Spring is such a happy season - it’s when the garden starts to come to life again after Winter and the kids can enjoy being outside once more. With the sun out and the weather warming up, this is a perfect time to get creative with the kiddies to build their very own outdoor farmyard.

Before you start thinking: “oh no, what a mess” - we don’t mean a ‘real’ farmyard, but a mini one, which is neat and will look cute in any garden. The kids will really enjoy this project and you can use as many different farmyard elements as you like.

Ok, let’s stop horsing around and get to the good part.

What you will need:

- An old/reusable wicker basket

- Drip tray to fit in the bottom of the basket

- Weed barrier cloth

- Potting mix

- Plants

- Farmyard animals and toys

- Watering can

- Baby decorative stones and some bigger ones

- Gherkin bottle lid wrapped in some foil (to look like a watering trough for the farm animals)

Steps of the activity:

• Firstly, cut some weed barrier cloth to fit the inside of the basket.
• Put the drip tray on top of the weed barrier cloth, fitting it snugly inside the cloth.
• Fill the basket with potting mix, leaving about 5cm at the top for plants and decorations - using gloves, pat the soil flat.

• Get planting: place some plants into the soil - we used lettuce, celery and parsley.
• Lay the stones down and then place the farm animals, cars, barn, watering trough and any other farmy elements.
• Water the plants with the watering can to keep them lush.