Memorial Day Backyard Kids Craft Victory Garden
During World War I & II, many men were away from home fighting in the wars, and were not available to grow as many crops as the country was used to having. The women and children tried to do their part to help their fighting men by making a home garden that would help with food supplies.
These Memorial Victory Gardens became a place where those at home would go to think about those away from home. Today, our Memorial Victory Gardens are scaled down into tiny areas of the yard with fun or important items that we can look at that remind us of our missing loved ones. Setting one of these areas up is a perfect project for a child that wants to do something special for Memorial Day weekend.
Every yard and family is different; below are some sample ideas that you can do with your child to create your modern version of a Memorial Victory Garden, but you will probably think of more personalized ideas as you go along. To start, pick your spot and clear all of the winter debris and weeds away. Think of this area as a blank canvas to decorate.
Plants: Children enjoy planting seeds, and watching their very own plants grow. Memorial Day weekend is the perfect time to give your child a creative gardening project to enjoy. Ideas may include tall sunflowers, pots of peas, a trash can full of potatoes, or one of my favorites “peanut butter”.
Next time that you are in the grocery store, explore your options. There is no reason to go buy expensive seed packets of seeds if you just want to have one or two fun plants. Sunflower seeds, peanuts, peas, and beans are over in those bulk-food bins. Pick out firm examples that are not salted, roasted, or cracked and everything that naturally comes with a shell still needs that shell attached for growing purposes.
Seeds should be started in pots or egg-cartons; you may want to let your child paint the outside of the pots before they fill them with dirt. Peanuts grow in sand, and want as much sun as you can give them. They grow underground like potatoes on runners. After they come up and before they start flowering, you will want to transfer them to a sandy area where they can spread out a little bit under the ground. Peanuts enjoy small outgrown wading pools with drain holes punched into them.
Potatoes can be fun if you have an old clean trash can with holes in the bottom to work with. You just cut the potato up so that every piece has an eye, and toss them into the trash can on top of a nice layer of straw, shredded newspaper, or dirt. They will grow inside of the can. As the plants get taller, add more filler around the stems until you have the trash can full. You can ask your child to shred and feed your junk mail to his spuds.
Stepping Stone: You can make fun Memorial Day keepsake stepping stones for your yard out of cement. Mix quick drying cement and water in a bucket as explained on the bag. The mix will feel like a very thick cake mix when you have the ratio right. Next, spray an old cake pan, flower pot bottom, or other round mold with lots and lots of WD40. Pour cement in about �½ ways up and tap pan against the ground to remove air bubbles. Fill it up and tap out the newest air bubbles.
After about 5-minutes, have your child decorate the edge with pretty rocks or marbles. After about 30-minutes, have your child do a hand print and write their name, or a loved one’s name, or other memorable activity. The cement will be finished in about 48-hours. If you pour your stones on Friday after school, you can take your stepping stone out of its mold on Memorial Day. To get the stone out of the mold, turn upside down on newspaper and tap the bottom until it releases. You can paint the stone if you’d like, or cover it with a clear acrylic spray, but these steps are not mandatory.
Rock Walks: While putting your Memorial Victory Garden area together, you may want to include a patch or border of pretty rocks that you found together as a family. A fun way to find the right rocks is to take a family walk in a place that might have some rocks that are not in another person’s yard. Use the rule that you can only bring home one rock each from these walks so that you really do only get the special ones.
A Rock Sleep Over: If you have a neighborhood of children all spending their 3-day holiday around home because of gas prices this year, why not plan a sleep over during the weekend. Your child can show off his Memorial Day area, and invite all of his friends to bring a special rock to be added to his pile. If you are in an area that has smooth river rocks, you may want to have the children paint or decorate their rocks to make them memorable.
Patriotic Windsock: Your child can make a Memorial Day patriotic wind sock with an endless oatmeal box or other cardboard curved into a circle and stapled together. Cover the cardboard with patriotic colored paper or lightweight cloth streamers that are long enough to fly in the wind. You hang the windsock with string from four holes on the sides at the top.
Quick Birdfeeder: Birds like the bread crusts that your children won’t eat, and they like plain Cheerio types of cereal. You can have your child string a Memorial Day treat for the birds visiting their Memorial area project. The bread should sit overnight after being put on a string so that it is dry enough for the birds to peck on. Then, just decorate the trees of bushes with your strings of Memorial Day treats.
