Dadventures: Amazing Outdoor Adventures for Daring Dads and Fearless Kids

Dadventures: Amazing Outdoor Adventures for Daring Dads and Fearless Kids Alex Gregory The ultimate family activity guide for busy daring dads in need of a little inspiration to spend quality time with their kids, by double Olympic gold medallist rower, adventurer and father of three, Alex Gregory.‘Time is the one resource we can’t buy but we all want. It’s so important to make the most of the time we have and create lasting memories.’For a parent, leaving the house can sometimes be the hardest part. But outside is where adventures and memories are waiting to be made… From after-school adventures to an overnight trip, double Olympic gold medallist rower and father-of-three Alex Gregory shares exciting ideas for enjoying time together as a family, in all seasons. Whether you have 30 minutes to do homework up a tree, or a whole day to build an ancient bridge, you can delve in together and be inspired by this practical, easy guide for all ages. Divided into categories to fit whatever time slots work within the day, the book contains chapters such as After-School Adventures, 30-Minute Activities, Two-Hour Missions, Half-Day Experiences, Full-Day Adventures, Overnight Expeditions and Pushing Away from Land.No matter how much time you have, make it count with ‘Dadventures’ – the ultimate guide to ditching the routine and having fun with your kids. (#u7f6d337c-93fe-577f-a3db-542937e120eb) Copyright (#u7f6d337c-93fe-577f-a3db-542937e120eb) HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk) First published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2018 FIRST EDITION © Alex Gregory 2018 Illustrations © Alex Gregory, unless otherwise stated Cover design by Sim Greenaway © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2018 Cover illustration © Eiko Ojala 2018 A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library Alex Gregory asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work While every effort has been made to trace the owners of copyright material reproduced herein and secure permissions, the publishers would like to apologise for any omissions and will be pleased to incorporate missing acknowledgements in any future edition of this book. All efforts have been made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this book as of the date of publication. These activities should be approached with caution and children should always be supervised by a responsible adult. If you follow any of the activities in this book you do so at your own risk, and the publisher and the author disclaim all responsibility for any harm that occurs as a result of undertaking the activities suggested in this book. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books. Find out about HarperCollins and the environment at www.harpercollins.co.uk/green (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk/green) Source ISBN: 9780008283704 Ebook Edition © May 2018 ISBN: 9780008283711 Version: 2018-04-27 Dedication (#u7f6d337c-93fe-577f-a3db-542937e120eb) To my parents and grandparents, who showed me the value of being outdoors. For my children, Jasper, Daisy and Jesse. Here’s to making many more happy memories together under the big blue sky. Contents Cover (#u6950e469-5d02-5131-802d-8e4ca24d0553) Title Page (#u376f1ea9-6da0-5856-8260-d9508d6775ab) Copyright (#uc0d08b2e-f073-59a7-966a-0ad1f1bb496a) Dedication (#u3c4e84b9-accb-552f-90b4-ce83961d3c14) Note (#ud4c9eb04-eb43-54cb-820b-54c837381899) Key to Icons (#u4dfb0df5-d5f7-547f-8c42-00203e5cfc5a) Introduction (#ubc1ad4b4-306e-56df-b4d9-afdc259fc694) After-school adventures (#u3c535d2b-94e0-5a72-a1de-867ad1ee6f80) 30-minute activities (#litres_trial_promo) Two-hour missions (#litres_trial_promo) Half-day experiences (#litres_trial_promo) Take a break (#litres_trial_promo) Full-day adventures (#litres_trial_promo) Overnight expeditions (#litres_trial_promo) Pushing away from land (#litres_trial_promo) Afterword (#litres_trial_promo) Acknowledgements (#litres_trial_promo) Index of activities (#litres_trial_promo) About the Author (#litres_trial_promo) About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo) Note (#u7f6d337c-93fe-577f-a3db-542937e120eb) In descriptions of the activities in this book I’ve generally assumed that you have one child of a particular age. You might, of course, have a number of children of a varying range of ages. Each activity can easily be tailored to fit the needs of multiple children of any age. Key to Icons (#u7f6d337c-93fe-577f-a3db-542937e120eb) Best in dry conditions Can be done in bad weather Best during the day Can be done at night Simple, no preparation needed For the more adventurous Can be done in the garden/close to home Involves wildlife Gadgets required Involves water Introduction (#u7f6d337c-93fe-577f-a3db-542937e120eb) ‘You can’t keep a toad under your bed, it wouldn’t be happy! Toads like living in the garden!’ A toad, by Jasper. These could so easily have been my mum’s words echoing around our house as a seven-year-old me tried to smuggle a creature into my room. But in reality this was a snatch of conversation I heard in the upstairs of our home as my partner Emily tried to persuade our son Jasper to put the toad he’d brought into his bedroom, back outside into the front garden. Frogs and toads seem to be plentiful in the small garden of our rented cottage, and they’ve provided us with some exciting evening adventures. A few years ago, in our last house, it was hedgehogs – and before that, well, there’s always something to do outdoors … There are five of us in the house – two adults and three children – but a whole host of other creatures seem to have joined our menagerie along the way. Emily is the one who keeps us all going. She feeds us all, looks after us and stops our lives from grinding to a screeching halt. We first met at university many years ago. As I was going into our housing block from early rowing-training sessions on the river, she’d be returning home from a night out with friends, living a far more typical university lifestyle than me. We’d stop and chat, and soon discovered that we got on very well. We