Home and garden improvements

Fun garden ideas and smaller projects

Inspiration for quick, easy DIY garden projects that get the whole family involved.

Your garden might need major work to make it the best it can be. But you can still make small improvements to your outdoor space whilst having a bit of fun as a family.

We have some inspiration for small, easy to complete and family friendly projects below.

Make quirky planters out of old wellies or tyres

Use old wellies or tyres. Fill with a small layer of gravel first for drainage, then top up with all-purpose compost. Plant flowering plants or bulbs in the wellies or tyres. Leave the welly or tyre planters to stand on the floor or hang from a fence somewhere that gets a bit of sun during the day.

Welly planters hung up on a fence

Wooden spoon labels

Paint old wooden spoons to label your vegetable patch. Get your children involved to help you paint or write on the spoons.

Make your own bird feeders

Attract wildlife to your garden with a homemade birdfeeder. You can make a bird feeder from egg cartons, plastic bottles, or even Lego. Whatever you use, make sure you can attach string to the top of the feeder so you can hang it from a tree or fence. Fill the homemade feeder with bird seed and watch your garden fill with wildlife over the next few weeks!

Bird in a DIY plastic bottle bird feeder

Paint your own ornaments

Paint rocks and old flowerpots for brilliant garden decorations with a personal touch. Painting with your children can be a great outdoor activity for the whole family on a sunny afternoon. You could even paint old plates to create a bird bath, attracting further wildlife to your garden.

painted pebble garden ornament

Sensory musical ideas

Use old pots, pans and toys to create a sensory sounds area or music wall, which can be fantastic for children with autism. Hang the bits and bobs up along a wall or fence at a child-friendly height and provide drum sticks to create noise! Creating a music wall like this is great if you have a large garden or if it is far away from your neighbours.

Fairy or dinosaur gardens

Use a pot, basket or broken wheelbarrow. These mini gardens are the perfect project for young children; give them pebbles, plants and old toys to fill the pot with and make it their own.

fairy garden in a pot - diy project

Touch sensory walls and paths

You can use pretty much anything for this DIY project – shells, textured tiles, leftover astroturf, rubber – anything with an interesting texture to touch that is not sharp or likely to graze. Stick the objects to a plank of wood and fix the plank to a fence to create a path that can be walked along whilst touching all the different textures.

Need more inspiration?

Websites like Pintrest are fantastic sources of information for small, family friendly projects like these. There are lots of examples of projects other people have tried.

If you are a member of the WellChild Family Tree, why not ask what others have done in their own garden?

Please don’t forget to leave feedback on this article by clicking the smiley face!

The Helping Hands Team

helpinghands@wellchild.org.uk

First published: May 2021

Last reviewed: November 2023

Next review: November 2024