It wont be long till Springtime is here, my favorite season of them all, the time when we can sort the garden out and make it look pretty and colourful, and of course it's a little warmer too! I'm even more excited about Spring this year, the main reason being Abbie, she is at the age where she wants to be involved in everything, she loves pointing out little animals and flowers, which reminds me of me as a youngster! What I loved more than anything back then was being out in the garden, whether that was for Easter egg hunts, having fun in the paddling pool or even my favourite, a spot of gardening!
My Nan & I used to get everything we needed from the shops, seeds, plant pots etc then I'd get my marigolds on and start planting, pansies were my favourite, id 'pop' off the buds and sprinkle the seeds across the rockery, obviously I was disappointed when they didn't grow within a few minutes but I soon got the gist of it ha! Her garden always had frogs too, I'd make sure I lifted up every rock I could find and pick them all up, poor things! I loved it though, getting messy and getting involved in nature.
My Nan saw how involved I was getting and bought me my very first 'I spy' book, which was full of plants and types of trees etc, when I found one on the garden id then tick it off in my book and it would give me 5 points or more, this book went everywhere with me, on holiday, to the beach and to the park! I'll most definitely be getting the book for Abbie, it made me such a nature lover! I think it would be a nice idea to let her plant her own seeds in her own separate pot and let her water it herself everyday too, she'll probably start getting excited when she sees it start growing too :)
Once I'd almost completed that book I was bought the Birds version, this started my love of them, I was brought up with cockatiels, budgies and chickens so was always fascinated with wild birds, even to this day I find myself knowing pretty much every single bird out there, down to the markings and also their songs. These books helped me learn the birds of prey as well, being brought up in the city I didn't really see many, in fact I don't think I even saw them unless I went on holiday..I moved to the beautiful countryside 9 years ago now and have seen so many birds I'd missed off!
I'm definitely going to encourage Abbie to help feed the birds in the garden too, we'll buy seeds and fat balls and I'll let her hang them up and fill the feeders up so she feels a sense of accomplishment when they all fly over! I think we encourage our little ones without even trying, even going out to feed the ducks, everyone has done that at some point, it's become almost a tradition for families to do it!
Because of my love of Photography, Abbie comes with me to take photos, so she's already so used to being outside watching me shoot, we know that babies tend to mimic us so hopefully this encourages her to get more involved as she gets older.
How do you get your little ones involved?
