50 things to do before you're 11& ¾

Days 279 – 285 of Project 365

October 12, 2013 by TheBoyAndMe 27 Comments

279 - 285 of 365

279. Sunset Splash (Having taken my niece and nephew on their first conker hunting session of the season, the three of us then went down to Barry Island for a chippy tea. We of course had to paddle in the sea, although The Boy had difficulty understanding it would be too cold to take our shoes off at this time of year. He ended up splashing around in his boots instead. And when I say splashing in his boots, I do mean in; there was three inches of water in each boot.)

280. Eye-Eye (Magnifying glasses are such fun!)

281. Construction (The Boy was having a great time tonight constructing an aeroplace. He very rarely constructs anything without guidance or a picture to work from, so I was pleased to see him having a go.)

282. Greedy Guts (A quick after school trip to the local nature reserve to feed the swans, they are very greedy and reach up to grab the scraps from the boardwalk.)

283. Concentrating Mummy! (We revisited the nature reserve to film The Boy tree-climbing for a National Trust project that I'm collaborating on, and were very happy to find a new, perfect tree with low sweeping branches and thick boughs.)

284. Homework (Those who follow me on Instagram will know of my ongoing concerns about when The Boy's school was going to introduce homework, as he has been able to read since May, and I am eager to give him the opportunity to develop his interest. Tonight we had his first homework; a worksheet which he had to practise his 'S' formation on. We decided that was a little boring so got out the shaving foam in the bath!)

285. Wait For Me! (Where Fiery Cousin goes, The Boy must follow! A wonderful afternoon at Dyffryn Gardens, the local National Trust site.)

—

Oxwich Bay Explorations: #37 Check Out The Crazy Creatures In A Rockpool

October 8, 2013 by TheBoyAndMe 27 Comments

One of the things that I'd set on our Summer Bucket List was to visit Rhossili beach on the Gower Peninsula with The Boy. It's something that I'd wanted to do for a while with him, having visited it with extended family around seven years ago, but despite it being one of the top three beaches in Europe, I was put off by the steps down the cliff-face. They're perfectly safe, but it's a long way down and therefore a long way back up again for a toilet break!

However, when my sister-in-law suggested at the beginning of the Summer holidays that we go to Oxwich Bay for the day that seemed like the perfect compromise; it's not as far as Rhossili and there isn't a long walk down to the beach from the car park. In fact, the car park stops at the edge of the beach and there are fairly alright shower and toilet facilities within a hundred yard walk of the beach's edge.

I've never been to Oxwich Bay before and I think it has quickly become one of my favourite beaches, because it has everything there; sand, rockpools, wildlife, facilities, decent parking, and more importantly it is sufficiently off the beaten track to not be over-run by tourists.

My sister-in-law had recently undergone some 'Beach Schools' training and guided The Boy and Fiery Cousin around the rockpools, demonstrating how to find crabs and what the difference between a limpet and a barnacle is (guides can be found here). We also learnt the phrase 'Green Is Mean' courtesy of my brother, i.e. algae is slippery, as The Boy found out when he landed on his bottom in a rockpool!

Oxwich Bay

We shared a picnic lunch sprawled out over the sands with the children playing around us. Normally I'm quite cautious at keeping The Boy within a twenty yard distance of us, at Oxwich Bay it is so vast that the next family could well be over 150 yards away and therefore it allows the children a little more freedom to 'free-range' play.

After we'd finished snacking, I showed the children how to create a shell-shaker which they then pranced around with, making music.

Beach Shell Shaker

As the tide was reaching it's lowest point, my brother was desperate to go cockle-hunting (he's a chef) and so we all waded down to the shoreline to search for the much sought after cockle. We found plenty, but we also found jellyfish, crabs, sea anemones and sea urchins!

Oxwich Bay

As The Boy was beginning to get cold and exhausted, the mums and children trekked back up the beach to our beach tent while the dad continued their search for cockles. My sister-in-law and I glanced down to the shoreline and beyond to the rapidly darkening sky.

Oxwich Bay

This resulted in us quickly gathering our belongings into the tent along with the children. We had three seconds to spare before the quickest rainstorm I have ever come across deluged us! We thanked our lucky stars for the tent until we realised it was vented at the bottom where the children were and they were getting soaked. My sister-in-law raced them up the beach to the shelter, then came back for me and the tent. By which time the dads had returned, drenched to the skin. They were literally dripping! We carried everything back up to the shivering children in the car park and proceeded to assess the damage and dry various bits and bobs off, while standing and laughing hysterically at how wet we all were!