enjoyed each other’s company, and I found I wanted to spend more time with her than in a boat on the river. That was something new … and something that I couldn’t ignore. We happily started to spend the rare free time we had together getting to know each other, understanding each other, and sharing dreams and future aspirations. Emily was incredibly patient. I was pursuing a seemingly impossible dream, meaning my free time was limited to almost nothing. This meant that very quickly in our relationship we recognised the value of quality time. My days were spent out on rivers, lakes or in the gym, essentially working a full-time job while at university. I didn’t drink, I didn’t socialise that much, I made as many lectures as I possibly could, but my life was focused on one specific thing: the Olympics. I tried and I failed. Year after year I spent seven days a week, three times a day training, only to fall at the last hurdle. For so many different reasons I wasn’t reaching my potential and was coming up well short of my goals. But I never gave up. When everyone disappeared off home for the university holidays, I remained, the only person in the block. Waking up that first morning was like a scene from a disaster movie in which everyone except me had disappeared. Emily had returned home to her family on the Isle of Wight, but I could never go back to my family home or go and visit hers because of training or racing. Thankfully, for me, Emily was prepared to stick with me as I pursued my sporting career on lakes and rivers in far-flung places around the world. As time went by, we both graduated. Emily followed a career in teaching while I continued to battle it out for Olympic selection. We rented a tiny cottage in the centre of Henley-on-Thames and settled down, moving forward with our lives. Emily became an excellent primary-school teacher in a tough school on the outskirts of Reading, but things weren’t going so well for me and my sporting career was on the ropes. In a world in which performance is everything I was certainly falling short, so it was with a great deal of luck that I was selected to travel with the 2008 Olympic rowing team to Beijing as reserve. It seemed to be a bittersweet ending to my career, because after this trip I had decided to walk away from the sport for ever, as I was obviously not cut out for life as a successful Olympic rower. But it was there, sitting on the sidelines in China, that everything changed for me as an athlete – and for us as a couple. I returned home from China with renewed motivation and vigour, and set myself new goals, new challenges. I wasn’t giving up just yet. We weren’t quite expecting what life had in store for us, as a few brief months after my trip as Olympic reserve we discovered we were going to have our first child. It was a shock – a big shock – and not exactly in my grand plan. I had just found myself on a new path, and for the first time I was starting to excel in the sport I’d so nearly given up. There was a great deal of pressure on me to perform and I was only just beginning to do that, moving up the ranks within the team and reaching the position I’d need to be in to start competing for medals on the world stage. Life had taken an unexpected turn, and although I felt incredibly unsure about what it might entail, Emily remained strong and positive, matter of fact and excited about the future. It was always going to happen at some point. We had talked about having children and starting family life together, but I never imagined it would be this soon and at our age. I was really worried about other people’s reaction to our news, particularly my coach, J?rgen Gr?bler, who demanded complete commitment and the very top level of performance on a consistent, daily basis. Would he think I was being unprofessional and not committed to my sport? My place in the GB rowing team felt under threat. It took me six months to summon up the nerve to tell him, during which time I had further cemented my position as a valuable member of the squad and things had been going very well. I anxiously sat down and told him our news, shaking at the prospect of saying goodbye to nine years of commitment to rowing. To my utter surprise, astonishment and relief, J?rgen was happy and excited – even joyful – for us. ‘Oh, Alex, zat is fantastic news,’ he said in his strong German accent, eyes shining with genuine delight. ‘I am so happy for you as a young family.’ The weight of the world was lifted off my shoulders. J?rgen had no idea what that meeting was like for me and how much his support at that moment meant. A month after I became world champion for the first time, our first child was born. It was during Jasper’s birth that I had to miss a day of training. I remember feeling terribly uncomfortable with this, despite having a fairly sound excuse. Emily was having a traumatic labour and the birth was far from easy. Seventy-two hours, a breakneck journey in an ambulance at 2 a.m., a whole load of screaming (mainly from me) and two hospitals later, Jasper was pulled out through emergency C-section. Having been on a rollercoaster of emotion and not slept for days, I left my little family in the hospital and rocked up at the lake early in the morning acting as though everything was OK. I was an emotional wreck, relieved, happy, so tired but pumped full of adrenalin. My overriding wish, however, was to show that whatever was going on at home wasn’t affecting my performance on the water or in the gym. I was back into training as normal, falling asleep behind the oar but exerting myself like my life depended on it. Your place in the British rowing team is never secure, so I didn’t want to lose the position I was in after all those years of struggle. I spent the next eight months sleeping on our six-foot-long sofa (I’m six foot six) to try to limit the broken sleep while Emily dealt with the baby upstairs. Daisy Delilah, our second child, came into the world four years later in 2013, when I was away racing at the World Championships in South Korea. There was, regretfully, no popping home for the birth, so I left Emily and went off to race for Great Britain with my teammates. In