Pollok Children's Centre

Minibeasts are welcome in this rain garden also inspired by Incy Wincy spider. You need to dress for the weather and the children know how many welly boots Incy Wincy will need!

Incy wincy

Bug hotel

Life is better in the garden

Children within the nursery Eco-Committee designed this Pocket Garden incorporating their interest for mini beasts. This rain garden aims to reduce severity of flooding whilst providing a natural space for wildlife. Scales to measure the amount of rain means the children can measure and monitor the rain too!

The children used local resources to help them learn about plants that are good for wildlife as well as for inspiration for creating their Pocket Garden.  They visited a local garden centre and found lots of information there about plants to attract butterflies and bees.  They also visited a local park to see what was growing there to inspire ideas.

The first challenge the children faced was identifying which flowers were best to use to attract butterflies and bees to their garden.

Following their trip to the garden centre they were able to obtain the information they were looking for and help choose flowers for the garden. 

They also visited a nearby park called Roukenglen Park and garden centre. Their task as a group was to observe the plants and the flowers which were situated around the grounds, looking at the colours and shapes to choose flowers that could be used in their garden.

They used map skills to find the walled garden and seek inspiration for their own.  Their next adventure was to buy the products required to create the garden.  They wrote out a list and made a trip to the garden shop to purchase everything they needed.  

They used soil to fill the triangle and placed plants that had previously been grown into their final positions.  

This Pocket Garden is a Rain Garden.  A rain garden is an area of plants designed to hold rainfall, then slowly release it, helping to reduce the severity of flooding.  Rain gardens filter the water naturally through their plants, soil and gravel. This filtered, clean water then flows more slowly to our rivers and streams. Any way of temporarily holding rain can be a rain garden, like a planter box that sits below a downpipe. Ideas about how to grow a rain garden can be found here.