Here we are surrounded by the magical event of trees changing, leaves and flowers forming and the garden starting to wake up after the winter. Summer on its way. I was working with a young group of children in a small wood recently and was enraptured by their exuberance when they walked into a familiar space and saw that it offered them surprises.

They ran through deep piles of leaves, danced in the leaves falling silently around them like confetti, hugged trees and looked up the trunk to get a squirrels view. We played drums with a couple of old sticks on a fallen tree trunk and gave a great rendition of familiar nursery rhymes, a couple of reggae beats and a celtic tune or two.

Nature is an incredible thing, for children and adults alike. The same garden is changing all the time, each day brings a new wonderment or something to marvel at. We may not all have a wood in our garden, but nature can be in a windowbox or a tub.

The question is do we notice it?

In the last article I wrote about having a space for children in the garden where they are free to "get in a puddle". A space where they can dig freely, create mud pies and feel nature around them. This article is going to look at ways to get children to look and notice.

To notice the way that Sunflower heads have too many seeds to count, that Broom pods explode when the seeds are released, that no two leaves are ever the same, and that they are made up of a wonderful array of intense colour. There are small things we can do that take a little time or there are larger landscaping projects that will involve children in the use of the garden space.

Garden design from a child's angle would include a variety of features that may not appear obvious to adults but have been proven to inspire children.

• Holes shaped through fences, walls and hedges to peep into the next space/area of the garden;
• Low level borders so that they can see eye to eye with a flower head;
• Tunnels of Hazel or Dogwood to feel the sides as they run through;
• Dens made of Willow tied to make a dome so they can hide and then look out on the garden around them.
• Settling places that are enclosed so they can sit and watch away from the immediate gaze of an adult. Surrounded by things to stimulate their senses such as Broom to listen to, Twisted Willow to touch, Honeysuckle to smell, and Lawn Camomile to walk on.
• Bug Homes to set up a real diversity of life, from snails, to earwigs to more helpful ladybirds and lacewings.
• Plants that offer the unexpected. Acquilga with its delicate flowers and rattly seed pods. Sunflowers with their incredible growth rate, Chocolate Cosmos with its unusual smell, Black Tulips, and dare I say, a few Dandelions and Daisies, which are only weeds because of their durability and persistent nature (an excellent characteristic for a child's garden!!)

As adults we view our gardens from our height. The world looks very different when you are only a metre tall, long swishy grass becomes an adventure, peeping around tree trunks and peering through a hole in fence is enticing. When you are designing a garden for a family, go down onto your knees and consider the world in front of a toddler.

Looking carefully is a skill that requires time and adult encouragement. My daughter used to gaze around generally when I suggested that we look at the flowers, so we decided to make a pair of 'looking glasses'. We gathered some old spectacle frames (with no lens), blue tac and bits of collage materials like feathers, and glitter shapes. Lara then created a wonderful pair of Dame Edna type frames that she wore with pride as we went for a walk up the garden. This time her 'looking glasses' encouraged her to look at flowers, grass, logs everything and anything from about 10 cm away!

The same principle can be used to create a looking window which I make out of plain card (15cm) with a small window cut into the middle of it. These little viewing windows focus children on small sections of plants/ bark/ feathers so they see the detail.

Make a walking worm to take on walks around the garden or to the park. I use strips of card shaped like a small worm to fit in a child's hand. There are so many ways to use them, add a strip of double sided tape to collect interesting seeds on ,then put the worm underground and watch the plants come up in the spring; add dots of colour to match to leaves and objects outside, draw a flower shape on the worm and then see if you can find a real one to match it.

At this time of year there are many changes to be observed, spring smells to stimulate our senses, and vibrant colours that appear overnight. The challenge for many people is to remember to make the time to notice the subtle magic going on around us everyday.