All posts filed under: Activities

Four easy DIY bird feeders

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On January 24 and 25 this year, the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch takes place.  We’ve signed up for the event and this week, in preparation, decided to make some easy DIY bird-feeders. The Big Garden Birdwatch is an annual event.  The aim is to encourage people throughout the UK to spend one hour during the weekend counting all the birds they see in their garden, and submit their results to the Big Birdwatch website. The results are used to monitor the ups and downs of the UK bird population.  Why not join in? You can find out more, or sign up for the event, at the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch website. The DIY bird-feeders below are really easy to make, great for children to get involved in, and, most importantly, provide an important source of food for our garden birds at a time of year when food is scarce and the weather cold. While I’m on the topic and before we launch into the how-tos…  if you have small children who are into nature, you really …

Blackberry Oaty Cookies

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I love this time of year when it’s still summer, but the early mornings hint at the changing season to come, with a chill in the air and wisps of mist clinging to the fields and woods in the valley below our house. It seems early this year, but the trees and hedgerows near us are starting to reveal their autumn goodies, with cob nuts everywhere and ripe blackberries on show already.  So, we took ourselves off blackberry picking, joined by Bird Girl and Chief Stick Collector’s cousins and my sister. As luck would have it, blackberry picking is another thing on our list of 50 Things to do before 11 3/4. So we were hoping to be able to tick off another challenge, which sounded like it would be an easy and risk-free one to complete! We did have to be careful to avoid stinging nettles and blackberry thorns, so it wasn’t entirely without an element of danger (as far as that term is understood by preschoolers!).  But it didn’t take us long to pick enough to take home. …

Building a Den

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The National Trust has a fabulous initiative called “50 Things to Do Before You’re 11 3/4“, to encourage children to get out and about and explore the great outdoors.  We’ve been wanting to have a go at completing the list and so, with a spare few hours on a sunny Monday, we headed off into the woods and parkland of our local National Trust property – Hughenden Manor – to make a start on ticking off some of the 50 activities. First up on the list for us was No. 28 – Climb a huge hill.  And since Hughenden is in the Chilterns, it didn’t take us too long to find a suitable candidate. Once we had made it to the top, and had a brief snack break, it wasn’t exactly difficult to decide what to attempt next. Yes, it was time for No. 22 – Roll down a really big hill!  After contemplating the descent for a while, Chief Stick Collector decided he was game, and hurtled down with shrieks of delight. Bird Girl, on the other hand, still recovering …

Beach Pebble Game

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We were lucky that our week visiting the grandparents at the seaside coincided with an unbroken run of hot sunny weather. Where we weren’t so lucky, however, was that it also coincided with Bird Girl having her arm in plaster, after having taken her epithet perhaps a little too seriously, and fallen from the climbing frame two weeks beforehand. Under strict instructions from the hospital not to let the cast get wet, and suspecting that sand in a plaster cast would not make for a happy two-year-old, we were struggling to find a way for her to enjoy the beach, but did not want her (or Chief Stick Collector) to miss out completely. And then we hit on Pebble Lookalikes. A game that all members of the family can play, and that doesn’t involve getting wet or sandy.  All you need is a bucket, a keen eye and a lively imagination. The rules? Simple – find as many pebbles as you can that resemble something else. Like spotting shapes in the clouds, but with pebbles. Prizes for …