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KidsChaos Guide to London Gardens, Scarecrows and Growing Your Own Food

London is bursting with green inspiration right now. From community gardens to creative scarecrow trails, families across the city are rediscovering the joy of growing food and understanding where it comes from. If you are looking for family-friendly outdoor activities in London, this growing movement is well worth exploring.

Community Gardening in London is Thriving

Across neighbourhoods, community gardening projects are transforming small urban spaces into productive, beautiful environments. These gardens are helping children and adults learn about how to grow food at home, seasonal planting, and sustainability.

Seed sharing is a big part of the movement. Gardeners exchange seeds, advice, and encouragement, making it easier for beginners to get started. This kind of collaboration supports sustainable living in London and strengthens local communities.

Teaching Kids About Organic Farming

One of the most valuable aspects of these initiatives is the introduction to organic farming principles. Many community gardens avoid chemicals and focus on natural growing methods. Children can learn about composting, pollination, soil health, and biodiversity.

Understanding organic gardening for kids helps build awareness of healthier food choices and environmental responsibility. It also connects families to the idea of farm to table food, even in a busy city like London.

Scarecrow Trails Bring Creativity to Life

Scarecrow trails are adding a magical, creative layer to these green spaces. Local families, schools, and volunteers design and build unique scarecrows that reflect their personalities and community spirit.

A fantastic example is the work by Bandstand Beds. You can read more about their latest scarecrow celebrations here:
https://bandstandbeds.org.uk/another-fantastic-year/

Their project highlights how community gardening projects in London can blend creativity, education, and fun. The scarecrows make gardening spaces more engaging for children and turn a simple walk into an interactive experience.

Explore with Go Jauntly London Walks

If you want to discover these spaces easily, try one of the Go Jauntly walking routes. These walks are designed to help people explore greener parts of the city while supporting wellbeing and sustainability.

You can browse routes here:
https://walks.gojauntly.com/

One standout route is the TfL20 Clapham Explorer trail. This walk takes you through local gardens, community growing spaces, and scarecrow displays, offering a perfect family walk in South London.

A Perfect Stop at Pear Tree Café

At the end of the trail, you can stop by Pear Tree Café for a well-earned break. Surrounded by greenery, it is a great place to relax and reflect on everything you have seen while enjoying fresh, seasonal food.

Why This Movement Matters

This growing trend supports several important ideas:

Encouraging urban gardening in London
Promoting eco-friendly family activities
Supporting local food growing initiatives
Teaching children about where food comes from

It shows that even small actions like planting seeds or joining a local garden can make a big difference.

How to Get Involved

Getting started is easier than you might think:

Visit a local community garden
Join a seed swap event
Follow a scarecrow trail
Start growing herbs or vegetables at home

Whether you have a garden, a balcony, or just a windowsill, there is always a way to take part in growing your own food in London.

This is a collaborative post.

crafts, gardening, gardening with kids, google+ hangouts, kids

Toilet roll crafts – bird seed feeder

Chaos writes:

The one thing I really struggle to put into the recycling bin, is the toilet roll tubes, I can always think there is SOMETHING we can make with them, whether it’s planting seedlings in them, or making these lovely bird seed feeders. They are so easy to make, and the kids are tickled to be using peanut butter, to spread onto the loo roll tubes, cra-azy eh?!

KidsChaosToilet-Roll-craft

 

KidsChaosRedTedArt-screen-grab3So simple to do… basically, spread the peanut butter on the toilet roll tube, and sprinkle the bird seeds over the tube, pushing the seeds onto the peanut butter ‘glue’.

We do find some peanut butter a little dry, so – do as you do with toast! – paste a little layer of butter on to the tube before you spread the peanut butter onto the tube.KidsChaosToilet-Roll-craft-how-to



Then, slip the tube onto a thin branch, preferably in view of the window. We love eating our breakfast and watching the birds eat theirs – we have a favourite chubby blackbird in the garden, will try to get a photo of the bird seed feeder in action!