I was astounded at the lack of people who were at the beach that day, even before the rain came. It must surely be one of the best beaches on the south Wales coast with such wonderful ecosystems to explore!

—

Linking this up to Flashback Friday and Country Kids

Much of the Gower Peninsula falls under the protection of the National Trust, it currently cares for 157 miles of Welsh coastline. The National Trust are running a competition until the end of October 2013 to find the best loved beach location in their care.

"Tell us why you love your favourite National Trust place and you could win a day’s kayaking and/or coasteering for you and 4 of your friends with our qualified instructors at the amazing Stackpole Quay, Pembrokeshire."

Entry is simple via the I ♥ Welsh Coast app on their Facebook page and takes only a few moments. The most original and inspiring comment will be chosen on the 31^st of October and the lucky winner has a year to claim their prize.

50 Things Challenge: #18 – Create Wild Art

September 10, 2013 by TheBoyAndMe 12 Comments

Playing outdoors over the Spring and Summer months is easy and enjoyable for all; it's normally dry, warm at least, and the world is full of greenery to fill the heart and soul. I know that during the Summer holidays we've spent more waking time outdoors than we have in, and have almost forgotten what the television is.

I started in February or March of this year vowing to play outside with The Boy for at least fifteen minutes every day, and we've managed it every day since. So much so that it's now part of our routine and we both feel like we're going stir-crazy if we stay in for too long.

However, with school starting and Autumn (and the other season which shall remain unnamed at present) approaching, play tendencies change; the temperature drops slightly, another layer of clothing is needed, wellies not sandals are the footwear of choice, and sometimes time just doesn't allow for a huge amount of outdoor play. Regardless of all of these factors, our need to reconnect with nature doesn't diminish and it's a well-documented fact that time spent in the great outdoors can have massive benefits for all involved; specifically our children.

So MumOnTheBrink and I had an idea in the Natural Childhood Facebook group to set a challenge to help people continue the National Trust's 50 Things To Do Before You're 11&¾ project during the forthcoming, less-inspiring months.

Each month we will identify one of the 50 Things as a project, and open up a blog-hop for the month to encourage other bloggers to get outdoors and complete their lists.

50 Things Challenge - Create Wild Art

September is #18: Create Wild Art

You could decorate picture frame, make a forest face from mud or air-dry clay, create a beachcombing treasure tile, or a whip up a woodland weaving. There are oodles of other ideas out there too, check Pinterest for some great ideas.

Please enter your wild art activities completed during the month of September into the blog-hop below, Monika and I would love it if you'd copy the code into your post as well as it will spread the word about the 50 Things challenge.

Now pop outside and have fun!

Don't forget to link these up to Coombe Mill's Country Kids weekly; Fiona is the main reason that I continued last Winter to play outdoors before we started working with the National Trust.

How To Make A Stick Picture Frame

August 23, 2013 by TheBoyAndMe 24 Comments

On a recent trip to one of Britain's finest arboretums, I took our trusty craft bag with us for when I would be presented with the obligatory sticks. The place was full of wonderful vistas and so I suggested to The Boy that he collect me four sticks of equal length and a variety of interesting treasure to decorate our finished product.

How To Make A Picture Frame

You'll need:

4 sticks of equal length, or 2 pairs of sticks of equal length
natural string
collection of leaves, conkers and pine cones to decorate the frame
Swiss army knife

Encourage children to only choose twigs and natural 'treasures' found on the floor, creating a respect for the natural world.

Lay the four sticks for the frame on top of each other to create a square. Carefully wind a length of string around each of the joins, overlapping and winding from one corner to the other. This will hold them in place.
Complete for each corner, winding any extra string along the sides which will help create somewhere to secure the 'treasures'.
Tie a selection of pine cones to the frame and thread leaves and flowers through the string.
To attach conkers, I pierced a hole through the fruit to thread jewellery wire through and wind it onto the frame.
Tie some string from two corners to create a loop to hang it from a tree in your garden at home!

How To Make A Stick Picture Frame

This activity is great for:
- fine motor skills and hand-eye co-ordination; winding the string around the sticks.
- design skills; how can we join the sticks together? Can we find items to make it look attractive?
- communication; questioning and discussion.
- self-esteem; achievement!
- having FUN!

'Create some wild art' is #18 on the National Trust's list of 50 Things To Do Before You're 11&¾

How To Make A Stick Raft (#43)

August 5, 2013 by TheBoyAndMe 14 Comments

Making a raft is an easy activity to do with children, although their age determines exactly how much input you give. The Boy is four years and two months old and quite good with fiddly and intricate things, but making this raft was more about him helping me, than me helping him. Now he knows how to do it, the situation will reverse.

