Allotments 4 All
Allotment Stuff => The Basics => Topic started by: zaz283 on May 02, 2009, 07:13:10
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Hi all... Please let me know what works for you to keep the grandchildren/children amused while you're furiously trying to fit in a little more planting before their patience explodes.
Up to now I've let my grandsons play with planks, large plant pots and bits of scaffold netting. It's amazing how long that'll hold their imagination while they make a castle, truck etc. etc..
I'm looking ahead to when that'll wear thin... all ideas gratefully accepted!
Thanks, John
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I fasten a piece of wood in the vice,
then give him a hammer and nails,
he plays there for hrs.
they soon learn not to hit there fingers ;D
i also have a small tent for him to play in
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What about a bug kit (magnifying glass and container and id book of bugs) My kids adore rootling about looking at insects etc. They also have their own scaled down tools.
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depends on age really, mine are 2 and 4 and we always go around lunchtime at the weekend (anywhere between 10 ans 1!) and I take pack lunches for them of sandwiches, smoothies, satsumas, etc so they treat it as a picnic and sit on the bench eating. After that they pretend to be horses and gallop over planks and bricks (they are girls!) today I am taking an old plastic kitchen down to keep in the shed and bring out as a special allotment toy, cost me a fiver off ebay, well worth it!
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Now that is a good idea Hector. I wouldn't mind having a go at that meself
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Depending on their ages, I find bribery to find weeds, slugs or snails with cash per item works well and does you a favour at the same time...... ; ;)
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Dig a small hole and plant them up to their knees, tell them they will grow bigger like the plants you are growing.
That way you will know exactly where they are and you can get on with your work.
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One family bring a small lightweight tent up to the allotment for their son. He has his own little camp and it protects him from the sun and he has a blanket if it is cold. He can play with his toys and watch his parents work.
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It is probably time for people to think about runner beans - perhaps you could have a wigwam arrangement but leave one cane missing - as a door. One could hide in the wigwam later in the year! Perhaps with enough room for a small chair....
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Mine is 8 and has long since lost interest in the planting. I find that he is happiest in the shed with his DS!
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What is your site policy on fires ;D
(http://images.starpulse.com/Photos/Previews/Wicker-Man-movie-06.jpg)
chrisc
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I have a son of 1yrs (nearly 2) and I take up lots of scaled down gardening tools (wheelbarrow,spade,mower etc) for him and a tractor sit on that he can trundle up and down. My 11 year old helps with the digging. We plan on putting in a sandpit for the younger one. The family next door to us bring the kids bikes up so they can ride around the site. The older one brings a book for the end of the day when we are all sitting down having a picnic tea. Nik.
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My 8yr old daughter has lost interest. My 5yr old son likes to be involved. He gets bored and whinges constant when he is not. He loves helping transplant plug plants, sowing peas, other seeds, seed potatoes. The whole nine yards.... except the weeding ::) ::) He has his tools for digging an area that I am not working or an area that is waiting for transplants. He also has snacks & DS for when he has a break.
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Are there no other children on your site? My little grandsons, 2 and 3, gallop up and down the paths with other children, build communal shelters out of twigs, look for frogs in the dip tanks, help sow seeds by stabbing the ground with twigs wherever they are, play in a sand pit I got them, eat BBQ food, pick spinach etc and generally lark about.
The older ones (7, 11, 13 x 2) light competitive bonfires, cook sausages and marshmallows on sticks, build bigger communal shelters and also lark about.
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You are really lucky Artichoke. Unfortunately there are no other children on our site (and most of the other lottie holders frown on my one little, well behaved 8 year old). He will roam about as much as he can (without the other plot holders moaning) but it is hard when he on his own. Sometimes he take a friend with us but I am so stressed out by worrying if they are getting on the other plot holders nerves or being too noisy that it is usually not worth the effort. :(
It is a shame really as I bet those same moany old so and so's are the ones that complain about kids spending too much time indoors watching TV or playing computer games.
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It is a shame really as I bet those same moany old so and so's are the ones that complain about kids spending too much time indoors watching TV or playing computer games.
That is such a valid point I feel it deserves a quote. I dont have any young children, but my friend nipped down to the allotment with his son who he has at weekends, he loved it he was digging a hole in some unused land to find worms to feed the chickens, he then helped by moving the weeds i had pulled out onto the pile to be burnt. He is only 7 and was really quite helpful.
I personally wouldnt have a problem with children down our plot as long as they werent screaming or damaging anything.
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I'm waiting for Chriscross' next installment!
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I'm waiting for Chriscross' next installment!
(http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj181/BeautifulDisasterDee/children-of-the-corn-child-cult.jpg)
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oooooh - is that Children of the Corn film? Scared me silly when I was young!
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oooooh - is that Children of the Corn film? Scared me silly when I was young!
yup ;)
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Kept my 3 year old neice occupied for a couple of hours with a Sainsburys bubble machine and a small raised bed of her own to destroy. She still wanted to dig the potatoes up though...
I think my parents had the best idea, they just gave me and my sister a box of matches and a pile of wood and let us get on with it. We made bonfires and boiled up the spoils of the compost heap and threw them at passersby, and cooked our Sindy dolls three course meals. And the joy of finding a box of mothballs in Granddads shed that sent a 10 foot flame into the air, setting fire to the washing line.
Havent changed much :D