NOW CLOSED: Win a Nature Art book and get your grandkids in the garden

Inspire curiosity by being curious yourself - What I mean is how can our children be enthusiastic about going outside & away from technology when we ourselves can't put our phones down, To get a child to do anything you first have to do it yourself & enjoy it then you can get your child to do so too.
I have 4 children my eldest is now 18 years old, Here is a photo of my daughter enjoying the outdoors with her best friend.

My 2 children love to go outdoors, a current favourite activity is hunting for creatures, so we give them a magnifying glass so they can search for bugs!

this book looks lovely

I get my grandchildren to help me with the compost making! They enjoy setting aside the things that can be composted and then trekking off down the garden to lift the lid on the bin and spotting the wriggling wildlife in their den of slimy waste and then feeding them with our rubbish! Such fun!

we love to feed the birds in my daughter garden plus look for all insects to study but then we let them go

We love going to the local garden centre in the spring and letting them choose flower mixes. Then with clear out the weeds and see who can find the biggest worm. They love going out there to see how the flowers are doing, sunflowers are also a massive hit especially when I toast the seeds and they enjoy eating them sprinkled with a tiny dusting of icing sugar :D

we love going adventures on the way to the park, throw sticks into the stream and see who's the winner.

My small granddaughter digs for worms while I weed and will remove snails by taking from the garden and putting in field next to us.

my daughter loved her own mini gardening tools, and her own little patch to look after, and we still love painting garden stones with mini beasts x

As Grand-Dad enjoys his garden, but unable to do the work in the garden now :- He has chats with the children whilst Uncles allow the youngsters to help them to weed, re-pot etc. Children are fascinated by the Great OutDoors, and they do so like to help us adults. As the youngsters have a herb garden, which was there when the family moved to the property. They have become used to the garden, growing some plants etc.

Sharing, Supervising and allowing some appropriate participation seems to be a good way to allow youngsters to learn and appreciate the OutDoors, Nature.

my boys are seemingly obsessed with worms and labybirds!

Bug safaris with a torch and magnifying glass - heaps of fun!

I remember loving a book from my childhood called "Collect, Print and Paint From Nature" so I was excited to find an old copy in a second hand bookshop recently and I am re-visiting the activities with my grandchildren.

We go on nature hunts picking up bits to make arty pieces and also visiting historic sites making up stories to what it was like

My grandson has just spent a week with daddy helping (hindering?) daddy in the garden and everything is a bee. My granddaughters on the other hand spend every moment they can in their garden and are becoming quite knowledgeable. So grateful to be near them all so we get to enjoy it too!

We have always gone for family walks in the countryside, and mine and hubby's natural appreciation of nature seems to have rubbed off on the kids

My grandkids love every year when we get the sunflower seeds out and plant them. then every time they come round we monitor their progress! its great fun when they are growing and exciting when whey visit

Oh outdoors to me and my grandchild means the garden. You need fast growing plants, such as radishes which can be easily sown and grow quick. Also sunflowers (started off indoors, by me) can be planted as little plants and grow very tall for a little one. But I find the best and she still cant wait, each year is to plant sweetcorn. For some reason they are the amazing food that she sees grow and harvest and eat before her eyes. Also is a great pick-a-upper when it comes to weeding etc. She loves putting all the garden rubbish in the sack and those 'litter picker' tools come in useful as its fun for her to use. All these activities as made her not frightened of all the bugs you come across including wasps etc.

Our 3 year old Grandson is a real outdoor person, digging and watering is his thing even in the winter !! We have a special mound of earth and some pots which he fills, when his gone we empty the pots back on to the mound so when he comes again its already to dig again. This year we have started to teach him about flowers and weeds and all the various insects we have found.

Young children see detail rather than the whole picture - the ladybird rather than the panorama for example - so pointing out just one small feature and challenging them to look for more often focuses their attention nicely on the wonderful world of nature. Looking for patterns, colours or shapes can be great fun.

My son always come outside when im gardening and wants to get involved, so i think yes he would love to receive a book like this x

My DGS doesn't need any encouraging to go outside but loves obstacle races when he gets there.

Just yesterday I dug a previously unused border for DGD to plant, she helped with the weeding (sort of), she raked with her own rake and we planted some primulas and some poppy seeds, hopefully the primulas will be fairly tough so if she stands on them or pulls leaves out they will still be ok, the poppys too should be robust. I have lots of plants in my garden that need thinning out so I will take them to her house and fill another border (parents don't like gardening) .
Last week she asked me to grow vegetables and Im thinking which would be quickest, Ive decided to help het to plant radishes and Ive got some potatoes ready chitted to plant along the border, I think its best to plant something she can eat and share with the family.
I left her last night with the instructions to take her little watering can every night unless raining to water her seeds and plants, she has already almost flooded the seed bed LOL. We shall wait and see what happens.

My 3 year old granddaughter loves to be outside and is fascinated by every insect or creature she meets! today she was excited to show granny the toad she had found behind the shed, and the hungry caterpillar on a leaf!