This activity is completely organic, both in the way that it happened, and the materials we used!

How To Make A Stick Raft

You'll need:

4 sticks of equal length for the frame
around 8-10 sticks of the same length as those for the frame to create the bed of the raft
long grass reeds/stems
1 large leaf or a frond of leaves for the sail
1 stick for the mast

Lay the four sticks for the frame on top of each other to judge size. Carefully wind a long grass reed around each of the join, overlapping and winding from one corner to the other. This will hold them in place. Complete for each corner.
Once the frame is completed, fix each stick to the frame to make the bed of the raft, winding the grass over in a cross fashion as above. Continue until the base is covered, there will be gaps in between each stick.
Use one stick as the mast and a large leaf as the sail. Make two small holes to push the mast through. We actually tied a large frond of leaves to the mast instead.
Insert into a gap in between two of the sticks, carefully wrap grass around to fix it into place.
The raft is ready for sailing!

How To Make A Stick Raft

This activity is great for:
- fine motor skills and hand-eye co-ordination; winding the grass around the sticks.
- design skills; How can we join the sticks together?
- problem-solving; Did the raft float or sink? Why? Did it get caught on anything?
- communication; questioning and discussion.
- self-esteem; achievement!
- having FUN!

It is also one of the activities on the National Trust 50 Things To Do Before You're 11&¾ list: #43: Build A Raft!

—

Country Kids

Creating Wild Art: Forest Faces

July 21, 2013 by TheBoyAndMe 25 Comments

'Wild Art' is quite simply creating art or craft from the materials found in a natural environment. Making forest faces is one of the simplest and most enjoyable activities that can be done in a woodland setting. In fact, we've done this activity twice in the past week because we enjoyed it so much.

For older children, this project could be preceeded by examining the history of the 'green man' and the different variations available.

I've cheated with this slightly as I'd bought air-dry natural clay to use, however if the soil or mud is wet and clay-based then that would be the ideal base. The issue is in my area that we have a lot of limestone in the earth, so air-dry natural clay (from Hobbycraft for a few pounds) was a far more reliable option!

You'll need:

clay-heavy mud or air-dry natural clay (make it as unobtrusive to the environment as possible),
leaves,
moss,
small sticks,
stones,
acorns,
an easily accessible tree or rocks.

I'd pre-sliced the clay into the right amount for each person, and had put it into a sandwich bag in order to make it easier to handle and stop it from beginning to dry out. Once in the right place, we removed the clay from the airtight bag and pressed it down onto the tree trunk, smoothing the edges down onto the bark.
Next we gathered a selection of leaves and moss for the hair or crown of the forest face, and pressed this into the top of the head. The eyes and nose were acorns, the mouth a bent stick.
This is not a project that can be removed and taken home, the faces stay on the tree so take plenty of photos for the little ones to enjoy and remember. Hopefully the faces will stay for a long time for other people to enjoy, but there is the chance they may dry out and fall off, or wash off in the rain.

Creating Wild Art: Forest Faces

#18 on the 50Things To Do Before You're 11&¾ list: Create some wild art.

Blue Skies Fun

July 9, 2013 by TheBoyAndMe 13 Comments

In recent weeks we've started using a reward chart with The Boy, not for behaviour but to help promote independence and getting ready for school. So far the targets we've used have focused on getting dressed, eating meals within thirty minutes and tidying up, which are key things he'll need to do in the classroom and to make his lunchtime easier. If he gets all of the stickers on his chart then he achieves his reward which is something he chooses at the beginning of the week. By and large we've managed to get away with going to somewhere that we would normally go to anyway, bless him he's not cottoned onto this yet!

Last weekend he chose to go to Puxton's Park near Weston-Super-Mare, an all-weather adventure place he and I have been to a few times with Mummy Mishaps but never as a family. It was somewhere I wanted to go to over the Summer holidays anyway, so again was an easy choice. I was quite looking forward to the trip and showing it off to Mr. TBaM, I should have known that would be a sign of it being a bit rubbish really! It was their birthday weekend which meant cheap entry = bonus as it only cost us £12 to get in; it was their birthday weekend which meant cheap entry = downer because everyone else in the locality was there! Let's just say that I'm not a fan of men going topless or women wearing bikinis in anywhere other than the beach, a pool or their garden, and as a result the plethora of excess skin on display really spoilt the trip for me. Various play equipment was broken (cargo nets and ladders on the fort, and the bouncing pillow), the few animals out were fed up and hot with no shade, and combined with the fact that Puxton's seems to have virtually no shade in any form ensured I felt pretty dejected about our family fun time! Of course, The Boy had some fun with the zip wire and the sand play, but I suspect even he was a bit disappointed with the trip.

