Outdoor Play Party | TheBoyandMe

Clothes In The Wash, Me In The Bath!

February 8, 2014 by TheBoyAndMe 20 Comments

This has always been our motto with The Boy.

From a young age we've encouraged him to explore the natural world and allowed him to get as mucky as he wants to outside. Clothes after all are to keep us warm and protect our bodies, if they get dirty then they go in the washing machine. If The Boy gets dirty then he goes in the bath.

As far as I am concerned, there really is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing. And there really is no excuse for preventing children to have fun in the natural environment. Least of all getting clothes dirty.

Which is why when the sun broke through the clouds last Sunday we met up with my brother and his family at the local nature reserve. Apart from a three minute downpour when we were feeding the swans, the sunlight was revitalising and much needed.

Especially for showing the way when climbing trees.

Clothes In The Wash, Me In The Bath

But then of course all that rain that we've had makes for some glorious squelchy fun. Mud, glorious mud.

Clothes In The Wash, Me In The Bath

So after some jumping up and down in muddy puddles, sliding down muddy banks and trying to catch squirrels, we had a small accident.

Clothes In The Wash, Me In The Bath

This is why we have a washing machine.

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Linking up to Country Kids, Outdoor Play Party and Flashback Friday

A Winter's Day On The Beach

January 17, 2014 by TheBoyAndMe 24 Comments

It feels like weeks since the weather has been anywhere near pleasant enough to enjoy when out and about, indeed it was last year for us! The last day of 2013 saw The Boy and I pop down to the beach for a scoot and cycle. As we curved around the hillside road leading down to the beach, I saw that the tide was at its lowest for quite some time, and so we drove home again to pick up my wellies as I didn't feel that my trainers would survive the beach.

I was right.

A Winter's Day On The Beach 1

After a quick cycle on the pier, where The Boy discovered why cycling down a ramp at speed into a pole isn't a good idea, we picked our way across the smooth, round, grey pebbles and over the swathe of sand. I thought that we'd be stopping to examine the rock pools which are visible at low tide, but the lure of the squelchy mud at the water's edge was too much for a four year old boy to bear.

A Winter's Day On The Beach 2

And that's when it happened.

In the one second when I didn't have my camera trained on him, he went and did the winning Candid Camera moment.

A Winter's Day On The Beach 3

Thank God I'd put his waterproof trousers on him!

And it didn't just happen once, he seemed to have balance issues that day and he fell over another three times.

A Winter's Day On The Beach 4

After a joyous two hours on the beach, it was time to squelch our way back to the car for the big clean-up operation. But look how much fun we had!

A Winter's Day On The Beach

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Linking up to Flashback Friday, Country Kids and The Outdoor Play Party

The Best Playground (Country Kids)

December 27, 2013 by TheBoyAndMe 14 Comments

Considering what an advocate of outdoor play I am, I've found it increasingly difficult since The Boy started school to get out and about more than once or twice a week on a school day. When he comes home from school he's utterly exhausted and collapses on the sofa for half an hour or so, vegetating in front of the television while chomping down on a snack. Invariably by the time he's recovered enough to do anything it's pitch-black outside.

I must try harder next half-term.

However, while we have managed to get down to the nature reserve to feed the swans once a week or popped to a park, we seem to have neglected the best playground around; our back garden. With a climbing frame and slide set, plus a swing, there's really not much more he needs to create some fun and games in his own time. Therefore on Christmas Eve morning, when things were becoming a little fraught in the house, I sent The Boy out with Mr. TBaM to rediscover how easy it is to get 15 minutes outdoors a day.

The Best Playground

Watching him through the kitchen window as I made our Christmas cake, it struck me how more physically aware and confident he is than six months ago when he first had the climbing frame. The Boy now scampers up the side of the frame easily and balances at the top with no problem. The swing seems to have become a challenge for him; how many acrobatic moves can he perform on it? Standing on it gave me a few palpitations, and then I saw him jump off the seat…

He ended the play with an attempt at flying. Because he's four and if he wants to believe he can then I'm not one to stop him!

