playing in garden

[little kingdom]

So do we have to have certain sensory play activities in the garden
as in I would like to have a tray of soil with plant pots etc maybe spades get some seeds or
something aswell anyway
do we have to be careful what we use is they such thing as safe soil?

[amylouise867]

So do we have to have certain sensory play activities in the garden as in I would like to have a tray of soil with plant pots etc maybe spades get some seeds or something aswell anyway do we have to be careful what we use is they such thing as safe soil?

You always have to be careful what you use and ensure that activities that could present any danger are well and truly supervised.

It's great to offer a range of activities both inside and out. The more areas you can cover outdoors too the better. As you are showing you are carefully planning your setting to encourage optimal learning for the children.

I think the children would love an area to get stuck in and messy.

As far as I know I don't think there is such thing as safe soil but as long as they're not eating it (babies) it wouldn't be a problem.

As I say best to keep a close eye on activities like this anyway.

Have you got the facilities to clean the children up afterwards? Make sure you have spare clothes etc.

Hope that helps :) xxxx

[LauraS]

Plenty of the school/nursery suppliers sell sterilised soil. Ok for use in a sensory tray as a one off perhaps, but I'd imagine that a few days after first use it would be rampant with bacteria anyway.

[FussyElmo]

Is it just me who is sitting here smiling at the thought of sterilized soil for a mud kitchen/sensory play outside :laughing::laughing::laughing:

[Smiley]

No, you're not alone FussyElmo! :laughing::laughing:

[Mouse]

We get cats & foxes in our garden, so I'm reluctant to let children play in garden soil.

I have 3 sand/water tables with lids on. I use one for water, one for sand and one for other messy play, including soil. I buy a bag of compost and put that in the tray. Children have hand tools, plant pots, packets of seeds etc to play with. I keep the soil in the tray until they're fed up of it, then tip it away and replace it with something else.

At other times I put clean compost on the tuff spot along with farm animals, tractors etc. That gets tipped away at the end of the day.

[Mouse]

Oh...and I DO NOT and NEVER WILL HAVE a mud kitchen :panic:

[hectors house]

I read somewhere that you can use bagged top soil from garden centres for mud kitchens it's better than compost which is too light. My mindees were digging for worms in the garden the other day and uncovered some cat poo - luckily they were both 4 years old and recognised it and told me without touching it, so I would be reluctant to let them dig their own soil for mud kitchen.

[LauraS]

We are lucky, we used to get loads of cats messing in our garden so I bought my own. He is very territorial and we don't get any cat poo at all now.

We have a mud kitchen of sorts, but it contains the mess a bit better than some of the more traditional sort I have seen on Pinterest.

[samb]

I have a communal garden so don't do messy play in the garden as my neighbours wouldn't appreciate it. We go to fields at the end of the road and use sticks for digging instead :-)

[little kingdom]

Thanks for comments
ill go buy some soil tomorrow ive got a tub with a lid so will use that altho have got a mindee
that doesnt enjoy getting dirty maybe I could get her to play in soil and reasure her we have wipes
ready for when shes finished.
plus my own two children will love it two