the middle of the night before our first race I was awoken by Emily’s mum on the phone, telling me we had a beautiful baby girl and that this time everything had gone very smoothly. I remember standing in my underpants in the hotel corridor, a tear in my eye, feeling so far away from my family. The next morning, I wasn’t sure whether to tell my team mates, who were preparing to compete in the first race of the World Championships. It was a serious time for us, with twelve months of training behind us, and we needed to get it right. I didn’t want to distract anyone with unnecessary news, news that not everyone might want to hear or even care about. Rowing is a team sport in body and mind, and small distractions can have big effects on a whole crew. Somehow word got out over breakfast and everyone was supportive. I was so relieved and felt, strangely, that it took the pressure off us as a crew. We could now concentrate on the racing ahead. I finally met my daughter when she was ten days old after a horrendously slow journey home from South Korea. Bursting through the door on a late summer’s afternoon, tired and bedraggled from the long journey, my heart was pounding – I was so excited. To my amazement everyone was asleep. Jasper sprawled out at one end of the sofa in the way only four year olds can, Emily curled up at the other end, desperately trying to catch up on ten days with very little sleep. There on the floor, wrapped up in a white blanket in a tiny basket, was my daughter, red faced and utterly content. It wasn’t exactly the reception I’d been hoping for, but it really was quite emotional. I still felt detached, however. It wasn’t for another week after returning, when giving tiny Daisy a bath and she looked up into my eyes, that I felt the connection. With Jasper I’d been there every step of that painful (for Emily) way, and my child felt like mine. I’d missed that initial connection with Daisy – it was very strange as everyone in our extended family had met her before me. When the connection did finally arrive, I knew it was strong. Daisy is my daughter and I love her more than it’s possible to explain. Jesse Bear, our third child, was born while I was on a training camp in South Africa. The timing was a little unlucky, as he was booked in to arrive via C-section when I was home but he decided to make a break for it three days early. Of course, there wasn’t much we could do about it. When Jesse was taking his very first tiny breaths of cool, fresh air, I was gasping for any air on a rowing machine in the sweatbox of our hotel gym with 25 other men. When I had requested to delay my training session so that I could wait by the phone to hear the news, J?rgen Gr?bler replied, ‘Alex, zere is nothing you can do. But maybe it will make you row faster?’ So that was that. The moment passed in an extremely undignified fashion – me, eight thousand miles away, dressed in Lycra, dripping with sweat. We now had three children. Time is the one resource we can’t buy but we all want. The appreciation of time is never more apparent than when bringing up children, as you can see it disappearing before your eyes – the changes a baby goes through, the clothes they quickly grow out of, the foods they learn to eat and the words they start to say. Everything in a child’s life changes fast, and as a parent it’s all too easy to miss these transformations. Blink – and they’re gone. Over the course of my sporting life I’ve learnt how important the moments are that we have together as a family. From missing two of the three births, to never having a weekend away together, it was always so important to make the most of the short time we had and try to create lasting memories. Rowing certainly isn’t a sport that pays well, so we were always limited by what we were able to afford to do. But in turn this forced us to become creative. The most surprising change for me on becoming a parent was the improvement in my mental well-being. My own misconception was that having children would distract and take focus away from my sporting aspirations. What’s more, I believed the physical effort of having children would hamper my performance in one of the world’s most demanding and relentless training regimes. In all honesty the opposite was true. I believe having children altered my perspective, redressed the balance and without question improved my performance. I could see this almost immediately – and it continued until the end of my career as a sportsman. I’m not saying it was easy – it certainly wasn’t – but both parts of my life were mutually supportive and beneficial. Through making the most of our limited time together, I became a better parent. Consequently, I could do my job more effectively, with improved and more consistent results. As a parent it’s all too easy to flick on the TV and find something there that appeals to our children. In our house we’re all addicted to screens in some way. It’s easy to flick a switch, then hear the decibel level in the house go down and the arguing stop (until the TV’s turned off, when somehow little people become even grumpier!). I find it seriously hard to imagine how parenting was possible before TV and the internet. We’ve found it’s important to balance out this screen time with something that embeds valuable, lasting memories in the souls of our children. Of course we must embrace technology for our children’s sake – they need to be able to navigate the connected world, and I’m certainly not advocating total technology rejection – but there is more we can do to help create happy, healthy children and adults. Lasting memories can easily be made for very little or no cost other than time and just a bit of thought and effort. Dadventures is a book for families. It’s a book for mums, dads, grandparents, uncles and aunts. It’s a signpost for people who want to be shown how easily long-lasting memories can be made. In no way is it a definitive, encyclopaedic guide. It’s simply a starting point, a foundation upon which anyone can build their very own skills, thoughts and ideas, and develop their imagination outdoors. Not everyone will want to do everything in this book. That’s OK – the idea