Cefn Onn Country Park (Country Kids)

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I've been desperate for a few years to find a local bluebell wood, and this year The Boy loves nothing better than tramping through a forest, so in search of the elusive sapphire flowers before they disappeared, we headed to Cefn Onn for the first time. This was recommended to me by Laura from Side Street Style and I am very grateful that I followed her advice!

Tucked away in a fold of Caerphilly Mountain, Cefn Onn Country Park is on the northern fringes of Cardiff. The park was laid out between 1911 and 1925 by Ernest Albert Prosser (general manager of the Rhymney Valley Railway, which runs alongside the park with an abandoned train 'halt') as a woodland garden where his son could recuperate from tuberculosis.

Luckily we used the SatNav to get us there because we could have easily missed it. When we arrived, we were almost put off by the limited parking and 'seen-better-days' toilets, but I'm so glad we persevered as once we had walked under the 'bridge' with the thundering traffic of the M4 we discovered a wonderland that I'd never have guessed was there. Cefn Onn (meaning 'ridge of ash trees') holds one of the finest collections of rhododendron and azalea bushes in Europe, and they were in full bloom when we arrived. The huge collection of both native and exotic trees create a high canopy which helps to muffle the sounds of the 21st century, the sunlight streams through this creating a dappled effect on the colourful bushes and carpet of bluebells.

Cefn Onn

We veered off the tarmac path running throughout most of the park so we could do our usual tree climbing and 'exploring'. The Boy asked if there was a playground and I pointed out the balance beam that was the fallen tree trunk, the climbing frame which turned out to be an oak, the stepping stones across the stream and the treasure hunt that was hunting for pinecones.

Cefn Onn

There is a small stream (Nant Fawr) which runs throughout the parkland, with stepping stones and a Japanese bridge, as well as fallen logs and more structured bridges. The stream stems from a large pond (which is probably fed into from a brook higher up the mountain) which is three-quarters of the way up the park, and is a beautiful spot for a picnic, or for hot golden retrievers to jump into, much to the amusement of The Boy.

We must have spent two and a half hours wandering around the park and had a brilliant time. Definitely one to return to in the Autumn when the leaves are turning golden colours and creating a crunchy carpet underfoot.

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country kids

Beachcombing Treasure Tile (100 Days Of Play)

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One of activities on the old '50 Things To Do Before You're 11&¾' list was 'hunt for treasure on a beach'. That may no longer be valid for the 2013 list, but it is still an excellent activity to do with children and even more so for us as we live in a coastal town. It also seemed the ideal play activity to do with The Boy for the exciting blog hop I'm taking part in (organised by Sun Scholars & Life at the Zoo) called '100 Days of Play'. The idea of the blog hop is to feature 100 different play based activities from bloggers all over the world; one a day, every day, for a 100 days.

Beachcombing Treasure Tile

We like popping down to the beach, and go every Thursday once I get home from school. On our predominantly pebble beach there is always a plethora of treasure to be scavenged; eagle eyes are definitely needed to 'comb' the grey pebbles for the different and occasional glints of seaglass or shells. This time I decided to make a relief tile of the treasure that we found, by using airdry clay and pushing the discoveries into the tile to hold them firmly in place.

I used a takeaway (tupperware) container to hold the airdry clay, this was also useful to clip the lid into place to prevent damage while transporting it home. I also made two holes near the top to tie the string through once it had dried.

We spent a good amount of time looking for fossils in the stones (not many in our area), interesting rocks with patterns in the composition, shells (both barnacle and snail type shells), and seaglass. There's a fair amount of seaglass around our way from the times when Britain was not so caring of the environment. Eroded by time, waves and rocks; the seaglass has an opaque appearance with all rough edges worn away. Occasionally you can find a piece with lettering or numbers on it, as The Boy did, and we came up with a great story of it belonging to a pirate.

Beach Treasure Tile

This is the type of activity that doesn't have to be limited to a beach, it would be just as good in a woodland for example. The only issue there is that over time the items found in a woodland will rot, but for the short term it would work just as well. It could even work for a box of magic buttons or trinkets collected over time and from different generations.

It's also an excellent resource for storytelling, as mentioned above; the reasons and back-stories to the different treasures could be fascinating and an excellent form of oracy development.

