6 Summer Holiday Activities: Get the Kids Gardening This Summer!
The summer holidays are the perfect time to slow down, spend more time outside, and let children explore nature at their own pace. With longer days and (hopefully) sunnier weather, the garden becomes a hub of activity. What better way to keep the kids entertained than getting them involved in some fun, hands-on summer gardening?
Gardening isn't just a practical skill, it’s an excellent way for children to learn about nature, responsibility, sustainability, and where their food comes from. Whether you've got a sprawling garden or a few containers on the patio, there are plenty of simple and enjoyable activities to do together. And with a little help from Hortiwool Garden Pads, even the youngest green-fingered helpers can join in and make a difference.
1. Create a Mini Veg Patch Together
One of the easiest and most rewarding gardening activities to try with kids during the summer holidays is creating a mini vegetable patch. Let them choose a few fast-growing or colourful crops: radishes, salad leaves, carrots, or strawberries are always popular choices. Help them mark out a small space or use a raised bed or containers.
Here’s where Hortiwool Garden Pads come in handy. Lining the base of containers or beds with these pads helps retain moisture. This makes it easier for young gardeners to keep their plants hydrated. Especially if the watering routine is their responsibility!
2. Decorate and Plant Up a Herb Pot
Herbs are a great starter project. They grow quickly, smell amazing, and are useful in the kitchen. Children will love picking fresh mint for homemade lemonade or snipping chives for sprinkling on their meals.
Give each child a small terracotta pot to paint and personalise. Once dry, fill with compost and plant herbs like basil, mint, parsley or thyme. Place a piece of Hortiwool Garden Pad in the bottom of the pot to reduce water run-off. This will help the herbs stay healthy during hot spells.
3. Build a Bug Hotel
Encouraging children to care for wildlife is a brilliant part of summer gardening. Collect twigs, pinecones, bits of bamboo cane, and leaves to build a bug hotel in a quiet garden corner. Stack them in an old wooden crate or flower pot laid on its side.
Add some offcuts of Hortiwool Garden Pads into the mix. Wool provides warm, cosy nesting material for insects like ladybirds and solitary bees. As kids observe who checks in over the summer, they’ll be learning about biodiversity in a fun, interactive way.
4. Watering Patrol
Involving children in the daily watering is a simple but valuable routine during the summer holidays. Give them their own small watering can and assign them ‘plant patrol’ duties. Checking on thirsty plants and making sure they’re getting enough attention.
Plants mulched with Hortiwool Garden Pads will need watering less frequently, which is great for younger kids who may occasionally forget! Plus, they’ll love lifting the mulch to check the soil moisture underneath, turning this into a mini science experiment.
5. Grow Flowers for Pollinators
Bright, colourful flowers are great for attracting bees and butterflies and for engaging little ones. Sunflowers, calendula, nasturtiums and cosmos are all easy to grow from seed and will flower through the summer. For more ideas on fast growing flowers, click here.
Let children sow their own seeds and track the growth each week. Encourage them to draw the changes in a garden journal.
Use Hortiwool Garden Pads as mulch around young plants to suppress weeds and keep soil temperatures more consistent. Especially useful during unexpected UK heatwaves!
6. Make a Garden Wildlife Spotter Sheet
Take a little break from digging and weeding to encourage nature spotting. Create a simple sheet with photos or drawings of common garden wildlife: birds, butterflies, bees, worms, frogs, or ladybirds. Head outside with a clipboard and pencil and see how many your children can find.
Again, wildlife-friendly areas with Hortiwool Garden Pads in planters or borders may help attract more creatures, thanks to the moisture-retaining and compostable qualities of wool, creating an ideal mini-ecosystem.
Keep Gardening Fun and Flexible
The trick to encouraging children into gardening is to keep things relaxed and fun. Avoid turning tasks into chores. Celebrate their successes, let them get messy, and be flexible.
Not every seed will sprout, and not every slug will stay away, but every moment spent outside is valuable.
Hortiwool Garden Pads are a safe, sustainable way to help your plants thrive and give children a sense of success in their gardening efforts. Because they’re made from natural British wool, they’re gentle on the environment. So you can feel good about teaching your kids greener gardening practices from the start.
So, whether you're sowing seeds, building bug hotels, or simply splashing about with a watering can, make the most of the summer holidays by bringing the family into the garden.