Garden craft with kids

Fill the summer holidays with fun nature makes for kids, including botanical printed t-shirts, seed sowing in upcycled food containers and a hanging home for beneficial insects. Jaime Johnson and family show you how

- Jaime Johnson

As a mum of three, teacher and forest school leader, I've always been passionate about getting children outside. I remember my childhood flowerbed so fondly - a little square patch, blooming with brightly-coloured hopes and dreams.

I aim to inspire similar memories of being in the garden for my own children. The natural world is a playground (and classroom) for little minds, and I've delighted in watching their love for the outdoors blossom over the years.

Here, I'll show you how we use flowers to design clothes, build a beautiful hanging home for invertebrates and reuse waste products to grow food. These are just some of the nature-based activities we enjoy doing outside, making use of our garden's resources and upcycling household waste.

This way, I can embed learning about sustainability, plants and habitats, while also spending valuable time with my children and inspiring creative fun.

Flower-print tee

Have fun hammering out the natural pigments of flowers and foliage to make colourful prints on textiles

Hapa zome is an ancient Japanese printing technique, which roughly translates to 'leaf dyeing', and is a wonderful way to celebrate the colours and beauty of nature while also learning about its impermanence. In this activity we used hammers to bash the pigment from leaves and flowers onto a clean cotton t-shirt, extracting bright pinks and oranges from dahlia, viola and pansy blooms, plus vibrant green from geranium leaves and stems.

You will need