-esque detective gear (pipes and magnifying glasses), provide a bucket each and set them loose in the garden where previously you have hidden many chocolate eggs large and small. Make some eggs easy to find, to keep enthusiasm levels high, but also make some harder

plastic tea set will keep your toddler busy for hours (and will be good training for later life).Give large paint brushes and a ‘paint pot’ of water, then let her paint the garden fence or outside of your house.Let her water your flowers. Give a big bucket

to release it from the ice lantern, then over the outside of the bowl to free the ice from it. Place a tea light in the hollow (where the yoghurt pot sat) and this lantern will light up the darkest winter garden. Ice creamSnow has truly magical properties

, £12.95.Fun Start by June Oberlander, HarperThorsons, £10.99.The Gardening Book by Jane Bull, Dorling Kindersley, £6.99.Getting Your Kids Active by Claire Gillman, A&C Black, £12.99.Getting Your Kids Fit by Kelly Holmes, Virgin Books, £14.99.Great Big

husband Stephen, and our five children Calvin, 12, Ezra, nine, Adelaide, seven, Harper, four, and baby Annabel, whose one – and would include home, gardening, walking, playing, creating together, and ending with a visit to the lake. Oh, and ice cream – a

Plant a sunflowerIf you want a row or two of towering sunflowers in your garden come the end of summer, you have to plan in advance. Fill a flowerpot with compost soil and sow two or three seeds about 1cm deep. Keep the pots in a sunny spot on a

”, Jools Holland and his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra open the festival, followed over 80 acts across six stages. For the kids Hands On! workshops and fun craft activities, plus circus skills. There’s also 11 acres of gardens to explore – look out

of Lulworth Cove in Dorset. The ambiance is party-party anything goes, with the highlight of the Saturday being a fancy-dress pararde throughout the Kid’s Garden and Circus Field. Of course, there’s the extensive programme of bands on various stages (last year