The Empowered Educator

Inspiring ideas, training and resources for early learning.

Weekend Wanderings – Sandpits & Seeds!

by 20 Comments

 

We had another weekend of showers here and I had to reach to the back of the wardrobes for some woollies as we finally began to feel the chill of Autumn weaving its way toward us!
We still had a relatively outdoor weekend though as there are so many jobs that need completing and the toddler twosome just love to be outside helping and spending some quality time with Daddy. I really am overjoyed to see them embracing the garden so much…they are developing a love for it and are so proud of themselves when they can help!
Over the past week we have been digging in our saved chicken manure and lots of compost into the soil in a hope we can improve the quality of the vegie patch and therefore harvest a better crop. Last season was a bit of a loss I am afraid.
The chickens have been allowed in to scratch up the soil and do a little composting turn over for us!
Tara had so much fun planting seedlings with Daddy…she shows so much care with them and understands now that if we look after them we will soon be picking tomatoes again!
Toddler outside gardening
Is there anything sweeter than seeing big and little hands getting dirty together in the soil that will provide some yummy produce for us?
The girls also had some fun helping to plant seeds….
Perhaps a few too many pumpkin seeds there but it's all in the experience!!
gardening with toddlers outside
There was a little exploring in the rain with new umbrellas….
And some threading practise with our jumbo straws cut up and a few sticks held with playdough…
Toddler fine motor threading
The most exciting part of the weekend though was Daddy nearly finishing our bushrock sandpit!
making a sandpit backyard
His patient self has been working on this sandpit for a few weekends now…first clearing the space and marking out a rough shape with spray marker. He then collected all the rocks he wanted from around the paddock and some he unearthed when digging for the retaining wall.
He then worked out roughly which rocks he wanted to go where…which ones would fit the best together to form the circle shape. The toddler twosome did a little mud and sand cooking while watching Daddy work. Every now and then they stopped what they were doing to just watch and take in what was happening all around them!
toddler mud kitchen
Some rocks were manoeuvred with what seemed like sheer willpower and desperation…

 

And others with the help of the excavator….those rocks are heavy… trust me!

 

When the circle outline was formed it was time to collect a trailer load of new sand…..something the girls loved helping with as you can see…..

Before putting the sand in, His Patient Self laid down some weed mat…rolling out and tucking into gaps as he went….then it was time for the first wheelbarrow load of sand…so exciting, I have been wanting this sandpit design to come to fruition for quite a while now!

Ruby was more than happy to help stamp the new sand down…

Making sandpit

Lucky Daddy had lots of help with this project…at times I know he was overjoyed…..especially when muddy boots connected with the clean sand and weed mat was pulled up behind him as it was going down! Got to love the patience of that man!

Building a toddler sandpit

In spite of the frustrations I think it was such a lovely activity for the toddler twosome to be involved in from the start….watching how it was built and came together….seeing the work involved and bonding with Daddy over rocks and dirt and digging!

And although it still needs at least a few more trailer loads of sand to fill it….I think it is coming together nicely….just how I envisioned it many months ago. What do you think?

Now I can start on my dry creek bed of small rocks which will lead to the sandpit….so many ideas….so little time!

Toddler sandpit

What's the one thing you would love to see in your backyard if you could have it tomorrow? I'm not sure I could narrow it down to one thing!

I hope you had a wonderful weekend and got to have some fun outside too!
If you would like more inspiration for outdoor areas and gardening fun for kids you might like to stop by my Pinterest boards….

Comments

  2. Little Home In The Country says

    AWESOME SAND PIT!!!!! My kids would have LOVED a sand pit like that… If I could snap my fingers and have something in my backyard all finished and ready to go it would be a large pond. We hope to dig for one this summer, but we’ll see. 🙂

    Reply

    • Jodie Clarke says

      A pond sounds lovely…you are so busy with all your projects lately I don’t know how you find the time!! The girls are loving their sandpit!

      Reply

  3. Twins Squared says

    Wow! I am impressed with both the garden AND the sand pit! And it’s hard for me to envision it GETTING cold outside. We are warming up here (although not today – cold front came through and temps dropped 20 degrees this afternoon).

    Reply

    • Jodie Clarke says

      It’s so funny reading about the temps on the other side of the world isn’t it? At least our cold season is pretty mild so we still get to play in the sandpit….the garden is a work in progress lol!!

      Reply

  5. Coombe Mill says

    Such a wonderful sand pit, worth the gardening effort from your little helpers to be rewarded with that! Thanks for sharing your growing garden on Country Kids.

    Reply

  8. Catherine says

    What fun your little ones have, planting with their Dad and helping to build a sandpit too:) They are going to spend so much time out their Jode. xx

    Reply

  9. Chris at Thinly Spread says

    Oh I LOVE that sandpit, it’s fantastic! Your girls look like they are having such fun! 🙂
    (Popping over from G+ Family Gardening Community, thanks so much for posting this over there, nice to have found you!)

    Reply

  11. Rachel Beran says

    Great pics! I love the sandpit…and it looks like your girls do too. My boys have a big sand pile that daddy built for them. It’s amazing how much time they can spend it it, just using their imaginations. Love that!

    If I could snap my fingers and have one thing in my back yard it would be 2 things: 1. A new deck and patio. The old deck needs to be torn off. I would love an area for grilling and eating outside. 2. We plan to put in a much larger garden this year, in a new location in our back yard (sort of, we live on a farm). Would love it if someone would come put that in (and help maintain it) for us! 🙂

    Fun post! Cute girls. Hard working hubby.

    Rachel in Beranville

    Reply

  14. alounette (from France) says

    I love your landscaping ! Specially your playground construction s. I want the same Rock Quarry but apparently we have no rocks in our city garden. Lets begin with the sandpit…

    Reply

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