is to pick and choose, start something and move on to the next, or alter it to meet different situations and requirements. Everything in this book we’ve done as a family, and the experiences described are all true. Some activities we do regularly because we love them and we know that time spent doing these things is not time wasted. My family, by Daisy. We all have big belly buttons and very long toes! Let’s be honest, though. Not everything is always going to go right; the unpredictability of children means having to adapt, walk away, stop completely or start something again. This challenges us adults as much as it does the children, but that’s all part of the benefits of making these memories outdoors. Some of our strongest and funniest recollections of the times we’ve had together are when something didn’t go right, like the time Jesse fell in the only puddle in a five-mile radius, became instantly soaked to the skin and screamed until he was sick. At the time it felt like a disaster, but now we sit around the dinner table and laugh about that together – and will continue to do so for many years to come. The possibilities are limitless out there, and it’s often the first step outside the front door that is the hardest. What children want is time together, any time. Nothing has to be perfect for it to be memorable. I hope you enjoy … Happy memory-making! Alex, Emily, Jasper, Daisy and Jesse After-school adventures (#u7f6d337c-93fe-577f-a3db-542937e120eb) ‘Observation is a dying art.’ Stanley Kubrick There’s a period of time between the end of school and dinner time. It’s a grey area, fuzzy and non-specific. There’s a lot to do in these few hours … but also nothing to do. Sometimes there’s an after-school club that fills the time – multi-sports, football or tennis, or an art club at which your child paints a colourful mess on a thin piece of disintegrating paper, a masterpiece you’ve got to keep for years in a pile on a kitchen surface otherwise you’re a bad parent. But some days there’s nothing to do. Everyone is tired and hungry, and children are often bad-tempered from having had to rein in their emotions all day in the classroom. It’s all too tempting to go straight home, switch on the TV as you walk briskly through the house to the kitchen and flick the kettle on for your umpteenth coffee of the day. You need this coffee just to get you through the next few hours of the afternoon and into the evening. You spend two hours pottering around, tidying up, finishing off a bit of work, starting jobs you won’t finish that evening, while the kids become lethargic and bored, watching nothing they’ll remember on the TV. I should say here that watching TV is sometimes the right thing for them to do. There are some fantastic programmes for all ages on TV, and giving kids the opportunity after a busy day at school to rest on the sofa engrossed in an educational or fun programme is brilliant. But I’m also going to be honest – many of us do this far too much, as it’s an easy escape from having to interact with your children when they might be in a difficult mood. So what can we do? With a little bit of planning, these fuzzy grey hours can provide an opportunity to enjoy something truly productive and fun. I don’t always get the chance to pick the kids up from school, but when I do I want to make it memorable for them. I think it’s quite exciting for them when I pick them up because it’s slightly unusual. ‘Dad’s here!’ I hear the words drift over the mass of kids in front of me as I spot their beaming faces across the playground. While I was competing it was so unexpected for me to pick up Daisy from nursery that she’d burst into tears as soon as she saw me. I then had to head back out of the door and re-enter so she could prepare herself for my arrival! It’s not the best feeling when your child bursts into tears at the sight of you, but I understand it. This time of day provides a wonderful opportunity for our young people, so if you can, actually make the effort to arrive at the school gates with a plan already in place. It might be that your kids choose to go to school by scooter or bike, and you follow behind. If this is the case, tell them before you set off that day, that today is a walking day and they should leave their machines behind. It’ll be hard at first, but they’ll soon see the benefits! There’s always something to look at, something to point at, something out there to talk about. Whether it’s why the wind is blowing in a certain direction, why the clouds look like they do, what plant is growing down there and how it can be used, or what creatures are living under that stone. So when walking back along the pavement from school or when strolling across the fields point things out, look up, down and all around. Ask questions, stimulate conversation and create intrigue. Nurture the inquiring mind so that it will grow to be interested – and interesting. Even the smallest thing that you might consider insignificant can be fascinating to young eyes. The trick is seeing it in the first place! Quick inspiration Make up an adventure story from the things you see Point out five unusual things on the journey home Talk about the weather Identify an animal Identify three trees Simple treasure hunt A treasure hunt is something very special and memorable. With a bit of planning it’s easy to set up, whether in the garden, a local park or even along the street on the walk home from school. A little detour to do something interesting can really make the difference to a young person’s day. This activity can be scaled up and turned into a long full-day adventure over a weekend or during the summer holidays. The longer it is, the more time is needed for planning, but the effort is certainly worth it. Don’t forget a torch if you’re planning a treasure hunt at night! What you need Pen and paper Some planning time What to do 1 Think about the route you’ll take, either on the way back from school or once you get back home. As an example, give yourself 45 minutes to go around the block before dinner time. On your route there will be at least one of the following: a tree, a post box, a phone box, a loose rock and an old fence. Any noticeable features such as these are useful points towards which you can direct the budding treasure hunter. 