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Growing Family

UK home and garden blog sharing ideas, inspiration and tips for busy family life, written by Catherine Hughes

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60 fun outdoor activities for when you’re stuck at home with the kids

January 6, 2021 by Catherine Leave a Comment

winter nature craft sowing winter salad seeds

If you're stuck at home with the kids, you're probably in need of some boredom-busting inspiration. Here's a great list of 60 fun things to do in your garden or on a walk that will keep kids busy and get them outside. Scroll down for online resources and recommended reads too. Things to do outdoors when you're stuck at home with the kids 1. Grow your own salad from Growing Family 2. Recycled garden markers from Pink Stripey Socks 3. ...

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Filed Under: Gardening with Children Tagged With: craft, Family, Family Fun, Family home, Garden, Garden games, gardening, Gardening with children, Nature, Nature Craft, Outdoor Play, Outdoors, Wildlife, Wildlife gardening

How to make fun shaped bird feeders

January 4, 2021 by Catherine 3 Comments

How to make your own homemade bird feeders - a simple and fun nature activity for children which will encourage wild birds to visit your garden!

Do you feed the birds at this time of year?  We try to do it all year round, but in winter it's particularly important to give wild birds a helping hand, because natural food sources are scarce.  One of the kids' favourite craft activities is making our homemade feeders; I've lost count of the number of times we've made them, and whenever we put them out in the garden they vanish within a couple of days! This week we've been ...

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Filed Under: Craft Tagged With: Activity, Bird feeder, Birds, Children, craft, Family, Garden, Homemade, naturally crafty, Nature, Nature Craft, Outdoors

How to make homemade bird feeders

November 23, 2020 by Catherine 59 Comments

Are you feeding your garden birds this winter? These homemade bird feeders are a great way to give them a helping hand! Why it's important to feed wild birds in winter Winter is a tough time of year for wild birds, as natural food sources such as insects and berries are scarce. Also, birds need lots of energy-rich food to maintain fat reserves, which are called upon most when temperatures drop. Providing a winter food source for birds ...

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Filed Under: Craft Tagged With: Activity, Bird feeder, Birds, Children, craft, Family, Garden, Homemade, naturally crafty, Nature, Nature Craft, Outdoors, Winter

Fun autumn crafts to do with your family

September 3, 2020 by Catherine Leave a Comment

autumn leaves and seeds

Collaborative post The autumn season, known to many as fall, is on it's way after what can only be described as an out-of-the-ordinary spring and summer. As well as being a great time of year to get outdoors and enjoy the changing of the seasons, the arrival of autumn means we can celebrate that 2020 is that bit closer to being over. But you're still going to need some inspiration for keeping the family busy over the next few months! When ...

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Filed Under: Craft Tagged With: Autumn, Children, craft, crafting, Family, Family Fun, Family home, Leaves, Nature Craft

25 easy nature crafts you can do at home with the kids

April 8, 2020 by Catherine Leave a Comment

nature craft - how to make noughts and crosses from natural materials

Are you searching for inspiration on how to keep the kids busy? This selection of easy nature crafts is a great place to start! I've rounded up 25 lovely nature crafts that you can do with materials from your garden - perfect for combining some outdoor activity with a fun craft. Scroll down for nature craft online resources and recommended reads too. 25 easy nature crafts to do at home Natural noughts and crosses game from Growing ...

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Filed Under: Craft Tagged With: craft, crafting, Family Fun, Garden games, Kids craft, Nature, Nature Craft, Top Tips

How to make twig-wrapped flower pots

March 3, 2020 by Catherine 7 Comments

How to make your own twig wrapped flower pots - a simple and fun nature activity for children, great for a homemade mother's day gift!

If, like us, you have an ever-growing stick collection, this is the perfect nature craft for you! Sticks and twigs are just brilliant for crafting, and this little project turns them into a lovely homemade gift.  All you need is a plant pot, some string, and a little plant to pop in when you're finished. The idea is to create a length of tied-together twigs that you then fasten around the pot.  Start off by measuring each stick against ...

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Filed Under: Craft Tagged With: Activity, Children, Containers, craft, Family, Homemade, naturally crafty, Nature, Nature Craft, Outdoors, Plant pots, Sticks

Nature craft: painted rocks

August 9, 2018 by Catherine Leave a Comment

How to make your own painted rocks - a simple and fun nature activity for children, great for exploring colours, textures and creative thinking!

Painted rocks are a classic nature craft, and one that my kids never tire of!  It's a great little craft that doesn't need much preparation, and suits pretty much all ages of child.  It's also brilliant for those days when the weather isn't fantastic but you'd still like to get hands-on with some natural materials. Here's how to make your own painted rocks. We use rocks and pebbles from our garden for this craft (I'm pretty sure it's illegal to ...

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Filed Under: Craft Tagged With: Activity, Children, craft, Family, Homemade, naturally crafty, Nature, Nature Craft, Outdoors, Painting, Rocks

Fun garden games to get kids active

May 29, 2017 by Catherine 1 Comment

garden games relay race

The arrival of warmer weather and longer days means one thing in our house: everyone spends more time in the garden.  This is a really busy time of year gardening-wise, so I’m always pottering about with plants, and the kids just love being able to play outside and blow off steam. I’m a huge fan of outdoor play.   After being cooped-up indoors my kids’ mood visibly lifts when they head outside for some fresh air; it’s no surprise really, given ...

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Filed Under: Family Home Tagged With: Activity, Children, craft, Family, games, Garden, Garden tips, gardening, Gardening with children, Grow Your Own, Home, Nature, Nature Craft, Outdoors, Summer, Top Tips, toys, Wildlife

Nature craft: making a wooden whistle

October 5, 2016 by Catherine 19 Comments

twig whistles

Today I'm sharing another lovely nature craft that we did on our recent trip to Skylarks nature reserve in Nottingham. As well as doing some fab clay pressing with natural materials, the kids also had a go at making a wooden whistle from twigs. I can vividly remember having one of these made for me when I was six years old and we were on holiday in Canada; it was so exciting watching it take shape, but I didn't get hands-on like my kids did ...

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Filed Under: Craft Tagged With: Bushcraft, Children, craft, naturally crafty, Nature, Nature Craft, Outdoors, Sticks

Clay craft: making clay pressings from nature

September 14, 2016 by Catherine 13 Comments

clay craft with natural materials - removing leaves

A couple of weeks ago, we spent a fantastic afternoon exploring nature at our local nature reserve, Skylarks in Nottingham. Skylarks is part of the Wildlife Trusts, and it's a great place to take the kids for a good old outdoor romp.  Last year we made journey sticks there, which has become one of our absolute favourite nature crafts. On this particular visit Skylarks was holding an open day, with lots of hands-on activities, demonstrations ...

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Filed Under: Craft Tagged With: Children, craft, Flowers, Leaves, naturally crafty, Nature, Nature Craft, Outdoors

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Welcome!

I’m Catherine, mum, wife, writer and fan of wellies. We love exploring, creating and growing things and my blog shares ideas, inspiration and tips for making the most of busy family life, indoors and out.
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Catherine Hughes is a home & garden blogger sharing ideas, inspiration & tips for making the most of busy family life, indoors and out.
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