We’ve been so busy the past few weeks we got really behind with our lovely Mud & Bloom gardening boxes! We did planting and craft prep at the end of April, and finished up our craft now, in May. The two weeks between some of these pictures, which explains the different clothes and hair.
As always, there is a mixture of lovely seeds to plant and nature-related crafts, as well as information on what’s going on in the outdoors at the moment!
We’ve seen all of these things recently, especially the wild garlic, which is going crazy at the moment! Lovely for pesto and mayonnaise.
Remember pressing flowers as a child? Well, this was what we were going to do here, then use the pressed flowers to make a suncatcher and other pretty things.
At the end of last month the weather was particularly horrid, and going for a walk to pick flowers wasn’t really on the cards! Fortunately we were able to raid my mother’s beautiful plants in the conservatory, such as these lovely bright geraniums.
These were carefully layered in newspaper and placed between two heavy books. They would take at least a week to dry out, so the next part of the craft came later…
There was tissue paper and a template in the box, as well as glue to stick it all together. Little C decided to make her flowers look like a ballet dancer figure. After planning where everything should go, she stuck on the flowers to one sheet of tissue, and then added the other layer, plus the frame.
Finished! Can you see the figure of a dancer? The sun wasn’t actually out at that point, but it certainly looks very pretty!
Going back a couple of weeks again, April’s seeds to plant were nasturtiums and peas.
We already have some nasturtiums in the garden, and Little C likes to eat the leaves – they’re lovely and spicy! Growing some from seed herself is a lot more fun though. We’ve also got peas, which Little C also likes to eat, so I hope they will grow nicely and give us some vegetables.
You always get four peat pellets in every box. These are very clever – you put them in water for a while and they swell up into little packets of earth, perfect for growing seedlings.
We used our usual lolly stick seed markers, and planted as instructed. These are our last two little terracotta plant pots, so next month we’ll be improvising!
I’ve never been a gardener, so I have to say I enjoy doing this as much as Little C! It’s a pleasure to actually make things grow, and I love the mixture of decorative and edible plants.
As well as the growing, the crafts are great fun. Sometimes we raid the garden if we haven’t got time to hit the countryside for a few hours, but we’re fortunate to have plenty of plants around, especially wildflowers in the garden!
Children seem to spend less time outdoors than I remember from my own (very urban) childhood, and having a little bit of structure to help you observe and learn is incredibly helpful. Little C enjoys looking out for all the different plants and creatures mentioned on the cards every month, and I’m often surprised at how observant she is. She certainly sees things I don’t!
As well as appreciating nature and things growing, this is a great source of learning delayed gratification. Plants take time and care to grow, and with this box you really learn to take the a long view. It’s a great way to get kids away from a screen, get their hands dirty, and get out and see the world around them.
Speaking of delayed gratification…
Here are our peas and nasturtiums when they were first planted. (Behind them is the basil from the February box.)
And here they are two weeks later! (And check out the basil too!) We’ll be planting them out very soon, we just have to organize space in the garden. Pretty impressive, huh?
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Quick blurb and pricing from the website:
A box costs £7.95 a month inclusive of shipping if you’re based in the UK.
Get 20% discount off your first box with the code FIRSTBOX20
The boxes are for 3-8 year olds and will be delivered through your letter box at the beginning of each month.
Each box includes everything you need for two seasonal activities: one gardening and one nature craft – along with instructions, quizzes and games aimed at teaching children about the seasons, plants, insects, birds, soil and rainfall.
Activities have been created by qualified teachers and they support the national curriculum with influence from Forest School, Steiner and Montessori education.
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