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country kids

The Pumpkin Patch

September 30, 2013 by TheBoyAndMe 12 Comments

We intended to spend a quiet day in the house, pottering around and baking, but the weather had different ideas. Unlike yesterday which was grey and dreary, the sky was azure and the temperature balmy for late September, and I really didn't want to waste the day inside. I'd also seen one or two photos recently of pumpkins being harvested, and so we headed down to Hendrewennol, our local pick-your-own farm.

Fortune was on our side, as today was the last day for pumpkin picking; the inclement weather meant that the chap in charge was harvesting them all today to prevent them going manky. We were handed a pair of secateurs (with instructions not to hurt ourselves!) and trotted off through the field exploring with our trusty trug.

Hendrewennol PYO

It was great fun examining all the different sized pumpkins, and finding the right coloured ones too. Orange are perfect for eating now, but green with a slight hint of orange will keep for several weeks until the end of October, especially if kept in a dark space and brought out a fortnight before Hallowe'en. We also picked a load of lovely 'munchkin' pumpkins, which I have great plans for!

Hendrewennol PYO

After we'd unloaded the trug into the car, we went off in search of acorns en route to the maize maze, which was empty of people but full to bursting of sweetcorn cobs. The Boy was fascinated by them and I did take the liberty of stripping a few down (on the plant) to show him that under the silks and leaves were wonderfully, juicy golden cobs.

Hendrewennol PYO

This was the second time we'd been to Hendrewennol this season, the first was in July to pick strawberries. Within a few weeks they will be closed until May as there will be no crops to harvest; that really brought home to me how seasonal fruit and vegetables should be. We spent a wonderful Autumn afternoon here, learning about the food we eat, finding 'loose parts', navigating the maize maze, and then exploring the fabulous sandpit in the play area.

Hendrewennol play area

I also really enjoyed getting to grips with manual on my camera a little bit more, it's starting to make a little more sense to me, and where better to work out the best settings than in this beautiful location?

Hendrewennol PYO

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Linking this up to Country Kids and The Outdoor Play Party for outdoor fun, and The Sunday Prop Shop to show off my wonderful trug and how gorgeous it looks with miniature pumpkins in it being carried by The Boy.

country kids Outdoor play party

Diving In! (Country Kids)

July 15, 2013 by TheBoyAndMe 21 Comments

As parents one of our jobs is to prevent our children from being afraid of the things we were; to prevent irrational fears.

I always enjoy going to the swimming pool, and I do like swimming, but I have a real fear of water in my face and I can't contemplate swimming underwater or even with the correct head position for front crawl. The minute water splashes up in my face, the fear kicks in that I'm not going to be able to breathe. And just as with every irrational fear, there is something that started it off. For me it was swimming with my dad when I was around eight years old, he left me on the side of the fairly shallowish water while he went and tried out the diving board and plunge pool (he's not the most responsible of people), but unfortunately the pool's wave machine was turned on during that five minutes and I lost my footing and went under. I remember every second vividly and I was petrified that I wouldn't be able to get up again. Obviously I did, but it was one of the scariest moments of my life and accounts for my claustrophobia and fear of putting my face in the water.

I don't want to pass this onto The Boy, and I try really hard to bite my tongue and assess the situation first before rushing forward to him. However sometimes I am aware that a little slips out, and there might be an occasional "let me wipe your face".

So going to a birthday party of a friend whose water confidence is first rate filled me both with terror and hope for The Boy's own confidence.

Diving In 1

You can see the difference between the two boys: one has been swimming once since last September due to chronic glue ear in both ears (and even then that was probably only his tenth trip, at a generous guess), and the other boy has been swimming since he was a tiny baby. One has a few drops of water in his face and is rubbing the water out of his eyes, one has water pouring down his face. I'm not criticising my boy, it's just a stark contrast in the ability levels of both boys of the same age.

The Boy happily stayed in the pool for around thirty minutes before getting out to play on the bouncy castle, or with swing ball (playing a leftie is the easiest way of playing this!), and soon wanted to get changed back into his clothes.

Then after dinner, and once all the other party guests had left, both boys returned to play in the garden. Burton quickly stripped down to his pants and went into the pool, The Boy took a further ten minutes before he followed suit.

And this is what happened…

Diving In 2