Make a toad house: Patrolling the garden at night, toads devour many of the insect pests that damage flowers and vegetables. Invite them to your yard with a snug little home. All you need to build one is a clay pot about four inches in diameter and a trowel for digging. Toads need a cool, moist place to rest in the daytime so choose a spot in the shade. Dig a couple of inches deep, making the hole a bit larger than the clay pot. Place the pot on its side in the hole and bury it about halfway. Use some damp leaves to create a nice bed inside the pot, then moisten the area with a little water to keep the pot in place. Because toads "drink" through their skin, place a small saucer or pie plate nearby and add an inch or so of water. If you're lucky, you won't have to wait too long before a toad comes to visit.

Grow a bean teepee: Pole beans growing on a simple frame will quickly create a shady hideaway for the kids. You'll need a packet of pole bean seeds, three to six six-foot-long bamboo stakes (from the garden center), a planting area about six feet square, straw for mulch and a two-foot length of string. Start our bean teepee around the time you would normally plant tomatoes - about two weeks after the last expected frost. Arrange stakes in a circle, sticking them into the ground 10 inches from bed edge, leaving a two-foot wide space, so kids can enter the teepee. Gather tops of stakes and wrap and tie them together with string. For quicker sprouting, soak bean seeds overnight, then plant following packet directions in a circle outside of the base of teepee and water well. Place a two- to three-inch layer of straw over the soil in the middle to keep weeds down. As the bean plants grow, tie the stems carefully to teepee stakes. In six to eight weeks, bean plants will cover the structure and kids can play inside.