Is everyone enjoying the Summer Kickoff series so far? I don’t know about you, but I’m getting so many ideas for summer activities and style and have enjoyed every moment. Today, Lauryn from A Vintage Mom is here sharing clever ideas for incorporating kids’ art in your garden this summer. These ideas are the best of both worlds– not only are they activities for kids to keep them busy, but they’ll also add some color to your garden this summer. Adorable too, I might add!
Gardening is something that my daughter and I do together. It is our thing. Actually, all of my children get into it, but really, my daughter has a passion for it. She has a passion for the knowledge that comes with gardening and the idea of constantly learning more about it. But she also has a passion for the look of a garden. Ever since my daughter was a wee one (who am I kidding, at 6, she is still a wee one) she has been the crafty child. She has an artistic streak, and if I had to call it right now, what she will be when she grows up would be a designer of some sort. Or she could just be like her mother moving from craft to craft with no ability to focus on just one because she simply loves them all SO much. Either way, art will find a place in her life for sure.
This year I rearranged some of my plant beds, and after killing off a bed of mint that was taking over our whole house (okay, maybe just most of a bed in the backyard), I decided that it would be C’s garden. She would design it, choosing the plants that she would seed, take care of it, and of course, decorate it.
Off she went. At the end of the winter, she decided that she really loved carrots from the farm and that it would be just great if we planted some of our own for her to pick, so we seeded carrots. We added some broccoli to the bed and also some leeks for good measure! In her Easter basket she received some sunflower seeds from Grandma, and so into the ground they went. After we tilled, planted, and watered and while we were waiting, C decided that she wanted to do a bit of interior (well, exterior) design.
We gathered some river stones from underneath the stairs to the deck in the back of our house, washed them up a bit, and spent an entire rainy day inside painting. The product was perfect…a border for our garden! We made sure to use an acrylic paint so that it wouldn’t wash off with the rain or watering.
Next up was a marker for our garden. C decided that a sign would be lovely, one that named some of the plants that were there and let the animals know that it was in fact a garden and not theirs by any means. Thanks to Dad and G and a bunch of scrap wood in our garage, we had some nice signs and a stake for them. She wanted to make sure that the sign was different. We asked for the pieces to be made different sizes and shapes.
One gorgeous afternoon C and I sat outside and lovingly painted each of the custom cut slabs. We created together and bonded over each other’s interpretation of what our garden sign should look like. Then we took turns nailing them to a long, thin piece of wood that we could stick into the ground. Shhh, we purposely made them crooked. 🙂
Lastly, we decided that our watering can was just a bit too boring these days and that it needed some sprucing up, so we did. C painted a picture of a beautiful summer day with some pink flowers. Some of the flowers had grown large and some were just starting to grow. It was her artwork and it was perfect. I used a polyurethane coat on the watering can as I did on the sign, to protect it from the elements.
In the end, we had some sprouting plants and a beautiful garden serving as our very own art gallery for the summer. Oh, and we had memories, the kind that I think both of us will keep forever. 🙂
Lauryn blogs at The Vintage Mom. She is the mom of three vivacious children and wife to one extremely vivacious husband! Lover of knitting, running (although mostly after little ones right now), the color orange, fun accessories, fall, tea, and a clean kitchen floor. She spends her days in awe of her family and trying to teach my three to treat others as they would want to be treated. Be sure to follow her on Facebook and Twitter for more stories!
This is way too cute! I think I may have to steal this idea next year. The signs are my favorite.
What a cute idea! I would love to know how to incorporate some gardening ideas for those of us without gardens (e.g. condos, apartments, city dwellers).
Hey Jeanine! I’ve had a few condo dwellers make a trellis wall on patios or balconies; it’s a great way to grow herbs without a garden bed: https://makinglemonadeblog.com/creating-diy-outdoor-mommy-oasis/ Kids could make herb markers for the pots, too!
What fun! Love the rock border idea … great project for kids of any age!
They are beautiful!! Nicely done.