What ideas do people have for keeping small children safe, happy, and occupied on an allotment while they get on with some serious digging? Mine are nearly 2 and nearly 4. My four year old has done very well with some flowering annuals, but usually they get a bit restless after a very short time.
My 5-year old generally wanders off to the car after a while, she'll last about half an hour waterng her garden, making compost and re-arranging any old bits of tat that are lying around.
I think I might get her making bird scarers out of CDs, and maybe some sort of scarecrow, would keep her occupied.
Jeremy
Well, mine (will be 3 in October) picks up stones and puts them in a tub trug or two. Then, he removes a few leaves of selected plants, then he talks to the woodlice, then wants to help with the watering, then picks some peas and shells them for feeding to us.... At the weekend, he even sowed a row of beetroot.
We are quite lucky to have McDonalds (as well as Tescos) a stones throw away from the plot, so for a break, one of us takes him there.
We're quite lucky because we can drive the car on to the allotment right next to our plot. So a few times I have been digging with both children asleep in the car.
They generally potter around a bit. We made a fire one day which one of us supervised and they loved that. Also I often take a picnic - and that keeps that amused for a while. We have made a provisional "den" under our cobnuts - think we could make more of that.
Unfortunately the low, deep, water-butt is the biggest attraction for our youngest - and yes, he has been in it ::)
Mine are all grown up now Sarah, but we had an allotment in Reading many years ago, when they were little. If you could take a little picnic table for them to rest on, you could take some paper and crayons up and give them a flower or vegetable to copy, or some plastercine and they could make some vegetables and flower shapes. Ours used to make a camp when they were a bit older and had a little tent to play in. It is difficult as alloments can be quite dangerous places.
Strange little girl that I was, I used to spend hours in our garden when I was small, with an old fashioned wooden peg and I used to pick leaves and flowers and drape them round the peg. In my little head I was making fabulous ball gowns. ;D busy_lizzie
An Idea of mine( Not yet put in practicemay I add)
Get all interested parents together and If there is an empty plot central to the site . Fence
it off with 3ft wooden palisade fencing clear it off and seed it . Put a gate on with a draw bolt to stop them getting out and club together to buy second hand swings slides etc from your local papers.
For funding contact your Sure Start as they may support your initative as it benifits local children in an education surrounding being the allotments.
By The way one of the reason this has not been done yet is that in Halton Cheshire all of our 15 sites are full.
Only an idea.
Alan
Our allotment rules state no fencing- think this may be a national law, something to do with the law that lets you claim land as your own if you fence it off and the owner doesn't intervene within 7 ? years
Don't think it is a law Ross, all our plots are fenced, they'd be unusable otherwise due to rabbits.
Where Vera Lynne when you need her?
Jeremy
I like the fenced plot/playground idea - and on our site there is (unfortunately) plenty of spare plots. Trouble is, there doesn't seem to be that many parents there (or maybe they just don't bring the kids). I think it would be a good way of maybe attracting people to take plots. The allotment comittee are going to get fed up with my ideas at some point!
In October, we're hopefully taking over another half-plot and this one has a shed on it. Hopefully that will make things considerably easier.
Too right Sarah -lock the litlle b*gg*rs in! ;D
Jeremy
Great idea, joining together - such a play area would be brilliant. A warning however. If you make this official in any way shape or form - i.e. looking for funding etc., you will fall under the category of an organisation that requires all adults who may sneeze within 200 yrds of children to have a CRB check done. This entails one of you becoming the CRB officer for the group and your red-tape nightmare will begin! It makes no matter that you as the parents are present when your children are playing on the children's plot. What would happen in your happy band if somebody failed the check, or refused in principle to undertake the check? In addition, risk assessments, equipment testing, public liability insurance, if some children who are not plotters play there and fall and hurt themselves starting looking forward to being sued. I could go on. You may be opening a can of worms with this one.
Our little darlings, 3 and 5, are instantly attracted to the stream, which is a worry, but so far number one daughter has only been in once, and the nettles are all instantly attracted to number one son, which causes lots of high pitched screaming and wailing! Generally my wonderful Ava looks after our angels whilst I go to the allotment, but if we all go, it tends to be for a picking expedition, which they love, especially if there are peas to be eaten!
EJ: Makes you wonder how they manage in the 3rd world doesn't it? Children as young as ours are work in the fields all day long.
Ceri - yes, what a nightmare - will avoid that scenario.
Think maybe Derbex has the best idea...