100 Days Of Play Blog Hop

Sharing simple ideas on how to connect with your children through play!

New ideas shared each day from 1st April – 20th July 2013.

100 Days of Play is brought to you by these wonderful bloggers:

SunScholars . Frogs, Snails & Puppy Dog Tails . Playful Learners . Train Up a Child . Fantastic Fun & Learning . Scribble, Doodle & Draw . Learn. Create. Love. . Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas . Nothing if Not Intentional . My Little 3 & Me . Buggy & Buddy . Sun Hats & Wellie Boots . Twodaloo . True Aim . The Educators' Spin On It . Blog Me Mom . Life At The Zoo . Putti's World . Kitchen Counter Chronicles . Triple T Mum . Busy Kids Happy Mom . Crystal's Tiny Treasures . Rainy Day Mum . Momma's Fun World . My Little Bookcase . Craftulate . One Perfect Day . MumCentral . Artchoo! . Creative World Of Varya . Simple. Home. Blessings. . JDaniel4's Mom . NurtureStore . Me & Marie Learning . Child Central Station . Mamas Like Me . Mama Miss . Making Boys Men . Powerful Mothering . Craft to Art . 3 Dinosaurs . Domestic Goddesque . Lessons Learnt Journal . Royal Baloo . Smiling Like Sunshine . Adventures at Home with Mum . B-Inspired Mama . PragmaticMom . Eazy Peazy Mealz . Gluesticks . TheBoy&Me . Learning is Messy . My Nearest & Dearest . Growing Book by Book . How to Run a Home Daycare . Here Come the Girls . Think Magnet . Dandelions Picked . 123 Homeschool 4 Me . Our Ordinary Life . Parenting with Professor Poppins . 2 Little Hooligans . Fun-a-Day! . The Non-Martha Mamma . Angelique Felix . My Very Educated Mother . Creative Playhouse . Go Explore Nature . Zing Zing Tree . Sense of Wonder . Childhood 101 . Crayon Freckles . KZ & Me . Serenity You . This Mumma's Life . Leapfrog & Ladybugs . Blue Bear Wood . Growing Together . KC EDventures . Mommy Lessons 101 . Nature & Play . Like Mama Like Daughter . Mums Make Lists . From Wine to Whine . Messy Kids . Babble Dabble Do . Sugar Aunts . Teaching @ Home . Preschool Powol Packets . Clothed in Love . Curiosity Creates . The Magnolia Barn . Strong Start . Stay-at-Home Mom Survival Guide . Learn with Play at Home . Mummy… Mummy… MUM! . Science Sparks . Toddler Approved . Thrive 360 Living . Rockabye Butterfly . Mud Hut Mama . Coffee Cups & Crayons . Playing with Words 365 . My Lil Love Bugs . Creative Connections for Kids . LalyMom . Love, Play, Learn . Kindergarten & Preschool for Parents & Teachers . The Pleasantest Thing . Teach Beside Me 

The Weekly Kids Co-Op

Exploring Tredegar House & Gardens (Country Kids)

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Growing up in south Wales means that I have a heads-up on the types of places and activities that are good to take The Boy on weekends; there's now't as good as personal experiences and happy memories as a reference bank to fun!

One of the places that I didn't really experience much as a child was Tredegar House in Newport, probably due to a mixture of cost, subject matter (my mum doesn't like history as she doesn't like to dwell in the past) and distance. I do remember going there once when I was about eight years old, and have a photo to prove it, but haven't been since. And that was a long time ago.

Having a media pass to the National Trust for the year, and being a NT blogger, means that we are now visiting places that we wouldn't have thought of going to before; Tredegar House is one of those. It was taken over by the National Trust last year and since then there have been changes to make it more interactive and interesting to children, something I've noticed in every National Trust property we've been too.

And so we decided to visit Tredegar House last Saturday when they were running a special event to promote the 50 Things campaign. The irony is that we spent so long playing on the lawn with the old fashioned games, having a picnic and exploring the house, that we didn't have much time to try and tick off some of our 50 Things. It's just as well we're making good progress anyway.

