Book of the month: April

As we burst into spring,our minds are focused on bringing adding a little colour to our wardrobe, putting away the casserole dishes and sprucing up the garden. April is a lovely time of year to bring out those green fingers and there are some great gardening activities to get children in touch with nature. Our book of the month for April is What's This? , published Barefoot Books.

A great book for children aged 3-7, you will learn the basics of how plants grow in this bubbly, springtime story. When a young girl plants a seed, she learns she must be patient to achieve results. She is rewarded by a beautiful sunflower, and brings her flower to school to share the seeds with her entire class. Includes notes about roots, shoots, flowers and seeds. The book is full of wonderful colour, simple language and, most of all, it is held together by an engaging take that will want children to plant some seeds themselves.

The book is great for use in schools and nurseries or for simple outdoors sessions at home. There are lots of opportunities to educate children on how seeds grow, which you can put into practise by holding your own planting session. Little Scribbles' Stories will be out and about reading this book throughout the month and we will be helping little green fingers plant their very own sunflower seed. We cannot wait to see how big all our sunflowers grow and we are very much looking forward to lots of outdoor storytelling sessions, surrounded by fresh air and flowers.

Let your kids go WILD

I am a lady who loves flowers, whether that be the romantic kind, the ones you buy to brighten up the house or the wildflowers that you see when out and about. Unfortunately we don't have a garden so cannot grow a lot of my own flowers but we do have a reasonably sized yard so have been growing flowers, herbs and food in pots and containers. Whether you have a garden, a yard or a window box it is easy to bring a bit of greenery into your life and it's great for getting your children involved too. My daughter is too young to dig in and get her hands dirty but she can certainly enjoy the pretty results when the flowers and plants start to grow.

This year I am taking part in Vanessa Kimbell's  British bloggers support british flowers challenge. The challenge celebrates all that is British about flowers and encourages people to share their love of flowers with everyone, including children.

If you want to start growing your own flowers or create your own veggie and herb patch then take a look at the BBC site, which is great for helping you and your family have fun in the garden. I will also be posting a couple of blogs on how you can get your kids involved in gardening whilst keeping it simple.

If you are not that green and cannot see yourself donning the gardening gear then why not simply appreciate the beauty of flowers and gardens at some great places across the UK. If you are in or near Liverpool, The National Wildflower Centre is great for everyone, with regular family events held throughout the year. For all you southerners Kew Gardens is a delightful place to share a day out with the children, with lots of fun days to take your children to at weekends or when on school holidays. If you cannot visit these two places then check out Great British Gardens for ideas for days out in the great outdoors.

Get sewing those seeds everyone!