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 boy loves being in the garden. He has a sandpit, a slide/playhouse and swing, but sometimes he's just happy playing with the bugs in the grass!

My LO's enjoy playing out. I've taught them all the games I played as a child and join in playing with them.

We are lucky enough to live between the river and the moors so no shortage of adventure here. Harder to get them in than out!

My dc enjoy doing arts/painting outside and so I put the paper and paints out on the wee table outside. They also enjoy watering the plants and playing with garden toys - we have a wee slide and seesaw that friends gave to us when their children outgrew so they have fun in their own wee park!

Now I've got teenagers in the family, I've created a chill out zone for them to relax with friends. I've dedicated a small corner at the bottom of the garden which feels screened off by foliage (but I can still passively supervise!) with comfy outdoor cushions, a fire pit and fairy lights. They love it and it means that I'm a bit further away from their music!

It's easy to get my boys in the garden as they love football. Though if I want them to do something a bit calmer, they do enjoy a bit of planting as they love getting their hands dirty.

I have 2 boys who love the outdoors so need little encouragement to get down and dirty! We also have a dog who loves playing on the trampoline with them and we normally rotate outdoor toys to keep them interested. The easiest time to get them outdoors is a on warm sunny day with a hosepipe!

We spend all summer outside in our garden! We have specific garden toys that they don't play with indoors, so that is something a bit different!

My children love the garden but this year I want them to do some planting and actually learn where some of their veg comes from. To see a tomato grow and pluck it off and be able to eat it, is an experience of it's own.
I also want them to get off their devices and play more together so I am planning to get a paddling pool and have more outdoor meals.

I love to build them an assault course in the backgarden!

I let my little one water the garden with the hose pipe he loves soaking his daddy.

We're making major changes to our garden this year. We've already added a brick raised bed which has been planted with alpines and succulents. Ella (9) has added a unicorn, some gnomes, butterflies and fairies to it.
We're planning on making small fairy gardens all over the garden as we finish each new section. She wants people to be able to walk around the garden and be delighted when they see tiny fairies and fairy houses dotted about.
She has also picked out her own area where she wants to have a vegetable patch and she's helping to sort the top of the garden where we're going to be planting fruit trees for our own little orchard.

Getting them out?!

I have trouble getting them in. The minute that door is open they are gone.

But this year we have:-

Chalk for writing on the patio
A water table for water play
A big bucket with water in to "paint" the fence
A playhouse (they paint this too)
And a pool for the really hot days.

We will also be eating outside when we can too

My LO has been begging for a playhouse so I'm finally willing to cave in now we've got the garden sorted out!

My kids adore having Barbeques - it feels like a real treat for them and there's nothing quite like family bonding over toasted marshmallows.

I would love to get a proper firepit set up so that we can spend summer evenings toasting marshmallows rather than waiting for barbeques.

The kids love wildlife so I'd love to have a small nature area in the garden - perhaps allowing the grass to grow with wildflowers and some bug hotels to explore.

A few garden games also gets them outdoors in a hurry -whether its playing giant jenga or boules, again its about family bonding time and enjoying the outdoors. Failing that even taking indoor games outdoors and spending time outdoors can make it feel really special.

We're renovating our garden in the next couple of weeks, as we're in a very clay-y area, so the lawn turns into a mud bath during the rainy season. We're moving some larger planters, to enlarge the grassy area, and laying artificial grass, that can be used all year by the kids. In our planters are fruits and herbs (strawberries and yellow raspberries in one, and rosemary, thyme, mint, sage, lavender, black currants and gooseberries in the other). We should also have space for a vegetable patch at one side. And when that has finished, I will by looking to buy an arched-seat, where we can grow some climbing plants either side, and acts as a 'secret' cubby hole for the kids to sit.

They love camping out in the garden and I always let them get involved in the garden. They've got their own little plot where I let them plant what they want.

we have a trampoline in the garden which both my children enjoy going.on
My 3year old loves gardening, so we plant fruit, veg and plants and I get her to look after them and water them. When its very warm we will get the water guns out and run about having water fights.

My DCs love being outside, and like some others have said, it is getting them in that is the bigger challenge. trying to get them interested in gardening at the moment though to no avail.

My Little man loves to be out in the garden playing with our pups also when the weather is nice he loves his paddling pool and helping put the washing out he has his own little line so he can help too he loves it(i am enjoying the help while it lasts) also we have a patch of grass/weeds if i am honest i would love to make a vegetable patch with him.

We have a range of corners in our garden - all to explore :)

Toddlers corner has a playhouse under a leafy lilac tree that drapes over the house windows. He's got his own AstroTurf lawn with a kiddie deckchair, a sandpit a slide, a trampoline and a front garden with annuals :)

Then of course we have the lawn where we have lots of fun with a sprinkler mat and the hose and the dog and him roll around!

Then we have our hand painted patio table against our patio wall hand painted by me and done up with pallets and trailing flowers where he loves to sit and eat our many BBQ meals :)

At the right we have our vegetable garden from where he has been picking mangetout peas and broad beans daily for the past few evenings. Tomatoes and sweet corn becoming teenagers fast.

And at the farthest corner near the painted blue shed we have the bistro set, sun lounger and his paddling pool where he absolutely loves getting wet - our "beach corner".

He also loves admiring the flowers on the two climbing roses climbing up the arch between our patio and lawn.

We love our garden - he stops for so long on the front garden as well each day before after childcare to kiss the flowers :)

Our garden is the heart and soul of our home.

Edit to add - the lovely blue you see in my pics is all thanks to the Homebase garden colour Mountain Lake - you will recognise it on our shed, the patio table and the pallet - and on the toddlers bridge in these pictures :)

We have planted carrots, tomatoes and a few fruit bushes so she enjoys going to check on them. We love watching the birds too. Always out on her picnic mat in the sun colouring so no problems getting her out!

1. Family BBQs
2. Outdoor toys, e.g. our sea-saw, garden tennis
3. Out-door camping!

At the moment our garden has everything we need bar shade, so we're getting a nice big parasol to make it more useable on hot days.