Green Fingers – get our kids outdoors;
I will be the first to admit that I am not the most green fingered of all people but Doc is in his element when its anything about gardening, planting and nurturing all things green. However, i wanted to make sure that our little adventurers get used to getting messy, planting and enjoy the sense of pride that comes from gardening as you see how something that you plant can thrive and grow. Unfortunately, we have been unable to sort out our garden in our house (that is a long and boring story) so that’s on the list for 2015 but I am always keen to get the kids outdoors whenever we can.
I came across a free family bulb planting session in the grounds of Turton Tower so we thought we would take the children along.
Turton Tower is within Blackburn area but despite having lived in the area my entire life we have never made a visit. However, after taking the little adventurers and visiting we will definitely be returning. We never visited the house but the grounds are great for walks and getting little adventurers out in the great outdoors. The bulb planting session was on 1st November and we were blessed with a beautiful, crisp autumn day. The session was advertised through a number of means but it was so disappointing that we were the only family who had brought their children along.
Getting the children involved in these sorts of projects really helps not only get our children outdoors but involved in more traditional activities that are often overlooked in today’s technology focused society. one thing I loved most about this session was the little adventurers working alongside members of the community and likewise the older volunteers loved having the children around to tell them about the plants, gardening and interacting with them. Personally, I think that is something that is really going amiss in our communities today with fewer families interacting with projects for the community and generally failing to get our children involved in community focused projects which really help instil a sense of pride in our children and develop a feel of camaraderie that we are losing on a daily basis with the continual increasing of virtual friendship and socialising.
But I digress and back to the session, the children were asked to plant a number of bulbs in the garden kitchen area and they had a go at planting daffodils and tulips. As we were the only family at the session, the children were given lots of bulbs to plant and managed to get really involved, In addition, the children were able to really get their hands dirty, bedding the plants, learning how to dig with a shovel and generally getting to grips with gardening. From the activity Maya was really in her element and it was lovely to see her running around, asking questions and generally being a buzz of smiling activity.
The grounds have a lovely woodland play area which the children really enjoyed trying. It is great for older children as they had activities that older children may be better placed at doing. However, being my little adventurers, we never let anything such as age/size deter from giving something a go and all including Zayn were busy playing. It was a lovely, dry day and with autumn truly setting in, the grounds were beautiful with the floor covered with piles and piles of leaves. Again it was disappointing that so families were out and about making the most of the weather and nature that we are so privileged to have on offer!
If you see any activities like this I would definitely recommend that you bring the children along as its great for them to get involved! Gardenening is fast becoming on the bucket list for our outdoor activities for 2015! A very big thank you to everyone involved in Turton Tower Garden, we had a fantastic day and will definitely be returning soon!
That looks like fun! We just left living in the desert. I tried planting with my girls a few times and nothing would ever grow. 🙁 I really hope that we are able to do more planting (and growing) in South America together.
Hi Casey,
How is the adventure going? It was a fab session, was surprised how much the kids loved it. Gorgeous autumn weather that weekend too!:)
Good to hear that you all enjoyed yourselves. It’s great to have a mix of ages working together at the Kitchen Garden at Turton Tower – we usually have family friendly activities taking place at half terms and holidays – so we’ll let you know about future events.
Hi Sue,
We loved it! Maya has been telling everyone about it since we’ve been. We have sent the post around a lot in the local community so hopefully we will have more families coming along to the next session. Do let us know about the Christmas event if there is one. Hopefully see you again soon 🙂
What a lovely idea, it looks like a great thing to do with kids. I am not very green fingered either but my children would love something like this.
Hiya, it was a really lovely session and think it was extra special as our little adventurers were the only ones there. Think the rest of the group loved showing them gardening techniques which was fab for Maya and my nephew. Would highly recommend it.
We started planting this middle of this year. We got a lot from our plants and my son enjoyed watering our little pots. They started dying now since the weather got cold but we will definitely try to plant again.
This is a nice trip! A planting activity with kids is really nice way to have fun & learn how nature works too! #TheOrdinaryMoments