Gardening with children in autumn: 15 ideas for little explorers

Plenty can still be harvested in autumn. Everything edible must be gradually removed from the bed. Peppers, tomatoes and other vegetables are still hiding between the leaves. A basket in hand and off you go on a treasure hunt. Let’s see how many potatoes are in the ground. The children are allowed to give their estimate beforehand.

Sow

After the harvest, some beds have become free and can be used again. Yes, new seeds can still be sown in autumn. For example, lettuce, spinach or lamb’s lettuce. Lamb’s lettuce provides fresh greens in winter because it can be harvested on any frost-free day. Radishes can even be sown in September. They don’t need long to ripen, so the red tubers can soon be pulled out of the ground.

clear the bed

Harvested beds are dug up in autumn. So waterproof shoes  or rubber boots on and off to the bed. For this, plant remains need to consecrate. The children can help with this. The spade is still too big and too heavy. But when plucking out the plants, you can test your own strength. The delicate plants come first, then the slightly larger ones. Finally, it is the turn of the strongest plants. It’s a fun challenge.

Cook Marmelade

Autumn is harvest time for many delicious fruits. Everything that is left over from snacking can go into the cooking pot. Children especially love sweets. A jam that you helped make tastes twice as good.
Picking fruit, googling recipes, measuring ingredients, labeling jars … every hand can be used, no matter how small it is.

Carve pumpkins

Every year on October 31st it’s time for trick or treating! It’s Halloween The festival, which is typical of the USA, is also becoming increasingly popular here.
The orange-red pumpkins should not be missing as a festive decoration.

1. Pick pumpkin in the garden
2. Cut off the top quarter of the squash like a lid
3. Hollow out the pumpkin
4. Shape scary face by cutting out pieces
5. Put a tea light in.
6. Put the lid on.
7. Put the pumpkin in front of the door.
8. Light a tea light in the evening.

collect seeds

Numerous types of flowers have colorfully decorated the summer garden. Certainly also to the delight of the children, who picked one or the other bouquet or watched butterflies on them. The life of annual plants is finally over in winter. In order for them to bloom again in the following garden year, diligent collection work is required. The ripe seed can now be collected and sown again in spring.

Plant early bloomers

The blossom magic of spring can already be prepared in autumn. For this, the bulbs of the early bloomers have to be planted in the ground from September and before the first frost. Depending on your preferences, you can choose daffodils, crocuses, tulips and other early bloomers in a wide variety of colors. Even buying and choosing the flower bulbs is fun for the children. Where should which bulbs be planted? An exciting question for little gardeners. Fantasy and imagination are required. Just planting in rows is boring. The flower bulbs can just as easily be grouped into shapes, e.g. B as circles or hearts. Or just grab a handful of onions and throw them in the air. Plant where they fall.

Plant balcony boxes

Flower boxes and pots can also be planted with early flowering bulbous plants in autumn. The reward comes in spring when the brightly colored flowers stick their heads out of the ground and replace the gray of winter. An onion mix is ​​ideal to ensure that the joy of flowering lasts for a long time.

1. Get bulbs from several early bloomers with different flowering times.
2. Create a drainage layer of gravel and sand at the bottom of the flower box.
3. Cover the drainage layer with a thin layer of soil.
4. Scatter the last flowering bulbs on top.
5. Cover with a layer of soil.
6. Now distribute the medium-flowering bulbs and cover with soil.
7. Finally, there are the flowers that bloom first. For example crocuses.
8. The flower boxes stay outside in a semi-shady place in winter. They should also get some rain occasionally so they don’t dry out.
9. In the spring, the pots can also be brought indoors.

Dig up flower bulbs

Flower bulbs are not just flower bulbs. While some types of flowers overwinter in the ground, others have to be dug up before the frost. Dahlias and miracle flowers are among those chilblains. The children are allowed to dig carefully, like little archaeologists, so that no precious onion is damaged. Don’t forget to write the label afterwards, so that you know in the spring what will sprout from the respective tuber.

bring plants into the house

If there are potted plants in the garden, plants usually grow in them that do not like the cold winter in this country. In sub-zero temperatures, many of them even collapse completely. All buckets must be moved to suitable quarters in good time before the first frost. In division of labour, this work can be done together with the children. Small pots are not that difficult for children either, and they also learn something new about plant preferences along the way.

collect fruit

Apple trees are widespread in our latitudes. These trees love our climate and always delight us with plenty of fruit. Every day we find some of them under the tree. Also pears and plums are now ripe and cover the ground with fallen fruit. The fallen fruit should be collected daily. To make collecting fun, you can make a game out of it. Who gets the bucket full first and gets an ice cream as a reward?

Examining fruit
In autumn, the fruit must be picked from the trees. Of course, the fruit can go straight into your mouth. However, sometimes the baskets are so full that not everything can be eaten in a timely manner. The fruit is far too good to throw away, so it’s better to save the rest for later. Especially the winter varieties can be stored for many weeks. For this, the fruit must be undamaged and without rotten spots. Since small children are also happy and proud to take on responsibility, this is a wonderful task for them: examining every apple and checking whether it is suitable for storage.

sweep up leaves

First they are green, then yellow and finally they fall down. We are talking about the countless leaves. In autumn, the ground is quickly covered with a carpet of leaves. Before the dry leaves go to the compost heap, they must first be gathered into one heap. Children will certainly do this voluntarily if they are then allowed to romp around in this heap to their heart’s content. The heap won’t stay a heap for much longer, but that doesn’t matter. When the rustling pleasure has been thoroughly savored, the leaf rake waits to be used again.

Building shelters for animals
Some gardeners like things clean. There mustn’t be a withered leaf lying around anywhere, everything is meticulously collected and disposed of. Piles of leaves are a boon for wildlife. Feel free to leave some of the foliage to your children. Somewhere in the garden there will be a sheltered corner for a small pile of leaves. In winter, there are a lot of useful animals in this heap. Coming soon

• worms
• Beetle
• and even hedgehogs

Since almost all children love animals, they are immediately involved in the implementation!

Cut back perennials

Garden shears are often used in autumn. Flowered perennials must be cut back. At first glance, not necessarily a job for children. You could cut yourself. But children also like to do handicrafts and are therefore quite practiced with scissors. Depending on their age, they can start with simple cutting work.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Which garden tools can I give my child?

Not all garden tools can be used by children from the start. Many devices are too big for children’s hands or pose a risk of injury. The older the child is and the more experience they have gained, the more gardening tools they can use. The first use of unknown devices should always be under the supervision of an adult. This is the only way to tell if the child is ready for it.

• What do I have to pay attention to when gardening with children?

Children should only be involved in age-appropriate gardening work that has been adequately explained to them beforehand. Small children should always garden together or at least under the supervision of an adult.