If you’re a regular
reader, I apologize for leaving you hanging this past Saturday. I had a
wonderful wedding to attend and provide the flowers for, so that took me out of
the blogging game for several days!
Let’s talk some more
about Gardening with Kids!
“Gardening” can be
more than teaching them how to sow seeds or put plants in the ground. Sometimes
it’s helpful to design your garden FOR your kids as well. What I mean is—take a
step back and ask yourself—”What would make my garden and yard more appealing
to kids?”
The previous parts of
this series have some answers:
Gardening
with Kids, part 3: Celebrating Backyard Wildlife
Gardening
with Kids, part 2: The Five Senses
Today I’m going to
talk about Forts & Hideaways.
If your kids are anything like mine, they gravitate to forts and little places to hide. I remember that desire from when I was a kid, too: a place to “play house” or to create your own imaginary world. This is something we can create in our gardens and yards.
Some tall grass on a
shady back slope was the perfect hideaway for these 2 cuties.
Picture this:
A “house” grown from
sunflowers, with morning glory vines for a roof and soft garden dirt as the
floor.
The magical space
under the every-shifting branches of a weeping willow tree.
A garden shed, with
steps leading up to an “attic,” with a roof just tall enough for kids to stand
up in.
A group of shrubs
enclosing a small space just right for secrets and alone time.
A tall stand of
wildflowers that a little person can feel lost in—without ever leaving the
yard.
A picnic table on the
lawn with a cool, shady space underneath.
A tepee made of
sticks tied together at the top, with bean vines growing up and filling in all
the spaces.
The classic: a
platform with a railing up in a tree for a birds-eye view.
This space for your
kiddos doesn’t have to be elaborate or fancy. It’s not necessarily better to
have one that’s grown rather than built. Just that it’s there, beckoning your
children to come outside and play awhile, using their imaginations.
One of my dreams is
to take
Sharon Lovejoy’s advice and directions, and finally grow a sunflower house!
I just hope my kids are not all grown up by the time I get it figured out!
They look so young!!
How has it only been 3 years? (Also, that’s the classic platypus face on my
youngest in the middle there—I was pretty sad when he stopped doing it!)
Our shed in
Washington had a 2nd floor that was the designated clubhouse for the kids. I
myself slept overnight with them up there to celebrate the start of summer one
year. (Pictured above.) I hardly slept a wink for fear of the many spiders
inhabiting it! Yikes! The kids didn’t seem to mind a bit.
As of right now, we
don’t have a space that we have created for this purpose. We put in a shed
about a year ago with a barn-style shape, with the idea of repeating the shed
fort idea. Until that’s finished, my kids have come up with a few different
spots in our yard on their own. There’s a certain tree in the front corner,
that has a fence on 2 sides of it, and a big rock underneath that is somewhat
hidden by the lower branches.
They also have a
place called “Freedom Island” in the very back corner of our property, along
the (always dry) irrigation ditch, where they have spent many happy hours
playing out of direct line of sight from the house.
So, if you don’t come
up with something for them, they will probably find spots on their own. That’s
great! There’s nothing that says your chosen spot has to be the only, favorite
getaway. You can enlist their help to create something, or you can put some
thought into it and surprise them, but I really feel like it’s hard to go wrong
here—unless they’re teenagers. Then maybe you let them build a tiny house out
back? Ha! I don’t know on that one. Chime in with ideas!
Once they have a
place—or two or three—encourage their creativity by growing child-friendly
fruit, veggies, and flowers to furnish it, decorate it, and make it seem like a
real house! :) (Real houses have food, right?) All of these things will add to
their enjoyment of the garden itself, along with providing excellent opportunities
for the development of imagination and nurturing their creativity.
Tell me about your favorite childhood fort!
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