2 Devise a clue for each location. An example might be: ‘Leave the front door, take a turn to the east, find the next clue where nature’s bombs hit the ground and grow.’ 3 Your child can figure out which way is east by using a compass or the position of the setting sun, and once they work out what ‘nature’s bombs’ are they’ll lead you to the conker tree at the corner of the street. There they’ll search around excitedly under a pile of leaves or in the hollow of the tree where they’ll find the next clue you hid earlier in the day: ‘Thirteen steps to the left and straight ahead, Postman Pat mustn’t take the letter that’s in the flower bed.’ 4 In the flower bed next to Postman Pat’s letter box they’ll find the next clue. A treasure map of our village, by Jasper. X marks the spot – can you see it? These are of course simple little clues I’ve thought up for the purposes of demonstration here. You’ll have to adjust the clues depending on your children’s age, interests and where you’re holding the treasure hunt. There don’t have to be many clues, and the hunt doesn’t have to take a long time for it to become a fun outdoors activity that you do together. As a parent, it’s fantastic to watch your child work things out, get frustrated and then enjoy the fruits of their efforts by discovering the route and eventual goal. It’s also a wonderfully bonding experience … but be prepared. Once you’ve created your first treasure hunt, your child will demand many more. So get thinking about those clues! Scavenger hunt What you need Compass Tin foil Metal detector Camera Map Plastic collection bags/sandwich bags What to do 1 Provide approximate distances (in child’s paces, ‘lengths’ of a school playing field or similar, or metres) and compass directions to follow to get to the point at which the next clue is hidden. 2 Wrap objects in tin foil and hide them in the ground, under leaves or under non-metallic objects for your child to find with their metal detector. This could be a prize or the next clue. 3 Set challenges of things outside that they have to photograph along the scavenger-hunt route. Only when they’ve correctly found, identified and photographed all the items you’ve listed do they receive the next clue or prize. 4 Set them a route to follow on a map. Maps are wonderful things and map-reading a brilliant skill to grasp early on. They are fascinating pictorial views of the countryside, and learning the symbols and markings is great fun. Setting a route together and allowing your child to take you along the route is a hugely rewarding experience. 5 Set the route based on items they can collect. Leaves, interesting stones, wood, tree bark, pine cones can all be collected in a bag. If all the items have been correctly identified and collected they have successfully completed the scavenger hunt. Using a combination of some or all of these ideas you can create an incredibly interesting, exciting and varied scavenger hunt, in which your child has to use their brain as much as their energy in order to complete it! Challenge As you and your child become increasingly accustomed to the process of a scavenger hunt you can start adding in extra components to make the hunt even more exciting. Switching between a clue they have to work out, a clue or item they have to find, even a challenge they have to complete before you give them another clue, is a great way to extend and enhance this game. My dad was a master of treasure hunts. For years my birthday parties would involve long hunts over miles and miles of countryside. Up and down hills, across fields, along rivers, up trees and straight through woods. A clue or riddle would lead to the next point, and so on until we eventually found the prize. This would sometimes take all day to complete. His clever little cryptic clues were difficult but we always managed to get a hint out of him as he followed on behind, sending us off in the right direction. It was so much fun and such a thrilling way to spend the day. Flour/sawdust trail A flour or sawdust treasure trail is a simple activity, and a great way to get kids outdoors and active. Either as a high-energy exercise done at speed with a teenager or at a slower pace with the family as a whole, it is a fantastic way to encourage movement and can be such a good laugh. As with the treasure or scavenger hunt, it can turn into a long full-day undertaking, but it’s also perfect to use up the last of the day’s energy after school, or even in the dark with a torch. What you need A bag of flour or sawdust What to do With younger kids who can’t be left alone, set up the trail in advance. It doesn’t have to be long, but again the beauty of this is that it can be done in both urban and rural settings. 1 Every 5 to 10 metres drop a small pile of flour or sawdust to mark a trail for your child to follow. This can be on the edge of a path, on a tree branch, on a wall or piled in any other place that is not immediately obvious. 2 Make sure you mix up the location of the flour or sawdust to keep the difficulty up and interest going. If you discover it’s too easy for them, then next time use bigger gaps between drops so they have to really search and even double back on themselves. 3 Be thoughtful of where other people will walk, so avoid dropping flour or sawdust right in the centre of a busy pavement or anywhere it will look unsightly. 4 Allow yourself a 10-minute head start and make your way off along the route, dropping a small amount of flour or sawdust at regular intervals. 5 Your kids will race after you at top speed following your trail with intent. With the head start, you’ve given yourself time to create false paths and decoys, where you can double back on yourself and continue along the correct route. When you’ve come to the end of the intended route, why not hide and wait for them? Climb high into the branches of a tree and sit watching their progress as they approach the tree you’ve led them to and the trail runs cold. Eventually they’ll think to look up, where you’ll be waiting. 