NATURE & NURTURE

FUN ACTIVITIES ARE KEY TO GETTING CHILDREN INVOLVED IN THE GREAT OUTDOORS, ACCORDING TO EXPERTS.

- BY HANNAH STEPHENSON

THE school holidays are here and there’s no better time to help your children connect with nature.

But, as we all know, that can be easier said than done.

"Fun needs to be the order of the day," says Kim Stoddart, editor of Amateur Gardening magazine and author of The Climate Change Resilient Vegetable Garden. "This is an opportunity for everyone to really relish embracing some child's play in our garden this summer."

She offers five project ideas to encourage your children into the garden - and give you some fun at the same time.

1. Become an explorer

"This might require explorers' hats for extra fun and to get into the role, but encourage the kids to pick up old stones, look under foliage and dig down to see what they can find, says Kim.

"It's great to look at where the insects are living, what they might eat and what role they play in the garden. Even the scary ones like spiders have a valuable role to play, and the more you look, the more you see.

"It can also be very educational, you can photograph some of the insects and later look them up with your children, discovering things about those you don’t recognise, and get a sense of what they do and what role they play."

Children who enjoy seeing and recording butterflies in their garden might want to take part in Butterfly Conservation’s Big Butterfly Count which runs to Sunday, August 10 and invites participants to sit for 15 minutes and record which species they see.

Download the charity's butterfly ID chart and send in your recordings to help identify important trends in the species.

2. Build a mini-pond