I have nostalgic memories as a child of getting home from school, grabbing some afternoon tea, and then being ushered out the back door to play until dinner time.  I was left to my own devices to explore the garden, make up my own games or just climb a tree.  There were no screens vying for my attention and as the eldest of 5 kids, was expected to be able to occupy myself.  I remember making up games with my tennis ball, drawing hopscotches on the path with sandstone rocks and collecting lady beetles from the next-door neighbour’s tree.  I don’t remember being bored.

Today, it feels so much easier to relent to pleas for a device or to pop on the TV than to expect our children to get creative and play independently with whatever is on offer.  I think secretly we wonder if our children are capable of not being ‘bored’ without a device. But have children’s skills really changed or are we just underestimating their ability to creatively play?  Are we actually limiting them by giving them something to ‘play’ with which in essence, is considerably more passive – particularly in their formative years before school?

Children need the opportunities that exploring outside provides. Nature gives a wealth of information into every one of their senses, which in turn helps them to develop their motor skills, their cognitive skills, their social and communication skills and especially their attention skills.  They learn to problem solve, to become aware of their body in relation to their world, to hear and see detail, to explore shape and measure and to experience different textures and smells. All of these opportunities are building blocks for life – and do significantly impact on their learning skills at school.  And what better way to encourage this in the spring and summer months, but in gardening!

Gardening

Recently, I have become more aware of other OTs using gardening as a therapy tool to help children develop their motor and sensory processing skills, whilst gaining the additional benefits of rich language development opportunities and social communication skills.

Kids love watching things grow, watering the plants, finding bugs and butterflies, smelling herbs and picking flowers. Gardening is such a magnificent way of playing outdoors, learning how to process all that sensory information in a calm and organised way. They are learning about:

Touch - soft, spiky, feathery, crispy, velvety
Smell - sweet, peppery, strong and subtle perfumes
Proprioception - how hard to squeeze the hose trigger, how far to tip the watering can over, how to squeeze scissors to cut flowers, heavy work digging holes, pincer grip to pull out weeds
Vision - finding small bugs, spotting a flower
Vestibular and balance - squatting down, bending over and standing up all whilst holding something
Eye hand coordination - aiming that hose at the plants, watering a pot plant.

Two great websites to get you started with your little one are:

www.kidsdogardening.com

www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/grownups/7-tips-for-gardening-with-children

Some children with additional sensory processing needs, may find it a little challenging getting dirty.  To help you can try these tips:

 ·      Have them rub their hands with a towel with good firm pressure to start, encouraging their proprioceptive system to ‘kick in’ and provide organising input to their central nervous system

·      Start slowly with them watering the plant, and gradually get them to take on more ‘dirty’ tasks such as digging or planting

·      Use children’s gardening gloves

So can I encourage you this month to head out the back door with your little one to explore and get creative. And start simple…dig in the pot plant or garden you already have or get more adventurous and start their own herb garden in a trough.  And if the device is really calling - use it as a camera - take pictures of their garden and effort, print them off and paste them into a sketchbook to create a gardening diary for all to see.

Go have some fun.

To get more of our top tips and tools join our Confident Communicators Group (supporting development for 2 – 5 year olds).

The group is open to parents/ carers/ grandparents and early years practitioners.

Do come along and join us!