Holiday time is nearly over, and that means you’re probably dying for a lie-in and some breakfast in bed. But what do you do when you’ve run out of ideas to keep the children entertained?

Chances are that they’re awake, they’re hungry and they’re restless. But getting your children active, happy and out of your hair doesn’t mean you have to take them to a theme park or to watch a film. In fact, lots of fun can be had by getting out into the garden.

SOW SOME SEEDS

Thought you might have missed the ‘grow your own’ window? Think again. By getting the little ones to help out sowing seeds, you’ll be ready for autumnal foods in no time.

Whether you have a windowsill or a garden, there's still time to plant veggies, including cabbage and radishes.

Visit gardenaction.co.uk and check out their yearly planner to find out which vegetables you can plant when.

Look for seeds at your local supermarket or garden centre. Or go organic with the Organic Gardening Catalogue’s collection of baby vegetable seeds at organiccatalogue.com. It’s packed full of beetroot, carrot, onion, leek and parsnips that you can all sow, water and watch grow on the windowsill, before planting out.

Alternatively, go on a scrumping trip for apples or adopt an apple tree or two, thereby ensuring a vast supply of apple crumble in the months to come. You could entice them with the promise of using the fruits that are collected in some cooking or baking that you could all do together. That’s sure to leave their mouths watering and their spirits buoyed by the fruits of the garden.

LIGHT UP THE GARDEN

Children love a bit of night-time trawling around the garden – as long as they can see where they’re going.

Solar-powered lights are a great, eco-friendly way to illuminate both the garden and any pests that may be munching through your favourite flowers and crops.

They’re an easy job for the children to install, as they can choose where they want the lights to be, and then push them into the garden. No wiring is required and they’re maintenance-free – perfect for the little ones to get their hands dirty.

Once dusk falls, encourage the children to go snail hunting, to keep the beasties away from your veg plot. Leaving out a bowl full of stale beer is a great natural deterrent to the slimy beasts, as they climb into the bowl, get drunk and then die.

More hardened children might like to see the effect of rock or sea salt on the pests, which cause them to shrivel up.

INSTALL A WATER BUTT

If only we’d known that this summer was to be less of a scorcher than a drencher, we could have planned ahead and saved all that water for future use. There’s still time to start saving that precious resource now, though – all you have to do is get yourself a water butt.

Each household has half a tonne of water delivered to their door every day, according to UK charity Waterwise.

Treating and pumping that water costs loads of money and is wasteful, too. A butt will divert rain water from your drainpipes and store it until you open the tap and use it. Water butts are great for encouraging children to wash the car or water the garden.

Once you’ve got the water butt, it’s a perfect lad and Dad job to install it. When that’s done, make sure that the lid is secured to the barrel if any young ones can access it.

GET COOKING

Once you’ve had your apples delivered – or gone scrumping for your own – it’s time for a treat. Try out this scrumptious recipe from Donna Air’s cookbook, The Grown In Britain Cookbook, published by Dorling Kindersley, priced £16.99.

(serves 8-12) 115g (4oz) butter, diced, plus extra for greasing 200g (7oz) plain flour, plus extra for dusting 3-4 cooking apples 1 tbsp lemon juice 3 eggs 250g (9oz) caster sugar 6 tbsp milk 4 tbsp single cream 1 tbsp baking powder 2 tsp ground cinnamon Preheat the oven to 200C (Gas Mark 6). Grease a large baking tin and dust with flour.

Peel, core, quarter and slice the apples and put in a bowl of water with the lemon juice added to prevent browning.

Whisk the eggs and 225g (8oz) of the sugar until thick and pale and the whisk leaves a trail when lifted out of the mixture.

Put the butter, milk and cream in a pan and heat until the butter melts, then bring to the boil. Stir into the egg mixture. Sift the flour and baking powder over the surface and fold in with a metal spoon. Pour into the tin.

Drain the apples and arrange attractively over the batter. Mix the remaining sugar with the cinnamon and sprinkle over. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden and cooked through. Leave to cool in the tin, then cut into squares.