Tell Homebase how you will get your kids in the garden over the summer - £300 voucher to be won! NOW CLOSED

[EmmaMumsnet]

It’s a common worry that our DC don’t spend enough time outside, especially with teens glued to their phones and toddlers insisting on watching their favourite movie for the 1000th time. Homebase would like to find out how you will encourage your DC to get out in the garden this summer.

Here’s what Homebase has to say: "No matter how big or small your garden is, you want to create a haven that can be enjoyed by your family all year round, especially in the summer months. You don't have to be a professional gardener to plan your own landscape, which is why we have put together useful advice guides and top tips containing plenty of garden ideas to give you the inspiration you need to begin.”

So how will you get your DC in the garden this summer? Will you get them to help you plant fruit and veg so they can get excited watching them grow? Perhaps you’d like to recreate activities you did in the garden when you were a child? If it rains will you be determined to stay outside and play games in a shelter or craft decorations that can be put in the garden when it’s dry again?

Whether you want to create a play haven by building a mini playground or make the perfect space for eating alfresco please post your ideas and plans below and you will be entered into the prize draw where one lucky MNer will win a £300 Homebase voucher.

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs apply

My DC loves being outside in the garden come rain or shine, getting him back in for dinner can be the problem! This summer we are having our second child, so it would be wonderful to get him some more toys to play in the garden. He suddenly hates the bath so anything with water would be great so at least he can kind of have a wash!!

We have a small garden and a football-loving DS - we bought a pop up goal and now his favourite thing is running around our back garden, scoring goals and practicing his celebrations! We've also got a sand and water table which has kept him entertained for five years and counting. And this year, he's growing some carrots - we have some green shoots and a very excited DS.

My sons enjoy growing vegetables in a small area of the garden. Tomato plants have just gone in. They are responsible for watering & get quite excited when something starts to appear. They understand how food is grown and it teaches them to be green fingered whilst spending time in the garden. They also have something to discuss with their Grandad who is an expert on gardening !

They love being outside when they're at Granny & Grandad's, but at home the lure of Kindles can be very strong. We enjoy eating outside so any mess doesn't matter and often bring the washing up bowl and a drying rack out too. Takes much longer than me doing it, but they LOVE doing it!

Outdoor games like giant jenga or swingball.

Our children love a paddling pool - and if its not so hot playing football

We are planting veggies this year and already they are excited about being able to pick their own veggies from the garden. Hopefully it will make them eat them a bit more. We have also fenced off a bit of garden which we have turfed for the first time this year which is going to be exclusively for the kids and their toys.

Paddling pool, bat and ball always gets them outside!

We are buying a hot tub for the garden so all the family can enjoy it.

We always do two sets of runner beans and sunflowers which we compete to see which grows the largest and tallest. This year we have planted some tomatoes. We often pick herbs and chop them to add to bread dough with a little garlic.

I never have any problems with getting my little one outside. She's an outside girl come rain or shine. We have just started introducing paddling pools and she's loving them! Hopefully this isn't something she's going to grow out of any time soon.

My little one loves being outside - all weather!
This year, she has a project to grow her own herbs and flowers, as they started to do this in pre-school
Also, we are growing sunflowers to see who grows the tallest one!

This year we've planted some salad leaves, spring onions, beans and carrots so DS is really excited to see how they are doing every day. We're also doing loads of work in the front garden and he'll either collect stones in a bucket for a bit of pocket money, or sit on his chair doing some drawing.

The main problem is getting him IN from the garden, not getting him OUT there .

We have no trouble getting ours out in tge garden, the trouble is getting them in! They love water play particularly, so the paddling pool and water table, plus watering the garden. Also games like skittles and boules.

Our son created his own table museum in the garden at aged 3 having visited one with us. On walks he brought back wild flowers, leaves and other interesting objects. The neighbours were always coming around to look at his collection.

A BBQ followed by a water fight always gets my kids outside without a single moan!

They also love helping to water the plants and to plant new ones.

We are making a veggie patch which I am hoping will also encourage him to love his vegetables at dinner time :)

Planting some tomato & cucumber seeds has worked for our DCs. Every day they want to get in the garden to see if they are growing and water them. Just hoping the bugs don't destroy them!

We have a part of the garden where the children get to pick the seeds they want to grow so right from the shop picking the packets or seedlings through to sowing and watering, hopefully they are getting to know plant names and also the insects that live out there.

A playhouse, complete with mini garden gets them outdoors. A picnic is as enjoyable in the playhouse, or outside if the weather is great.

A playhouse complete with mini garden gets them outdoors. Picnics either in the playhouse, or outdoors when the weather is great is always a winner.

I put a small, pop up tent outside and fill it with cushions, my teen dd likes to laze around and read out there. I take her regular elderflower sparkling cordial to keep her hydrated.

I grew up in East London and we didn't have a garden, but now I am a parent we are always out in the garden, we also have a dog so always chucking balls, playing lots of sports like badminton, swingball, football etc and it takes forever to get youngest DD out of the playhouse or off the electric jeep! :)

They have their own flower pots and choose what they would like in them and this encourages them to spend more time in the garden.

Going outside into the garden has never been difficult with my son. He loves the garden and we can always think of something interesting to do. From making animals and insects from natural objects, kicking through Autumn leaves, making mud pies, we grow raspberries and blueberries to hunting for mini beasts and growing plants which attract butterflies and bees.