To see how our garden grows, follow our Gardening With Kids posts here.

and how to make an indoor watering can here!

To see me demonstrating the making of said bird seed feeder, click the youtube link, watch the video (also embedded below) and be inspired. – I joined the regular Google+ hangouts hosted by Maggy at Red Ted Art with some other fabulous creatives – Chris at Thinly Spread, Liz at Me and My Shadow Owls, Anthea’s Torus at ZingZing Tree, and Rebecca from herecomethegirlsblog. Cat in the Hat craft.

Are you on Google+ Follow me here, and say hello, and I’ll add you back to my circles.

Oh, and I’m on twitter.com/MoreKidsChaos too… Erm, and funnily enough on Facebook and Pinterest! Pop over to say hello x

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We made a Birdhouse from a Juice Carton! We do have a lot of Tetra Pak Milk Cartons and Juice Cartons in our house. I drink soya milk, and we often buy orange juice as a special breakfast treat for the kids, and to try to reach our FIVE A DAY, or is it SEVEN a day these days?! You may have seen the video on Instagram, so now here’s the ‘how to’….

Ok…..so guess what we are making this afternoon….? Watch this little video for a clue!

Anyway, we don’t throw the juice cartons away…These naturally weather proof cartons stack up on the kitchen shelf waiting patiently to be made into something via the kids’ love of junk modelling, and had a big old milk carton crafting session this weekend with Red Ted Art and family – 11yo made a Blue Narwhal night light (more on that later) 9yo made a vase, and some seedling boxes (again, more on them later) and we all had a hand in making this Juice Carton Birdhouse!

We started by cutting off the pouring spout, and using it as a circular template on the front of the juice box, to make the hole for the birds to enter the juice carton birdhouse box.

cut off the pouring spoutThen started wrapping string around the juice box, adding a blob of glue occasionally. We wound the string all the way to the top of the box.

juice carton birdhouse
Stage-2-Juice-Carton-Birdhouse-KidsChaosUsing a section from a plastic milk carton, we covered the pouring spout hole. And glued pieces of broken twigs to the ‘roof’ of the juice carton to make an organic natural looking roof for the Birdhouse. Carefully cutting the string around the bird’s doorway, and gluing back the string inside to make a smooth entrance, and adding a lolly stick below finishes the juice carton Birdhouse off quite nicely! All we need now is one of Red Ted Art‘s juice carton bird feeders and we’re away!Stage-3-Juice-Carton-Birdhouse-KidsChaos

This is a really fun recycling craft to do with the kids at the weekend, and my sister has started collecting the Tetra pak’s and will be making these at Forest School next week too!

Stage-4-Juice-Carton-Birdhouse-KidsChaosIf you like this post, check out 11yo’s little blue narwhal lamp which he made from another milk carton here! Ali also blogs over on aGreenerLifeforus.com and is a new lover of Instagram too… pop over and say hello! And if you liked this Craft – you’ll be pleased to hear that we’ve been shortlisted in the Britmums Brilliance in Blogging Awards – whoohey!

BiB2014craftsVote

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Chaos writes:

Out in the garden this morning before school, grabbing some compost for the little Papiermâché seedling pots pictured below.KidsChaosCompostTreasures

And look! (actually, look away now if you’re squeamish about worms… oh, too late…)

There was a potato growing deep at the bottom of the hotbin compost bin! I’ve pulled him out, and re-planted the little spud, how exciting – looking forward to harvesting them later in the year 🙂 #composttreasures

To read more on our gardening adventures click here to see where we got our delicious compost for our seedlings.
KidsChaosPAPERMACHETo see how our garden grows, follow our Gardening With Kids posts here.

and how to make an indoor watering can here!

Are you on Google+ Follow me here, and say hello, and I’ll add you back to my circles.

Oh, and I’m on twitter.com/MoreKidsChaos too… Erm, and funnily enough on Facebook and Pinterest! Pop over to say hello x Like it? Pin it!
Ali also writes over on AGreenerLifeforus.com