Top Tips for attracting your children’s favourite creatures to the garden!

Springtime is usually a hive of animal activity in the garden. Here are some fun ideas to try with your little one to encourage birds and beasties into the garden.

Hedgehog Hides – Take a peek at the RSPB website (www.rspg.org.uk) who have a fabulous idea for a hedgehog café! This lovely project helps support the hungry hogs in your garden and is a lovely way to spend time outdoors with the children.

Bread Bird Feeders – With the weather still a touch chilly, you may need some indoor activities to keep the children busy. Transform stale slices of grainy bread into bird feeders that will keep cold-weather visitors happy outside your window. All you need is a shallow dish of birdseed and peanut butter.

• Leave the bread out to dry completely, thread string, or a wire twist-tie, through the top of the bread slice (try to leave enough room at the top), then cover both sides with peanut butter. Sprinkle each side in birdseed and attach it to a sturdy branch in your back garden – bird breakfast is served!

DIY Bug Box – A bug box makes a lovely home for all sorts of different creepy crawlies and is interesting to observe throughout the seasons. Simply cut short lengths of hollow bamboo cane and tie them together securely in a bunch. Then leave it on the ground to attract wood lice and beetles or hang it from a tree to encourage flying insects, such as, bees and ladybirds.