Activity Overview
Create your own Sunflower House in your backyard this year and you will uncover a secret garden of wonder with your children. Building a sunflower house is an easy and rewarding project for adults and children of all ages. When you plant giant sunflower seeds in the shape of a square or a circle, the result is a lush backyard fort encased in spectacular sunflowers. A sunflower house is the perfect setting for a reading nook or special play fort.
You may want to consider cross planting sunflowers and corn for this project. The corn and the sunflowers each have qualities that protect the other from unwanted garden pests and it is a fun way to introduce cross planting to your family. You will both love watching for growing corn to pick and sunflowers and both yield an extensive amount of cover for the walls of your sunflower house.
Materials Needed
How to Make It
In early spring, look for a flat location in your yard that receives plenty of sunlight.
As a family, decide on the shape of your sunflower house and decide how big you want it to be.
- Make sure that you leave a space in your sunflower house shape for an entrance/ exit.
Measure and stake off the dimensions of the sunflower house in the chosen location. To do this, tie a piece of twine to one of the stakes and stretch it around the perimeter to designate the walls of the house remember to leave an opening for the doorway, approximately two-feet wide.
While you are setting up the perimeter, have the kids remove any rocks from the inside of the grassy interior.
Use a garden shovel to dig a small hole, 1 inch deep about 1 foot apart along the perimeter of your fort area.
Have children place two seeds in each hole, following the packet instructions.
Cover the seeds with loose soil. Water seeds thoroughly.
Fertilize and water the flowers as they grow.