Spring had definitely sprung; the brilliant sunlight was glistening through the freshly budding leaves, casting dappled shadows on the lush lawn and providing a veritable paradise to play on. From the huge conifer, spreading its arms over the lawn protectively, hung tyre-horses swinging back and fore with the giggles of The Boy and other delighted children. The huge open space provded him with the ideal opportunity to fly his kite with just enough breeze to lift it.


Tredegar House & Gardens, Newport

And after we'd enjoyed our picnic lunch and explored the partly restored manor house, we managed to find a cracking tree to explore inside. The only problem was… how to get up to it? Well, that's what daddies are for, isn't it?

—

coombe mill

Learning for Life

The New '50 Things To Do Before You're 11&¾'

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I'm a really big fan of the '50 Things To Do Before You're 11&¾' campaign. Combine that with 'Country Kids' and it has transformed our weekend activities. That is genuinely no exaggeration; I like completing challenges and blogging about them as part of our lives, if it was the initial motivation for becoming more physically active then I see that as no bad thing.

The '50 Things To Do Before You're 11&¾' campaign has been created to help ensure that our children are having the natural childhood they deserve. With children in the UK being the most depressed in the western world, providing them with a sense of achievement and pride in their accomplishments (while also reconnecting them to nature) is essential. The exhilaration experienced from managing to climb that tricky tree or seeing a kite that you've made soaring through the sky is second to none for a child.

In order to update the list and make it more relevant to children in the UK, the National Trust have made a few changes. Initially I was a little irritated as quite a few things that they've removed were challenges that we'd managed (feed a bird by hand, visit an island, bury someone in the sand, balance on a fallen tree) but upon further examination I realised that they are now far more accessible for all, and realistic to achieve. It's all very well having the challenge of 'getting behind a waterfall' but if you live in the middle of the flattest part of Britain then it's rather tricky to achieve. Likewise for landlocked residents, visiting an island or hunting for treasure on a beach is nigh on impossible. And I can't thank the National Trust enough for changing 'see the sun wake up' to 'go star gazing'; after many years of teaching The Boy to not wake up at the crack of dawn, I wasn't relishing that task!

I've blogged previously about the Fifty Things so am not going to write them all out again, but I would like to highlight the changes:

 

Out

In
11. Throw some snow Go on a really long bike ride
12. Hunt for treasure on a beach Make a trail with sticks
15. Go sledging Play in the snow
16. Bury someone in the sand Make a daisy chain
18. Balance on a fallen tree Create some wild art
19. Swing on a rope swing Play Pooh sticks
20. Make a mud slide Jump over waves
21. Eat blackberries growing in the wild Pick blackberries growing in the wild
22. Take a look inside a tree Explore inside a tree
23. Visit an island Visit a farm
24. Feel like you’re flying in the wind

Go on a walk barefoot
27. Watch the sun wake up Go star gazing
29. Get behind a waterfall Explore a cave
30. Feed a bird from your hand Hold a scary beast
33. Catch a butterfly in a net Catch a falling leaf
36. Call an owl Make a home for a wild animal
42. Go wild swimming Go swimming in the sea
43. Go rafting Build a raft
44. Light a fire without matches Go bird watching
46. Try bouldering Try rock climbing
48. Try abseiling Learn to ride a horse

 I'd urge parents to sign their children up for a '50 Things' account as it's fun to use and a great record of all the tasks completed, ours shows we've completed 21 of the tasks so far.

50 Things

I have a linky running for anyone who has blogged about their children's '50 Things' challenges, I'd love for you to join in below.



Fifty Things To Do Before You're 11&¾ (The Link-Up)

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My childhood garden was large and full of little nooks and crannies (notice you never get a cranny without a nook?) that offered hours of entertainment. Summers were long and balmy, filled with the squeals of laughter of four siblings who would tie each other to trees with their pigtails (thank you brother 1), hold talent contests on the picnic bench, splash around and soak each other with the hose, play badminton in the quiet side road next to the house, race on the go-kart from the side garden and under the archway to the garage into the back garden, and practise tennis or netball against the side wall of the garage. All under the watchful eye of my mum from the living room or kitchen window, both of which were upstairs (weird layout) and commanded a magnificent view over our 'empire'.

The point I am trying to make here is that we spent hours and hours every day outside.

As my siblings grew older, I had less playmates but it didn't affect my desire to get out into the fresh air. Even now, I feel free when outside, it soothes my frazzled nerves and I can feel my spirits lifting.