6 This is an active challenge that stimulates thought and observation. Watching your child work out problems, see the next clue, charge after it and on to the next is hugely satisfying and great fun! We always bring the hunt back round in a loop to our house, where dinner will be waiting or where there’s a hidden chocolate prize that can be eaten for dessert. Challenge How about creating a trail that finishes at a pub where you can all have dinner together, or ending the trail at a perfect site to start a little fire to cook some marshmallows over? There doesn’t always have to be a prize. The fact that you’re doing something together is the prize – all that kids really want is time with you. Shelter with a hot drink This simple activity can be done anywhere and can turn a boring trip home from school into a fun little memorable experience. The beauty of this is that it can be done whatever the weather – in fact it often works best when the weather’s at its worst! What you need A flask of your preferred hot drink and some non-breakable cups A large plastic sheet/tarpaulin What to do 1 Take a flask containing your hot drink with you on the school pick-up, along with a large plastic sheet or tarpaulin. It’s even better if it’s raining because there will be fewer people out, making it even more exciting. 2 If going by car, find a spot to stop and park up. The verge at the edge of a field or next to a park or playing field is ideal. 3 Hunker down against the hedge or under a tree, sitting on the plastic sheet and pulling it up over your backs to keep out the weather and create a small, dry shelter. 4 You’ll soon warm up in there, especially while sharing a warm drink. It’s your time to be together, talking and watching what goes on outside when everyone else heads for home. It’s also a chance to watch the wildlife that stays out feeding in the rain and watch the passers-by, too, although they probably won’t even notice you there. It’s an opportunity to enjoy time together in, let’s face it, a very unusual place! This activity is so basic, so simple and doesn’t cost a thing – and yet I expect 99 per cent of people reading this have never done it. I first did something similar with Daisy in the summer when she had just started nursery. We stopped on the way home from pick-up and bought an ice cream each. Having a whole ice cream herself at that time in her life was a real treat, so she was already excited and happy. It happened to be a beautifully warm summer’s afternoon, and as I parked the car on the edge of a field close to home, overlooking the crops swaying in the breeze, we both knew this would be a good moment. Daisy and I sat on the bonnet of my car looking over the landscape and enjoying our ice creams, and we certainly weren’t expecting what was to happen next. We started to see ladybirds flying all around us. As we noticed them landing on us, more and more appeared until the air was thick with these little red and black bugs. They covered my car, flew on to our clothes, into our hair and all over us. We were amazed, gobsmacked by this little event happening around us. It really was a sudden natural phenomenon. I assume we had parked in the path of a swarm moving across the fields. They were possibly descending on the crops to feed on greenfly and we just happened to be right in their path. The point I want to make is that Daisy still talks about that 40 minutes we spent in the field with our ice creams and the ladybirds. If we hadn’t made the effort to stop, we wouldn’t have experienced that natural event. It’s only a small thing and it didn’t take long, but it’s a lasting memory for Daisy and me. We treasure that event, one that won’t ever happen in exactly the same way again. But next time, maybe something different will! The funny thing is, when we really need to do this sort of thing we just don’t. As an adult, doing something out of the norm when you’re at your most stressed is usually the very last thing you’ll want to do, even though it’s usually the time you need to do it the most. That first step out the door is the hardest thing, but once you’ve taken it you realise its value. I hope my children still want to do this with me when they are teenagers. I have a sneaking suspicion that they will. Set an insect trap I’ve always been fascinated by insects and indeed would go so far as to say I love them. They’re incredible creatures that thrive all over the world, sometimes in the most hostile environments, and are the most diverse and ecologically important group of land animals. Nobody knows exactly how many different insects there are, although it’s estimated there are as many 30 million different species of these weird and wonderful creatures. One of the most useful things about them is that they’re absolutely everywhere. You can always find an insect, and so wherever you are in the world there’s entertainment to be had. In a city centre, leaning against a wall or waiting by a bus stop with a hedge behind you – have a look, peer into the undergrowth or between the cracks in a crumbling wall, as there’s always something there to spot. A group of insects we collected, by Jasper. I’m pleased he believes they’re all smiling. An easy way to discover what you have in your garden, front yard, local park or woodland is to set a small insect trap. It’s quick to make and costs nothing except time. What you need A glass jar or clear beaker Some bait A small spade One large, flat rock Three small rocks What to do 1 Find a spot on the ground in a place where people don’t usually walk. Under a rock in a flower bed is a great place to start, or in a quiet corner of the garden. 2 Dig a hole as deep as the glass jar or beaker. 3 Place your bait in the jar or beaker and then put it in the hole and adjust it so the top of the jar is in line with the surface of the soil or just a fraction below. 4 Compact the soil around the top. 5 Place the three small rocks around the embedded jar on the soil surface and carefully place the large flat rock on top of them to prevent rain getting in. You’re done! 6 The trap is set. Now leave it alone for a few hours or, ideally, overnight. 