white. Our walls are painted white so when they press their chalky hands on it it won't show.

Sieve and bucket are good ones to add, thank you.

The idea is that they will get on with it so maybe I need to be prepared for enforcing the tidying up from the beginning?? We haven't done anything for the garden since we moved so I'm happy for them to explore free range until we give it an overhaul and put in some child specific areas.

I've just thought of something else - both of mine like collecting stuff (seed heads, rosehips, grass clippings!) so maybe some paper cups or cones made of newspaper. They could make the cones.

What about a large pot of compost each to have a giant sunflower competition? Paint rollers and squeezy bottles are both fun for "painting" with water.

Love the paint rollers and squeeze bottles!

I thought about compost but I think based on experience that would be one they would have to request access on a case by case. Unless I put a large tub out in the garden for each of them and they could plant what they liked?

Excellent suggestions, thank you!

As a kid running wild (aged 7 with a 3 year old sister in tow), I valued rope and string the most. Followed by sticks and poles. Trowels, wooden mallet, pieces of old tarpaulin, wooden clothes pegs, buckets, jam jars, hessian sacks (sack races / lugging things around in) plastic coated garden wire, an old milk crate.... Just junk that can be a million things in a million scenarios.

Pots and pans to make a mud kitchen.

Thank you those are brilliant ideas. Clothes pegs are genius

We don't have a huge garden but we have woodland nearby so we could do some more exciting things with ropes and tarpaulin.

I'm now buying a load of seeds and beginning to hoard petit filou pots for the children to grow things in!

I might also see if we can create some bug homes too.

My mil bought Dd a small garden broom. So random! She loves it, but our garden is mostly paved. Would a small rake be of interest?