When we went to Nymans for the National Trust event earlier this Spring, David Bond (marketing director for Nature!) asked us whether our happy place was inside or outside. The split was about half and half, which is very different to most families. Most adults (and children) now have an indoors happy place. It is therefore, hardly surprising that children in the UK are the most depressed in the natural world; they don't know about the joy of feeling the wind through their hair and tingling their senses, the sun caressing the skin, the sense of achievement when they climb a tree or jump the brook, skim the stone or make a den.

Last year I blogged about the 50 Things To Do Before You're 11&¾ campaign by the National Trust. I set us a goal of 5 Things To Do Before You're 3 and we attempted four of these things (the waterfall was always going to be ambitious!). In the past year we've ticked off a few more of these (mostly easy to achieve) targets and are making steady progress, mainly thanks to the Country Kids linky over on Coombe Mill.

  1. Climb a tree (04/11/12)
  2. Roll down a really big hill
  3. Camp out in the wild
  4. Build a den
  5. Skim a stone
  6. Run around in the rain
  7. Fly a kite
  8. Catch a fish with a net (25/07/14)
  9. Eat an apple straight from a tree
  10. Play conkers
  11. Go on a really long bike ride
  12. Make a trail with sticks
  13. Make a mud pie
  14. Dam a stream
  15. Play in the snow
  16. Make a daisy chain
  17. Set up a snail race
  18. Create some wild art (21/07/13)
  19. Play Pooh sticks
  20. Jump over waves
  21. Eat blackberries growing in the wild
  22. Explore inside a tree
  23. Visit a farm
  24. Go on a walk barefoot
  25. Make a grass trumpet
  26. Hunt for fossils and bones
  27. Go star gazing
  28. Climb a huge hill
  29. Explore a cave
  30. Hold a scary beast
  31. Hunt for bugs
  32. Find some frogspawn
  33. Catch a falling leaf
  34. Track wild animals
  35. Discover what's in a pond
  36. Make a home for a wild animal
  37. Check out the crazy creatures in a rock pool
  38. Bring up a butterfly
  39. Catch a crab (25/07/14)
  40. Go on a nature walk at night
  41. Plant it, grow it, eat it
  42. Go swimming in the sea
  43. Build a raft (05/08/13)
  44. Go bird watching
  45. Find your way with a map and compass
  46. Try rock climbing
  47. Cook on a campfire
  48. Learn to ride a horse
  49. Find a geocache
  50. Canoe down a river

I've decided to write this post for me so that we can cross off the other targets as and when we meet them. And because it's more a of a reference bank for me, I also thought I'd open it up as a permanent linky until… well The Boy is 11&¾ quite frankly. Either that or until he does them all!

I'd love it if you joined in with your posts or photos (Instagrams/twitpics) showing your children fulfilling one of their Fifty Things To Do Before You're 11&¾.

50-things1



50 Things: #1, #4 & #34 (Country Kids)

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Children in the UK are the unhappiest kids in the western world.

Really?! Here in the UK?

Sadly, I'm not surprised. As a teacher I'm privy to a great deal of information about the interventions which have to be put into place for vulnerable or depressed children. Depression in children is on the increase, and I think as parent we need to ask ourselves why? Personally I believe that it's because they are more aware of the world around them, they're told of too many problems that exist before they're emotionally capable of dealing with them, and because society is too busy for their needs.

When was the last time you went screen-free for any substantial amount of time and simply played?

Tuesday of this week saw the day going pear-shaped before it had even really started. I was groggy and grumpy, the drone of the fridge, washing machine, dehumidifier and even the turned-off Sky box was getting to me. I stood on one side of the stairgate looking at my screaming and sobbing child stood on the other side, wondering where my rational brain had gone and why I was having an argument with him.

Fifty Things - Tree Climbing

Twenty minutes later.

We had pulled into the car park of the country park with my head still buzzing from the electricity. Having donned our wellies and grabbed our bag of bread for the swans and ducks, we set off in search of the important stuff; fun and happiness. Encircled by hungry swans trying to take bread directly from the bag, I shared the provisions out while The Boy fed the white ducks directly from his hand.