7 Check the traps the following morning. This is a great activity to do on a Friday afternoon after school, providing a perfect and exciting pretext for getting up and out on a weekend. If you’re organised, you can get a whole load of traps set in different parts of the garden, park or woodland – wherever you have easy access. It’s interesting to put a range of food in the jar or beaker to see what it attracts. Different bait will draw different insects, but even if you don’t use a food source, you’ll catch something. Also try to notice which insects live in the habitat where you set your traps. Grassland, for example, is likely to contain different species to woodland. Muddy hands, dirty knees, fresh air and fun together. And don’t forget to return the insects back where you found them. Challenge I’d suggest taking a white tray or bowl so that you can study your trapped insects. Once you’ve pulled the jar or beaker from the ground and had a good look through the glass, tip out your finds into the tray or bowl to have a further look from a different angle. The light white enables the usually dark insects to show up really well. From there you’ll be able to talk about them, identify them and maybe, if you’re all in the mood or have the time, draw and photograph them. Talking points How many legs? Colour? Shape? Texture? Speed? Make an insect aspirator Taking insect collecting even further, how about making an aspirator? An aspirator is a clever little device that enables you to suck through one pipe, drawing air and, hopefully, an insect through another. The way it’s made means you won’t be able to suck the insect into your mouth – as long as you get the tubes the right way round it’s a very safe way to collect your insect treasure. You can buy pre-made aspirators online, but they’re just as fun to make and test out as they are to use outdoors for real. I’ve made some with my kids, and it’s a really engrossing practical activity that gets you all thinking. And, what’s more, you see the results immediately. What you need A flexible plastic tube, around 45cm long. Aquarium tube is perfect. Alternatively, thick drinking straws can also work. A small, clear plastic container with a lid – jam-jar size is large enough. A piece of fine gauze around 4cm square. Any fine material that allows air to flow freely through can be used. Tape. Electrical, duct tape or Sellotape all work well. What to do 1 Cut the plastic tube into two equal lengths. 2 Very carefully pierce a hole in the lid of the plastic container. The hole needs to allow one end of the tube to fit in without gaps around the aperture. Push one length of the tube through, leaving approximately 15cm of tube protruding from the lid of the container. 3 Pierce another hole in the lid, in exactly the same way, next to the first. 4 Wrap the piece of gauze around the end of the second length of tube and secure with tape. You should be able to freely suck on the non-gauze end of the tube. 5 Push the second tube, gauze first, in through the second hole you made in the container lid, ensuring there are no gaps around the tube. Again, approximately 15cm of tube should protrude from the lid of the container. 6 Take your aspirator outside and go insect hunting. 7 Using an aspirator is simple, but do make sure you help your child remember which tube is the correct tube to suck by marking the suck tube with a piece of tape. You must always suck in through the tube with the gauze covering one end, otherwise you’re likely to get a mouthful of insects! 8 When you uncover a rock or part the grass to find an interesting-looking insect, take the aspirator down to the ground. 9 Holding the tube (without the gauze) over the insect, suck through the other tube (with gauze). As long as you’re close enough to the insect, it will be sucked up through the tube into the container and left to rest at the bottom. It will be trapped until you let it out. You can collect insects easily, quickly and safely by this method. It’s great fun but quite nerve-wracking, as it takes a little bit of time to get used to the fact that you won’t suck the insects up into your mouth. Together, you can quickly amass a wonderful collection of small insects without harming them, and if your container is clear you can inspect them easily. Challenge As with the insect trap, it’s worth taking a white bowl or tray outside with you so that viewing your insects is easier once they’ve been collected in the aspirator. We always try to identify the insects we find together and read a little bit about them, in this way slowly developing our knowledge of insects. Once you have inspected, photographed, identified and studied the collected insects, make sure you always return them to the place from were they were collected. It’s important to show we don’t have ownership over the life around us, and that includes looking after what we find and returning it to where it belongs. I clearly remember the first aspirator that was bought for me as a child. I was incredibly excited – but nervous about using it. I guess I didn’t take enough care, so a couple of times I ended up with beetles and ants in the back of my throat. It gives you a shock, but they are little more than a taste of protein! Make string Creating something with your own hands is extremely rewarding. Of course, in times past there was no choice but to make everything you needed, but no one can realistically do so now. With this activity it’s not so much about the product you make – let’s be honest, the string you make simply isn’t going to be as good as any you can buy in a shop – but the process of making it from material you find is rewarding and great fun. When sitting there making it, watching the string grow longer, you really feel a great sense of satisfaction. What you need A good supply of strong, natural fibres. Raffia is the best and easiest to use. It’s a very strong fibre that’s been prepared perfectly, ready for you to create your string. Garden centres, florists and craft shops often sell packets very cheaply for tying up plants and displaying flowers, and one packet is sufficient for you to make metres of thin string. Flax fibres are ideal, too. It’s also possible to make string with stinging-nettle stems, very fine tree roots or the bark of certain species of tree, such as willow, cut into thin strips. All these will take a little extra processing to get into the thin strands required. Strong fingers and patience. What to do 1 Find a comfortable place to sit. 2 Gather a few long fibres together between your fingers and find the middle point of all the fibres. 