A COMMUNITY garden is launching a weekly scheme aimed at getting kids creative in the outdoors.
The Summerwood Community Garden, in Sumerwood Lane, Clifton, is launching the project for 8-13-year-olds, which will see kids learning a range of skills, from gardening to painting murals and cooking in an outdoor oven.
The sessions will run every Friday throughout the summer, starting on July 27.
Emma Jordan runs the garden.
She said: "We like to increase the amount of things we put on over the holidays. It's focused on a mixed youth group – young people who are making that transition from primary to secondary school. It's a good way of getting them to mix together.
"We've done younger sessions before and slightly older ones but there was a need for this age group.
"It's a really good way of engaging them. A lot of young people don't spend much time outside and it engages them with nature – they often haven't seen where eggs come from and we've got beehives to show where honey is made and an outdoor kitchen."
She added: "It does not have to be about gardening, it's about embracing the outside. You can come down and be creative."
The sessions will also feature two professional artists helping the youngsters to get creative by decorating the side of a shed.
Emma said: "We're hoping the young people can design and create a mural with the artists and then put it onto the shed."
She added: "On top of that we're doing a cooking theme running throughout the summer with a traditional clay oven – we'll be getting people to pick tomatoes, make their own dough and make pizzas with fresh herbs and courgettes.
"It's about getting them to see how exciting it is to grow something and pick it, wash it and cook it, straight from the ground."
The event will be free and Emma hopes it can become a more regular event.
"We'd like it to become an after-school club eventually if we can get the funding – we've had a lot of parents asking for that.
"Young people can spend so much time indoors and it's a good way of getting them outside and learning environmental things, sustainability and not being scared of nature."
Karen Humble, who runs a childminding service in Clifton, takes her own children as well as those she is looking after to the community garden.
The mum-of-four, who lives off Greencroft, said: "We use it a lot. We've done all the activities and the kids love it up there.
"In a city environment, you've got this small area which is all about nature. The kids can wander in and get the eggs from the hutch, pick fresh fruit and vegetables. It's like the countryside in the city."
She added: "To have something for the older ones too is good."
Karen's daughter Emily said she enjoyed going to the garden.
The eight-year-old, who attends Dovecote Primary School, said: "I like it – I like the flowers and sometimes we cook stuff."
The sessions are funded by grants from The Meadows Partnership Trust.