Children’s Fun Planters, a Meadows Day Nursery Favourite!

Use up old or outgrown children’s welly boots as a great alternative flower pot. The children at Meadows Day Nursery really enjoyed this activity.

What you need:

An old Wellington boot.
A couple of handfuls of gravel or small stones.
Enough compost to fill the boot. Use general purpose compost.
Choice of plant.
It's good to pick a plant that's already flowering, with a few more new flowers coming on. We used pansies.
Strong, sharp scissors.
A trowel (or just use a spoon or your hands).

The activity, step by step:

Cut some slits or holes in the bottom of the welly boot for drainage (adults only to cut). It might be safer to prepare this before you start.
Put a couple of handfuls of gravel or small stones in the bottom of the boot to provide drainage.
Encourage the child to scoop the compost into the boot until it is about 3cm from the top.
Stop occasionally to give the boot a shake or ask the child to make the boot walk on the floor. This firms down the soil as you go.
Pull the plant out of its container keeping as much compost as you can on the roots. Ask the child to make a hole in the soil big enough to take the roots, and pop the plant in.
Press down the compost around the plant with your knuckles or the back of the spoon (not too hard).
Sprinkle on a little water.
You could add gravel to the top as a mulch to reduce water loss. Or how about adding crushed egg shells to put off slugs and snails?

Teaching points - things you can talk about while you're enjoying this activity:

What does the compost feel like?
Compost is a form of recycling. Talk about what goes into the compost (food, plant cuttings, etc). You're also recycling the welly boots.
Count the spoonfuls of compost as you put them in.
Give the plant a drink; plants need water to grow just like people.
Talk about the different creatures that will like the plant. Bees will take the pollen, slugs and snails will eat the leaves, worms will live in the soil.
Talk about the colour of the flowers.