National Children’s Gardening Week 2025: Growing Young Minds Through Nature

National Children’s Gardening Week 2025: Growing Young Minds Through Nature

Why Celebrate National Children’s Gardening Week?

National Children’s Gardening Week (NCGW) is a UK-wide campaign that inspires families to enjoy the outdoors together and encourages children to discover the fun and learning that gardening brings.

Taking place from Saturday, 24 May to Sunday, 1 June 2025, the week is timed perfectly to coincide with the May half-term, making it an ideal opportunity for schools, families, and communities to connect children with nature through engaging, hands-on activities.
The campaign is supported by the Horticultural Trades Association and the Greenfingers Charity, which creates therapeutic gardens for children in hospices.

What Happens During the Week?

National Children’s Gardening Week offers a wide range of activities and resources for families and schools to get involved.

Highlights of the 2025 campaign include:

  • Free downloadable activity sheets, including the “Grow with Peter Rabbit” booklet featuring indoor and outdoor garden crafts

  • The £2 Patio Pot Challenge, encouraging children to design a miniature garden with just £2

  • School visits and events hosted by ambassador Lee Connelly (The Skinny Jean Gardener), bringing gardening to life for thousands of pupils across the UK

  • Local garden centres are hosting workshops, plant-your-own sessions, competitions, and eco-craft activities for children

  • A national social media campaign where families are encouraged to share photos using #NCGW2025

To explore all resources and get involved, visit the official site: www.childrensgardeningweek.co.uk

Why Gardening is Great for Children

Encouraging children to spend time in the garden offers a wide range of benefits:

Hands-on Learning

Gardening teaches responsibility, patience, and an understanding of the environment and life cycles.

Connection with Wildlife

Simple wildlife-friendly actions—like building bug hotels or planting pollinator-friendly flowers—can spark a lifelong interest in nature.

Boosts to Wellbeing

Studies show that time in green spaces reduces stress and anxiety and boosts overall mood and mental health in young people.

5 Easy Wildlife Gardening Projects for Children

1. Build a Bug Hotel

Stack up bamboo canes, dry sticks and pinecones in a plant pot or wooden box to create a haven for insects. A brilliant way to learn about mini-beasts and biodiversity.

2. Plant Wildflowers

Sow wildflower seedballs in pots or borders to attract bees, butterflies and hoverflies. Easy to grow and hugely beneficial to pollinators.

3. Make a Wildlife Café

Leave out a shallow dish of water and some fruit, seeds or soaked raisins for butterflies, birds and hedgehogs. Kids can monitor and record their garden visitors.

4. Create a Compost Corner

Use an old plastic box with holes to start a small compost bin. Teach children about food waste, worms, and the magic of turning scraps into soil.

5. Leave it Wild

A messy patch of leaves, twigs or unmown grass offers food and shelter to frogs, hedgehogs, ladybirds and more. Letting nature do its thing is often the best approach.

Make it Easy with Wildlife Community Favourites

If you’d like to encourage children to garden for wildlife, we offer a range of easy-to-use wildlife and gardening products:

  • Interactive Solitary Bee Hive – A fun, educational habitat that opens up to reveal the life cycle of solitary bees.

  • 30 Cell Natural Rubber Seed Tray – Plastic-Free Gardening presents an eco-friendly solution for sustainable and ethical garden products. Our reusable 30-cell seed tray, crafted from Fairly Traded FSC-certified natural rubber, offers durability and flexibility.

  • Dan Rouse Bird Identity Chart – Enhance your birdwatching experience while ensuring bird safety with our innovative visual deterrent pattern. Enjoy nature from your home with style and functionality!

Join In and Grow Something Wonderful

Whether you’re planting up pots, creating a mini-beast hotel or simply exploring the outdoors, National Children’s Gardening Week is a fantastic excuse to get kids gardening—and learning—through play. 

The goal isn’t perfect flowerbeds. It’s dirty hands, happy faces, and growing a generation who value and protect our wildlife. Let’s make gardening fun, accessible and inspiring for young nature lovers this May half-term.

Find Out More and Download Activities

Visit the official website for free downloads, ideas and updates on local events:
www.childrensgardeningweek.co.uk

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