The boys are getting so excited about moving to our new house and giddy about growing our own vegetables in the vegetable patch through the gate from the “secret garden”. I love that they have already commandeered this affectionate name for the part of the garden that meanders behind the tool shed.
It’s a magical childhood memory in the making, that made us fall in love with the house the moment we viewed it. The boys understand where vegetables come from, they appreciate you need to eat healthy food to keep you big and strong and I know come rain or shine, we will be donning our wellingtons and heading to our little garden allotment to see what we can eat for dinner that week.
To keep their excitement alive whilst we painfully wait for the contracts to complete in September, I thought of an easy craft idea that requires imagination and fun using the new Laura Ashley Chalk Paint we were sent. A play tray!
We painted a plastic tomato plant tray which you can find at any DIY or hardware store with a layer of chalk paint and left it to dry. The paint is easy to apply, “not too drippy” in Sammy’s words and gives an even coverage of a rich black colour and smooth texture.
We then added chalk drawn trees for the knitted apples, leaves to add to the lettuce ‘ready to pick’ and labelled our pickings with some spoon garden tags made from wooden spoons painted with a layer of chalk paint! An easy and simple idea for little ones to join in with.
We love that we can just wipe it clean and start all over again, with brown chalk mud! That was Ollie’s favourite bit.
As soon as we move in we are going to add our labels to all the lovely real fruits and vegetables just waiting for my mini gardeners to tend to and enjoy.
You could also turn your play tray into an easy DIY car or train track too!
This post first appeared on the Laura Ashley blog along with some other fab craft ideas with chalk paint. Check them out here.
