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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Mine are 8 and 11 - I can still entice them into the garden with giving them cleaning jobs to do! They enjoy it! And the eldest loves car washing..... I think they'd both enjoy a trampoline, but I'm not keen....

Our children have a vegetable box each and they plant different things in them each year. They absolutely love doing it and having competitions on whose vegetables are growing first. They are happy to water and look after them and it hasn't been an issue getting them out there. We are also hoping to get a trampoline in the summer holidays so they can spend more time outdoors.

Give them their lunch as a picnic, in fact all meals eaten outside on a rug..winner!!

Our garden is definitely my kids' territory. They have "scruffs" which are their old battered clothes and they can get them as filthy as they like.

We have a small playhouse which has been a shop, a post office, church (complete with apple crate pulpit), palace and police station. Whatever their game of the moment is the playhouse is incorporated. It also means rain never stops play!

We have an old apple shaped sandpit that is now a pond and get frogspawn in it which they love to monitor.

We keep buckets, spades and they have their patch of strawberries, beans, lettuces and tomatoes, all of which get eaten al fresco. We also have a mud patch for making pies. Which thankfully don't get eaten. We also keep water soluble paint and chalk for painting leaves or chalking games on the patio.

We also have rabbits which, since our garden is enclosed, have room to roam. And be put in pushchairs and wheeled or "bottle fed" carrots.

Finally, my children have complete freedom. Why wouldn't they be out?

We love growing things together, we have tomatoes, corvettes and peppers already in. They also love to help dead head flowers, weed and we have a climbing wall. I also let them get creative by chalking on the end of the house as well as play obstacle games in the garden and build tents

We love mini beast hunting in the garden

Our garden is on the small side but it's big enough for a paddling pool so that will be in use on any sunny days. Otherwise we will be out at the park a lot. My in laws have a great allotment which my son loves to spend time in. In fact over half term he spent all day there and was very pleased to have a packed lunch brought to him. He really enjoys helping grandma to pick the raspberries and strawberries but I suspect he probably eats more than he picks!

In the garden we have a lot of play equipment to keep them busy! We'll pop up the paddling pool and that will get them outside too!

Further afield, we have plans to tick off some 'bucket list' activities like canoeing, catch a fish with a net, crabbing! Lots of FUN in the SUN!

We all love being in the garden. We have s selection of garden games such as swing ball and football. My kiddies love gardening. Took them to the garden centre to help choose flowers. Also have a trampoline in the garden.

We have a tent and lots to play with in the garden, encourage them to play football etc with friends, having family bbq and eating outside helps. I also encourage them to help plant seeds and grow veg, they pick these when they are ripe giving them a reason to go outside.

We are making a vegetable patch, so they will be learning about sowing seeds and growing our own fruit and vegetables. I know this will grab their attention and get them out in the garden.

We've got an overgrown 'wild' area at the bottom of our garden which the kids loved to make dens in when they were younger.

I'm planning to spend a lot of time out there myself - two year old's favourite place is right by my side so that should do the trick!

Races, we build a lot of race courses - then it's about beating your own time (otherwise the eldest would always win!) ;-0

pallets, water things, trampoline, water painting the fence ( painting with water and it magically disappears in the sun to start again!) tyre with mud in, sad, and as we live on a farm, lots of cow toys ad tractors!!

I've just moved into my own house following a divorce and have recently mowed a lawn for the first time. And I'm 41!! I've also planted half a border and chosen a few plants. I'd like to buy and paint a shed next, so the children can keep their scooters out there, and finish off my border. I don't have much time (I work full time) but I'd like to make a little place to sit. I have been given some old wooden garden furniture and when it is the holidays I'm hoping to refurbish it with some lovely grey and blue paint.
Just add sunshine

Buy easy to grow seeds such as sunflowers and marigolds so they can grow them in a patch of garden and have the joy of watching them grow.

I have teenagers so not so easy getting them to put down phones and spend time outside!
I recently bought a cheap swing ( just the seat part) and tied it to the apple tree at the end of our garden. They love it! They go down and sit having some peaceful time under the tree! I'm surprised it has been such a hit but it genuinely has worked!

We put up a shed in the garden at the end of last year, its an awesome place that we escape to, no matter the weather. Just after it was erected we all snuggled up inside with hot chocolate and blankets, it was a day we'll always remember. I'm looking forward to picnics and arts and crafts in the shed over the summer.

turn off the internet. that always does the trick!

Oddly mine are more likely to be out in the rain than the sun! They love being out in summer rain with umbrellas and wellies on.

We've planted tomatoes and peppers for the first time this year so fingers crossed they grow.

They are also old enough now that we'll be buying a French cricket set this year to ensure everyone gets outside.

With the lovely weather we've been having and hoping to continue to have, I plan to get a paddling pool for my boys to play and cool down. We've already have the strawberries and corn growing so hopefully would be ripe for harvesting in the next couple months.

my girls have each planted a sunflower seed and are having a growing competition, my son has planted a 'bean' and is hoping to grow a giant beanstalk (think jack and the giant beanstalk!). These are the most diligently watered plants you've ever seen!

I had massive success in getting all three outside last week by putting on the water sprinkler for the lawn! Honestly they had fun for so long, shrieking, running through it, over in, away from it. They even pointed it at the slide to make a water slide. No garden for small children should be without a sprinkler - summer fun and garden care in one swoop!!

My girls are huge outdoor lovers that it would be easier to tell you how I could try and keep them in. I would love to create a semi shed/ open sheltered area for the girls to play under. I know they really enjoy being outside no matter what the weather so a semi sheltered area would work better for them and keep them sheltered from wind or rain. In this area I would love to have a mini green house area for them to watch their very own plants grown and maybe an area they could decorate plant pots for when the plants are ready. I know the girls always feel better when they have spent time outside so these vouchers would come in handy to carry that on.

We are super lucky and have a fab mini forest at the back of our garden. You have to cross a mini bridge to access it. My children spend hours in it building dens and playing make believe games. It is magical. Everyone loves to come to our house!