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

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My two children(2and 4) love helping me in the garden they get there wellies on and get stuck in especially when it comes to planting and watering the plants and. Vegetables. Watching them grow and then pick when ready especially the strawberries and peas.

We actually had a gardening party on Bank holiday Monday and they all helped :) They were picking up weeds and sweeping, it was great fun :)

I'll just open the back door! If I'm lucky I'll see them when they get hungry.

Waterpistols and blowing bubbles, mine love them.

We do plant and grow vegetables, but it doesn't get them out on a daily basis.

Hose and a paddling pool. Hours of fun to be had!

Get the paddling pool out, works every time. Just struggle to get her in again afterwards 😄

We have a small yard at our town centre doer upper terrace. We're going to install a small piece of outdoor carpet where the kids can have a sandpit, build a den etc. We will repair the fencing and treat the path for weeds and make the outside safe to send them out in the first place. It will be lovely as they currently have nowhere to play out, an all too common issue for children in inner towns and cities.

We saved up DS's birthday and Christmas money and bought him a wooden play house for outside! It's big enough to fit him, his toys and his sand table in.

Now the only problem is getting him back in!

We have a little tykes house, a sandpit and a little car. They both love playing outside and so do we. We eat outside when we can and play in the water too. Thinking about starting a vegetable patch, but haven't started it yet.

My eldest (5yrs) played swingball at his cousins house after Easter. Loved it so much we bought one for home and he has hardly been in the house since.

My kids just love being out in the garden, just give them some garden toys and they love being out there, I make their lunches into little picnics for them. If it is really hot out comes the paddling pool, they will play hours with that :D

I only have to show DS his shoes to make him want to go outside!

He loves playing with water, so we have a paddling pool and float his ball pit balls in there. He also has a water table and is happy even with just a bucket full of water to splash in. He also likes using a watering can but usually waters the patio with it, so that's not especially useful! DH wants to get water pistols this year, which I think they'll both enjoy.

I've made an old children's picnic table into a sand pit/whatever messy play thing box with a lid so they can still use it as a picnic table.
Were currently doing up our garden and at the moment there's lots of mud which the children and the dogs are loving but is quite messy! We need to lawn it and would love a sunken trampoline.
We want to grow some fruit and veg so the promise of a fresh strawberry or hunting for the ripe berries for great learning experience but also lots of fun!
If we're in the front garden we get the scooters out and they scoot up and down the path (no through road so v quiet and path set back from the cars)

We have prepare their own raised beds to plant some fruit and vegetables in

i have given my boys their own little veggie patch where they grow exciting veg, fruit & flowers they have chosen. They are so proud and excited to try lots of new healthy food :)

My LO practically lives in the garden. In his next life he will be a gnome. He loves to help to water the plants and veggies and loves to hide and find pine cones.

I'm not going to be able to get my child back in the house...
She loves exploring and nature so we have already spend a lot of time bug hunting, gardening and pretending that were in the rainforest

We also have 2 puppies so she loves playing out in the garden and bringing them for walks.

All else fails.....trampoline, paddling pool and a hell of a lot of water bombs and water pistols. (Don't tell dad though....he can find out when we bombard him mwahahaha)

My son has been growing a tomato plant from school and seeds from coop which I've now planted outside but unfortunately he's not interested in looking after them, thats down to me though he did help me plant them. I wish he would spend more time outside in garden, will be having the water games out, water blasters, paddling pool, water slides etc when summer holidays he does enjoy those. At moment he likes to play flying ring with me in garden so we do that most days when weather is good.Today I put out a tent for him and he played in there with cuddly toys and did some pictures.

Water games, sprinkler, pistols, balloon bombs, as soon as sun shines.

I will be getting my little ones in the garden by ensuring I have lots different areas to keep them busy, safe and interested, such as our little wildlife area, our big grassed lawn, our fabulous growing area, and our digging and sandy play area. Can't wait

I'm afraid my DS(5)'s favourite thing to do is make mud villages with his diggers. It gets messy!

He also loves planting fruit and veg and seeing them grow, he's better at remembering to water than I am!

Eating more meals outside and getting the trampoline ready

Outside is just our default position, no problem! Picnics, dancing in the rain, bug hunting, reading, drawing, bird watching, den building, digging, climbing and absolutely NO SCREENS.

Having things organised and ready so that the minute the sun shines they can go out with things to do. That and a trampoline and water slide.

My children love staying in the garden. I put lots of toys, like balls, trampoline, paddling pool, water pistols and table tennis. What we need is only the good weather.