The National Allotment Society - National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners Ltd

Games

Below is a list of allotment related games and ideas to help entertain little ones and get them excited about gardening:

Harvest Time Treasure Hunt
Fairytale Vegetable
Make a Bird Feeder
Victorian Bug Hunt

Harvest Time Treasure hunt

Adult: Your job is to be Captain of the ‘Jolly Rhubarb’ a pirate ship which sails the muddy seas. Under your command you have a gang of pirates whose job it is to hunt out treasure. Now this treasure is either buried under ground or hanging from bushes, but either way it is valuable and packed full of vitamins and minerals – and must be hunted out before the end of the ‘harvesting’ season. Give each of your pirates a list of treasure they must find within 30 minutes, (e.g. a bucket of potatoes, ten tomatoes, six carrots etc) and the one who completes the task wins a prize.
NB – Fancy dress isn’t compulsory but it does add to the fun of it.

 

Fairytale Vegetables

Why not have a competition with your friends, to see who can grow the best fairytale vegetables, nursery rhyme fruit
or spot the characters mentioned in other children’s songs.

  • Grow the tallest beanstalk (Jack and the Beanstalk)
  • Grow the heaviest pumpkin (Cinderella’s coach)
  • Pick the most peas (The Princess and the Pea)
  • Grow the largest turnip (The Enormous Turnip)
  • Pick the juiciest plum (Little Jack Horner)
  • Pick the biggest, shiniest apple (Snow White)
  • Harvest the largest number of potatoes (One potato, two potato...)
  • Find the largest number of slugs and snails (What are little boys made of?)
  • Count the number of magpies you see (One for sorrow, two for joy...)
  • Count the number of spiders you find (Incy Wincy Spider)
  • Pick the reddest pepper (Peter Piper...)

 

Make a bird feeder

Give the birds on your allotment a helping hand by making them a lard bird feeder.

  1. Take a clean yoghurt pot and make two small holes in the base with a pair of scissors. Thread a length of string through the holes to make a handle – ensuring there is enough string to tie the pot to a tree or similar.
  2. In a mixing bowl mix together half a block of room temperature lard, with a handful of grated cheese, some bird seeds, raisins and peanuts.
  3. Pack your yoghurt pot full of the lard mixture and place in a fridge to set for an hour.
  4. Once set, take to your allotment and hang in a tree, off a cane wigwam or from the shed and wait for the birds to flock.

 

Victorian bug hunt

The Victorian’s were fascinated by the natural world, often sending their explorers to far away countries, to discover new species. So why not pretend to be an explorer and go on your own bug hunt. See if you can spot any of the following -

  • Ladybird
  • Slug
  • Snail
  • Beetle
  • Butterfly
  • Spider
  • Squirrel
  • Bee
  • Frog
  • Worm
  • Field mouse
  • Robin