“The Children’s Garden” – a book review by Lulu Burt
Hey y’all. I am always on the look-out for new ideas for things to do outside in the garden. You may have read my recent blog which had 19 Great Ideas for Summer Fun In The Garden. Well, now I have even more ideas to share with you thanks to a great new book called “The Children’s Garden” by Matthew Appleby.
I am so excited about my new book I can’t open my eyes!
There are a whopping 52 projects packed into this book and they are done in a very engaging way. There are LOTS of lovely colour photos as well as plenty of tips and facts within each section. The book is split into the different seasons so that there are always plenty of ideas to choose from whatever time of year it may be. Everything is done on a really low budget and most projects use things which you already have lying about the house. Here are a few of my favourites:
Fun With Potatoes
Potato stamping is an old favourite and perfect for this time of year as we harvest our home grown tatties. There are always a few potatoes which aren’t quite up to my high standards so what better than to use them to do some potato stamping!
Potato stamping made me starry eyed!
Wet Work & Play
There are lots of water fun ideas in this chapter. One that I loved doing was really simple. Mummy gave me a bowl filled with soapy suds and I set about washing all my dolly’s clothes. My clothes ended up drying on the washing line too but it was great fun!
Doing the washing is fun – Mummy says I can always do it!
Flowers To Pick & Press
I have been sent a flower press to try out (I’ll blog all about that soon!) so combining that with this book was the perfect opportunity to try it out. I loved picking lots of pretty flowers then seeing how different they looked once pressed. I then made a pretty bookmark using them.
A pressed cirsium looks like a funny moustache!
Feed The Birds
This was a great project and all we needed was an old water bottle, a couple of pencils and some bird seed. My bird feeder looks great hanging in the garden.
The bird feeder I made out of an old water bottle
And here are some of the ones which I am desperate to try which I haven’t yet…
- Home made seed bombs – kaboom!
- Turf tattoos – hopscotch on the lawn will be fab!
- Butterfly World – M&D have bought me a butterfly cage so that I can do this at home
- Paint it Black – I have some chalk paint and I am going to paint my sand pit lid so that it can double as a chalk board.
- From Picking to Pie – yum, bramble picking, we will be able to do that soon!
- Thinking Ahead – this involves making a time capsule. I am definitely going to do that and get the builder’s to bury it in the foundations of our new house extension!
- Carrot: Root to Cake – I love eating carrots so it will be a struggle to keep some aside for cake making but I’m sure I will manage!
- Make a Cress Head – there are lots of fun ideas of what you can make a cress head from
- Craft a Model Garden – for rainy days when you can’t get outside, this is a perfect way to still enjoy gardening
I thoroughly enjoyed reading “The Children’s Garden” and would definitely recommend it for all children.
I give it a Lulu rating of:
Five out of five, woohoo!
Available on hardback, RRP 14.99 *
Happy reading!
Lulu xx
*Price correct at time of publication
Book Review: Findus, Food & Fun
In my latest blog, I am reviewing a new book from Hawthorn Press called “Findus, Food and Fun”. Read on to see what I think of it along with a crafty idea taken from the book…
Do you remember that I reviewed “Findus Plants Meatballs” back in May of this year? It got a lovely 4 star review from me. Well, the clever people at Hawthorn Press (hi Meredith!) have sent me their latest book in the Findus series, which is called “Findus, Food & Fun”, to review – can it go even better?
Each month features several projects, many of them seasonal and loads of them are outdoor projects and things to do in the garden so immediately I am interested! Even some of the indoor projects can be given a gardening twist as you will see below (although many are already garden and nature related). From nature activities to foraging, baking to crafting this book is perfect for kids like me. Here are some of my favourite things about this book:
- There are wonderful illustrations throughout the book making it bright and colourful.
- It features Findus the cat who I already love and who features in LOADS of books
- There are loads of projects to try each month
- It is packed full of fascinating facts on all sorts of subjects
- A lot of the projects just use up things you have lying around the house from old socks to beans, lollipop sticks to old bottles.
I have already tried out one of the projects which I have featured below but there are loads more I will be trying out including:
- Chocolate leaf garnish (pretty and yummy!)
- Rowanberry necklace
- Suet bell for birdies
- Magic tulips
I was so excited to get this book that I decided to make a project straight away. After a good read, I chose to make the “yarn pompoms” from page 56. I just gave them a Lulu-style twist to make them even more relevant to me and my blog…
Flower Pom Poms
You will need:
- A pom pom maker or some cardboard
- Wool (4 colours)
- Scissors
To make:
1. I used a special pom pom maker to make my poms poms. They are inexpensive and make life easier but if you don’t have one, you can make your own. Just cut two identical circles from cardboard with a hole on the inside.
2. Choose your first colour which will be the inside of your flower. I like a nice bright colour for this bit. My pom pom making kit works in two halves. If you are using a cardboard circle imagine a line down the middle and you will be doing the same on each half. Take your first colour and wrap it around the centre of each half several times.
3. Take your second colour (another nice bright colour) and do the same over the top and a little to the sides of the first colour.
4. Next is your leaf so choose a nice green and do some green to each side of your coloured flowers i.e. 4 bits of green.
5. Finally, take your base colour (I used cream) and cover the whole thing until it is all covered and there is no space for any more yarn.
6. Now ask an adult to help. If you are using a pom pom maker join the two halves together. Cut around the edge of your pom pom between each piece of cardboard or the two pieces of pom pom maker.
7. BEFORE you remove your cardboard or pom pom maker, make sure you take a piece of yarn and tie between the two halves really tightly and create a loop to hang your pom pom from.
8. Give your pom pom a little tidy with the scissors.
And there you have it, a beautiful flower pom pom. They are nice to hang up around the house, add as an accessory to a bag or a present or as a Christmas decoration. You could also make lots of them to make a fun Christmas wreath for indoors or sew them onto some fabric to make a wonderfully soft rug.
I highly recommend Findus, Food & Fun. Maybe you could ask Santa for it for Christmas?
Happy reading and making everyone.
Lulu xx