He was cycling around the edge of the lake and towards the park when we found some tracks in the mud.

fifty things - track an animal

This is how we ended up in the woods above, practising our tree climbing. We tracked the horse into the woods, where the ground turned harder and the leaves covered the tracks, however there was a magnificent sweeping bough begging to be straddled! And yes, I climbed the trees to, and it was liberating.

Despite not being able to find any spruce branches, we still managed to build a cracking den, putting into practise the wonderful advice from Rob Cowen of the Natural Childhood campaign. I'm not sure that The Boy understands the concept of twigs though.

Fifty Things - Building a Den

I can't have my child ending up as one of the unhappiest, I just can't. This is why we've signed the pledge to spend as much time outdoors as we do in front of the screen with Project Wild Thing.

Fifty Things To Do Before You're 11 & ¾

  • #1 – Climb a tree
  • #4 – Build a den
  • #34 – Track an animal

—

coombe mill

Learning for Life

Days 62-68 of Project 365

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62-68 of 365

20130309-192237.jpg

62. Shoot! (These are the seeds we planted a week ago in our gardening play table. They've really shot up, which means that I now have to find somewhere to move them to so they can acclimatise to the outside temperature. However, look to the back, the middle seed label was written by The Boy.)

63. The Sands of Time (We went for a long walk and cycle along Cardiff Bay Barrage today and played in the pirate play park there. We were the only people in the park for quite some time, which meant that The Boy had free rein over the sandy, sunken, pirate ship.)

64. Lick! (The first ice-cream of the year down the beach! The Boy had an eye-test today and he was meant to have eyedrops to test for a stigmatism, however because he held so still and was compliant during the test, he didn't need the drops which I was very relieved about. As a result it meant we were able to nip down to the beach and enjoy an ice-cream on the pier with nana.)

65. Bed Fellows (The Boy looked so peaceful when I went to check on him at midnight, so calm and serene. Oliver Monkey is never far away, and the week wouldn't be complete without a sleeping photo!)

66. Bubbles at Bathtime! (We had an extra long bathtime tonight where we had the bubble machine out, a pot of bubbles and the underwater light – all to remember a special little girl who loved bubbles.)

67. Catch The Pigeon! (Remember the Wacky Races song? Our weekly cycle ride along the pier was just like a scene from that today. The pier was deserted aside from a few elderly couples having their 'daily constitutional' and one or two brave pigeons. I say brave because once The Boy saw them he was determined to scare them away, something that made the grannies and grandads chuckle at!)

68.Splat! (We've been to Nymans for a National Trust event today as we are helping to promote the 50 Things To Do Before You're 11 and ¾ campaign. More to follow on this, and I've had to add this photo in at the last minute so please forgive any editing errors in this post!)

—

TheBoyandMe's 365 Linky
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akiltandacamera.com

Country Kids: Park Explorer

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We're well into the pattern of getting our minimum of 15 minutes of outdoor play a day now, striding past week two and entering week three. It's been significantly helped by the fact that the past week has been half-term and so I didn't have the stumbling block of my work days getting in the way and effecting our fun and games.

The beach is a top, and easy, venue for us as there aren't enough hours in the day to explore every pebble there, but for a bit of variety we've been going to the parks as well. Turns out my council is a bit unimaginative when it comes to playgrounds in parks and we're bored of them already; there seems to be a set template of poxy climbing frame, baby and junior swing, one slide and a wobbly roundabout. A far cry from the treasures I see other people visiting!

However, we have enjoyed the one decent one in our town which is just around the corner from where I grew up and as such is one I frequented a lot as a child.

country kids park explorer 2

I used to climb that tree as a child, so proud of him for learning how to do it too! I'm sure it used to be bigger though?

We've also been to Victoria Park in Cardiff, which is a brilliant park with plenty of money thrown at it; different authorities have different priorities I guess? In the Summer, the paddling/swimming pool is packed with children splashing each other and shrieking with laughter. Winter turns the pool into a curiosity for young children. The Boy managed to find himself a friend in the shape of four year old Phoebe who took his hand and guided him around the playground.

country kids park explorer

Today we've been down the beach front (again) on The Boy's bike and I have had to tell Mr. TBaM to stop wrapping him up in cotton wool; he's more capable on his bike than his father gave him credit for! If we can just get him to keep his speed up then those stabilisers will be off in no time!

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country kids

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