It’s amazing what a little bit of sunshine can do after the long Winter months. Here in rural France everywhere is starting to wake up as Spring approaches. Just a short walk around the village can reveal little signs of Spring. The tractors are out in the fields getting them ready for planting, the cows are set free to roam after months being kept in the sheds, our village comes alive with children playing outside, and everyone’s thoughts are turning towards the garden.
We have a small garden a short walk away from our house. Recently we’ve been digging over the vegetable patch and spreading manure. The chicken coop has been cleaned out ready for our second attempt at keeping chickens and our boys have been planting seeds.
This year we have decided to create a ‘Mini World’ in our garden. We have the perfect place for it, on a pile of built up rocks next to the outdoor house and soon to be flower patch. Reuben started the world by collecting suitable rocks with his grandma which they brought home to clean. Using acrylic paints we then designed and painted our houses onto the rocks. As the houses will be left outside it’s important to seal the paint with glue or varnish so the paint doesn’t get washed off in the rain.
We also got creative with some oven bake clay and made some little animals. Can you spot the snail and flying bird?! Our boys got some dinosaur kits for Christmas last year so if you look carefully you may see a rather large dinosaur in our world! We’re going to make some little ladders with sticks and find some more rocks to paint some shops. We’re thinking about adding a pond and parking some toy cars next to the houses.
The nice thing about a ‘Mini World’ is that you can add to it over time. Ours will be a great creative space where I know our boys will enjoy playing, coming up with stories that we could film to make mini movies!
Do you have an outdoor space? What creative spaces do your children enjoy playing in?
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I love this post! How sweet for you and your kids to make your garden so personal and meaningful to you! My kids have a “fort” in the backyard that they love to set up and invite “guests” into. It never ceases to amaze me how many creative ideas they can come up with for average household items. Anyway, thanks for the post! Come visit my blog when you get a chance! Brooke @ Our Global Home 🙂