• 51% of children will spend most of their summer holiday engaged in screen time activities
• Nearly a quarter of children would like to spend more time playing outdoors
• National retailer Homebase is calling for parents to give their children ‘Room to Grow’ this summer

The Skinny Jean Gardeners, regulars in the CBBC Blue Peter garden, are calling for parents to turn off the TV, tablets and smart phones this summer and instead get their children out in the garden enjoying ‘freestyle play’ and experimenting with gardening.

Teaming up with Homebase as part of its ‘Room to Grow’ Campaign, brothers Lee and Dale Connelly, known as The Skinny Jean Gardeners, want to inspire children and parents to use whatever outdoor space they have at home to create a ‘Room to Grow’ – a dedicated outdoor space where kids can play, get messy, discover nature and start to experience the joy of gardening.

The campaign comes as a result of a Homebase survey which showed that 51% of children will be spending most of their summer holidays watching TV and playing computer games and that screen-time far outweighs outdoor activities such as gardening, in a child’s average week. [1]

The Skinny Jean Gardeners, whose personal mission is to inject fun and creativity into gardening, have made a short film showing how a ‘Room to Grow’ can be created in any outdoor space and that the only thing kids need to be able to enjoy the great outdoors is a big dollop of imagination. The film also demonstrates simple garden projects for kids to do this summer including how to build a runner bean teepee, how to create painted plant pots, how to plant a mini veg garden and how to make a fruity bird feeder.

A Homebase spokesperson said: “We know that the school holidays can be challenging for parents, juggling childcare and finding ways to entertain the kids, but often the simplest ideas can keep them entertained for hours. Working with the Skinny Jean Gardeners we’ve been able to show how easy it is to create a ‘Room to Grow’, giving children the opportunity to spend more time outdoors and the space they need to experiment with play and gardening. The message for families is to turn off the TV this summer and let the kids outdoors instead”.

Lee Connelly, one half of the Skinny Jean Gardeners added: “Dale and I only started gardening four years ago but I wish we’d discovered it when we were younger. We were always outside as kids, making up games, building dens and discovering nature and gardening is just an extension of that.”

He continued: “We really believe that given the freedom and space to experiment with outdoor play, kids can be encouraged away from the TV and into the garden. 31% of parents in the Homebase survey said they would like their child to spend more time outdoors and 23% said their kids would like to be outside more often. If we give them the opportunity, they can enjoy mucking about outdoors as much as we did. Our mission is to get kids gardening. It doesn’t matter what they do, it’s about being outside with soil between their fingers being creative and having fun”.

To get kids started, the Skinny Jean Gardeners have put together ten top tips to help get them excited about gardening and being outdoors:

1. Make being outdoors part of their everyday lives
It’s easy for ‘going outdoors’ to become a planned activity, like football practice or music lessons. Make it a normal part of your kid’s day and let them out at every opportunity, rain or shine, even if it’s only for 10 minutes.

2. Build a den
Den’s are awesome and you don’t need loads of room or special materials to build them – use sticks, leaves, old broom handles, an old blanket, whatever you can find! They’re brilliant fun and building them will teach your kids cooperation, resourcefulness, problem-solving and let their imagination run wild.

3. Get them interested in gardening…
Kids love the touch and feel of nature and gardening is a great way to engage them with it. It doesn’t matter what they do – weeding, planting, watering or digging – it’s about being outside with soil between their fingers, being creative and having fun.

4. ….but make it quick
We know kids aren’t great at waiting. To keep them interested in gardening grow vegetables that show signs of life quickly. Beetroot, potatoes and peas all get going very quickly and can be picked when they are still young so they don’t have to wait too long to eat them either.

5. Start small: turn your wellies into garden pots
Plants can be grown in any size container from an old watering can to a bath tub. You can even upcycle your old wellies into quirky garden pots: clean them with warm soapy water, ask an adult to carefully drill holes into the bottom, fill with compost, plant your seeds and wait for them to grow!

6. Hunt for slugs and bugs
A bug hunt is a brilliant way for kids to explore the outdoors and they don’t need a big garden or even a green space to do it. Turn over almost any rock, brick, log or stone and let them discover the hidden world of worms, slugs, snails and other bugs and wildlife.

7. Create some wild art
Arts and crafts don’t have to be done indoors. Unleash their creativity in the garden by painting pots, making pictures with twigs, stones or leaves or crafting a mud monster: make a face out of mud and decorate it with moss, bark, acorns and anything else you can find.

8. Let them climb trees
Kids love climbing! Climbing to the top of a tree is not only a great way for them to discover nature but it has loads of other benefits too including building self-confidence and teaching them to assess risk. You might want an adult to help you here too.

9. Get tweeting
Birdwatching is such an easy way to enjoy nature. Anyone can do it, just about anywhere, which makes it a great thing to do with kids. Create a bird-friendly space by hanging bird feeders and planting bird-friendly plants. Patience is the key here. If you feed them they’ll come!

10. Give them room to grow
Once you’ve got them outside, don’t tell them what to do too much. Kids are much better than us at inventing exciting games. Let them muck about, get dirty and create their own adventures.

[1] *83% of children watch television at least once a week, 66% play computer games compared to 33% who play make believe, 34% who do some sort of messy play and 20% who garden.