When I was a little girl I can remember having such fun outside in the summer. Whether I was down at the park with friends or playing on the weir in the river that was at the bottom of my road – oh those were the days, I’d never let my children play in the river nowadays. Some of my fondest memories of summer time fun were in the back garden of our home. I lived in one of those neighbourhoods that everyone knew everyone and we were always in and out of each others homes. Summer time was a time for carefree days of playing games in the garden.
I can always seem to remember us having a paddling pool in the back garden and it taking ages to fill up as we didn’t have a hose pipe so we would be filling up pots and pans in the kitchen and bathroom before carrying them outside. My mum would place our slide inside the paddling pool so that we could slide down it and splash into the water – which of course was only good for the first few times as soon the water had all but splashed out and we were left with an inch or so sitting in the bottom.
Water seems to feature a lot when I remember my summers as a child as remembering water bombs always brings a smile to my face. From chasing each other round the garden with them to dropping them on unsuspecting neighbours who happened to knock on the door from an upstairs window (sorry, but it was really funny at the time!).
Times have changed
These days times have changed and whilst I wouldn’t feel comfortable with my children wandering around the neighbourhood popping into other people’s gardens to enjoy their paddling pool or swing set I do want them to have fond memories of long summer days. We aren’t lucky enough to have a garden ourselves so the children have to make do with our cosy decked yard or if we want to play with scooters and bikes we can head over to our local playing field which is just a few minutes walk.
Making garden summer time memories
Making garden summer time memories with my children is something that I long to do this year. So I’ve been thinking of some garden games ideas to try to make sure we have as much fun as possible this year and for years to come.
Firstly, from playing with our new Connect 4 from Garden Games with its big wooden frame and large red and yellow counters all the family can get involved. I’m especially hoping that Tigger will enjoy this as counting the counters within a row, column or diagonally will be a fun educational activity as well as strategy for both him and Tigger (although I don’t want them to learn too much in case they beat me). I’m sure will provide us with both hours of amusement and disagreement (especially when I win!).
Enjoying a game or two of twister and laughing as I watch Roo and Tigger attempt to reach that coloured spot that is just an inch too far away as the collapse in a heap on the floor (I such video it really, as I’m sure it will be hilarious to watch back again).
To having fun with water, setting up a paddling pool (thankfully we have a hose pipe so it shouldn’t take half as long as it did when I was younger) adding some bubbles and watching the children play with watering cans, plastic cups and maybe even some water bombs (assuming I can find some, unless they have been banned in some health & safety madness).
What do you do to create garden summer time memories?
Disclosure: We received a Big 4 FOC for the purpose of this post
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