We left early and headed to our old faithful; Barry Island.

Country Kids Blue Skies Fun 1

Sunday promised to be an even hotter day than Saturday, and I'd initially planned for a quiet day at home. However, still dejected from the previous day, I decided that we'd head to Southerndown, one of my favourite beaches, via strawberry picking at a PYO fruit farm. On the National Trust list of 50 Things To Do Before You're 11 &¾ is 'eat an apple straight from a tree' and while picking strawberries is not exactly the same thing, I figure it's more about actually eating fruit straight from the plant and realising it doesn't come in plastic packaging from a shelf in the supermarket. Therefore I'm ticking that one off!

Following our adventures in the strawberry field (where The Boy really needs to learn that he shouldn't switch sides during fruit picking as daddy is rubbish!) we headed down to Southerndown, along with half of south Wales. I suspect the other half were at Barry Island! Southerndown is a stunning beach with rockpools and a huge swathe of sand that can (and did) accommodate thousands at low tide, but is completely covered at high tide. Luckily we arrived just on the right side of low tide and spent a really pleasurable few hours in a magnificent location where all that can be heard is families and friends having fun.

Country Kids Blue Skies Fun 2

—

Have A Wild Time This Summer With The National Trust (Summer Activities)

July 3, 2013 by TheBoyAndMe 4 Comments

The Summer holidays are one of the best times of the year for getting the children up off the sofa, jumping into the great outdoors and having heaps of fun discovering new places.

To keep the children entertained throughout, the National Trust is encouraging children to complete its '50 things to do before you're 11 & ¾' wild-time challenge and see if they can try and tick off more than 25 things on the list during the six weeks of summer (Monday 22 July – Sunday 1 September).

[Read more…]

#47 Cook On A (Camp) Fire

June 30, 2013 by TheBoyAndMe 21 Comments

The sun blazed down, faces were painted at the Summer Fayre, a cooling breeze blew across our skins as we scooted across the barrage, and wispy clouds floated across the azure sky.

That was our Saturday afternoon, and the reason that we decided to attempt a barbecue last night. Off we trotted and stocked up on firelighters, strawberries (for the Pimm's), finger rolls, potato salad and peppers (for the kebabs). How was I to know that this would be the signal for the clouds to gather and threaten our idyllic day?

Nonetheless, we huddled on the patio and enjoyed our bizarre mismatch of cuisine, before having a go at toasting marshmallows on the smouldering (camp)fire.

cook on a camp fire

The Boy's face at the excess charcoal says it all, still tasted great though!

—

'Cooking on a Camp Fire' is #47 on the National Trust's list of 50 Things To Do Before You're 11&¾

Days 146-152 of Project 365

June 1, 2013 by TheBoyAndMe 28 Comments

Project 365

146. Manipulation (We took The Boy over to Techniquest in Cardiff Bay as we'd recently bought a yearly pass, there's so much to explore there and he loves it. Transferring the cargo from the quayside to the ship proved quite tricky, but he managed it!)

147. Pondlife (It was Nana's birthday today and so we took her over to Dyffryn Gardens as she hasn't been there in a decade or two. I surprised her by meeting my sister there with my niece and nephew, and the three children had great fun racing around the grounds, much to mum's delight. The ponds have wonderful examples of pond-skaters, water boatmen and newts there so we got to cross off another of our 50 Things!)

148. Splosh! (A tiresome day today with many things which needed doing before packing to come away on holiday, a tired little boy and a crotchety mummy. By the time Mr. TBaM came in, I handed The Boy over to him for half an hour's splashing fun/peace and quiet.)

149. Fountains (On the way down to Bridport on holiday, we called into Montacute House, a National Trust place in Dorset. Beautiful venue and stately grounds were in abundance, unfortunately there wasn't a huge amount there for children, despite the advertised adventure playground. It gave us a chance to stretch our legs though.)

150. Engine Driver (We returned to Pecorama, a place we'd first been two years ago, to explore the gardens, play areas and most importantly the miniature steam railway. The Boy was very intrigued with how it all worked.)

151. Snappy Dresser! (A morning walk down to West Bay beach at 10am and a straw hat was already a necessity with the blazing sunlight, long may it continue. Maybe The Boy is actually surveying the cliffs at Broadchurch?)

152. From Where We Stand (Or should that be sit? A rare photo of the three of us, even if it is only my feet. No trip to Dorset is complete without a few hours on the imported sandy beach at Lyme Regis! We built sandcastles and ate fish and chips on the beach, followed by an ice-cream on the promenade. The perfect end to our holiday.)

—