What do you understand by a task to create a 'miniature garden'?

[roisin]

DS1's holiday homework was to "design and make a miniature garden".

What he took into school today was apparently unusual, very different from the other children, and attracted considerable attention.

So what would you have done?

When I was a child this involved a plate with soil, a bit of foil for a pond and tiny plants and rocks

What he did do? 1/12 scale decking with water features?

Same as morningpaper ^^

I would have got a seed tray and let them fill it with soil and a tin case from little apple pie for a pond, then they would have put in some turf for grass and bits of twig and flowers and wotnot. And maybe atiny fairy ornament or frog or something.

Or if it were a Diarmuid Gavin model garden, maybe a stainless steel egg.

Take a small plastic box, put soil in, put in a mirror as a pond and divide the rest into flower beds with pebbles, sea shells or whatever else might hang around in boxes under children's beds . Plant something that doesn't grow too large or too fast in the flower beds.

That's what used to be the traditional method for making miniature gardens in my youth, long ago...

Erm, we've had this piece of homework before and I don't know how usual DS1's was but we got a tray (about A4 size), grew some cress in a plastic butter lid for the grass, stuck some stones down to make a path, then got bits and pieces from the garden (bits of trees etc) and stuck them in place, cut out flowers out of bright paper and covered the whole lot in glitter (for the frost).

Dying to know what your DS1 did, bet it was fab.

metal tray with moss, silver foil for a pond, small flowers stuck in.
or
washing up bowl with soil and seeds thrown in.

bonsai?

Oh and we had a pond too made out of shiny silver cardboard.

old school tray filled with soil and then stones to make 'paths' foil or blue paper and glitter for a pond , moss for grass, few little bits of greenery and maybe a mini lego deckchair!

whatdid he do?

OK - so you're all on our wavelength - I thought it was obvious too. DS1 filled a tray with soil, found tiny seedlings with roots, bits of moss, made a fence from lolly sticks, etc. With occasional watering most of it should stay alive for quite a while.

So what did everyone else do?
I hear you shouting

They made their gardens from plastic, and bits of metal and wood, and plasticine, and .... Lego!

I mean, I know we're not out in the sticks, but is this what urban living means these days?!

Lol! So they had paved over the miniature garden so they could park the miniature 4x4?

LOL!

Apparently there were no other 'gardens' with soil or plants

Good grief. Did they not see any of the coverage from Chelsea this year?
Plants and soil are IN. Lego is OUT.

Message withdrawn

ROFL at entire thread

I just asked ds what he would do.

He started off saying grass, then changed his mind and said tiny stones to make a circular patio, tiny flowers made from paper and decking made from brown cardbaord.

well I'm QUITE shocked!

OUrs would have been like yours Roisin.

We're not exactly Urban though here