3 Bend them in half to get to the starting point of your string. 4 Hold the bend of the fibres firmly between the fingers of one hand and in the fingers of your other hand twist the top fibres together. 5 As you twist, pull them around and underneath the bottom fibres, and hold in position. 6 Take the fibres that are now at the top and repeat the movement, twisting and pulling around the back. These first few moves are the most tricky. From here on the process is simple and you’ll find yourself developing an easy rhythm. 7 You’ll be alternating which group of fibres are at the top. Each time twist them tightly, then move them around the back and repeat. 8 It’s important to keep the strands tight and the twists close together. This will make your string much stronger and more useable. In no time at all you’ll see your skills working and a piece of string will form. 9 Nature does a pretty good job but, unfortunately, it doesn’t produce never-ending fibres, so you’ll soon get to the end of your fibres. When this happens it’s a really simple process to add in more fibres so you can continue to make a longer piece of string. 10 Take two more long fibres, bend them in half and at the bend push them into the point where your string is coming together. 11 As tightly as you can, continue the process, now twisting and turning these new fibres as well as the old. 12 It’s important to keep the new pieces tight in, with no gaps where they meet the original fibres. 13 Continue until you have made the length of string you want. 14 Once you have made as much as you want to, simply gather all the strands together and tie a knot in the end. Cut away the remaining strands of fibre past the knot to neaten it up. Ropes for ships used to be made out of hemp like this in times past. It must have been painstaking work, but the twisting and turning back on itself produces an incredibly strong cord. The tighter the twists you make, the stronger the string will be. I was first taught how to make string by a relative of mine. He and his wife turned up at our house one afternoon in a battered, old red postal van that had been converted inside to become their home. They were nomads from Australia on a journey around the world, selling products that they’d made themselves, notably tiny little crepe-paper kites. These kites really did work incredibly well too! We spent the afternoon together, and I was drawn in and fascinated by the skills of this guy. He’d been adopted by an Aborigine mother and brought up in the bush, so from a very young age he’d been taught bushcraft – how to survive by living off the land and making things. Once he’d shown me how to construct one of these little kites, I’d learnt to play (badly) the didgeridoo and the pheasant he’d picked up on the way to us had been ‘processed’ (I’m fairly sure it was roadkill), we then started work on making string. Digging out a supply of dried flax grass from a corner of the van, he proceeded to show me the way to hold the fibres, twist, push away, turn, pinch and repeat. Before my eyes, the most perfect piece of natural string I’ve ever seen grew between his tough, leathery, supple, skilled fingers. Very quickly he’d made a foot-long length of string, and as he twisted and turned he talked to me about all things outdoors and living out of the back of a van. As this amazing product was made he showed me how to make it thicker and thinner for different requirements. I was transfixed. We’ve always used string made this way for bracelets and necklaces. Turning it into a bracelet is simplicity itself. Once you’ve made a knot in one end, simply wrap the string around your wrist and push the knot through the twist at the start of your piece of string. Because it’s been twisted tight, the knot will hold tight, forming a secure bracelet around your wrist. My daughter Daisy makes them for me now, and I love wearing her rough little bracelets, as they remind me of the effort she’s taken to fashion them, the skill she’s learnt from me in doing so and the time we’ve spent outside, quietly making them together. Use a penknife Using a knife is exceedingly simple, but for young children it certainly requires guidance. Strangely, on balance, I’d say the sharper the knife, the safer it is for the kinds of jobs for which we require a knife in the outdoors. But this comes at a cost – if the blade comes in contact with skin, then the cut will most likely be more significant. Care must be taken at all times. But if you follow the guidelines below, your child should be safe. What you need A sharp penknife What to do 1 Hold your knife firmly in your writing hand, creating a strong, comfortable position. 2 Always push the blade in a direction away from your body. Your child will always be tempted to push it in other directions – towards their torso, hands or legs – but be very strict with them to start with. This is the single-most important rule regarding knife use and it must be drummed in from the outset. 3 Give them a simple task to start with, such as carving the top of a walking stick (see ‘Make a walking stick’, see here (#u508eb341-7a37-4b91-8fb0-ff6403f60401)). 4 Encourage them to finish off their small project by sanding the wood they’ve whittled. Seeing the transformation of a piece of rough driftwood or scrap wood into a smooth, beautiful piece, where the grain of the wood shows up strong and clear, is a fascinating phenomenon and will show them a wonder of the natural world. Challenge We can’t all be on the go all the time. Woodcarving or whittling is a wonderful, relaxing activity you can do outdoors together with your child. If you both have a penknife you can head outside, find a quiet spot with a good view and sit carving a piece of wood together. Ideas for projects include carving a small boat, tiny animals, a walking stick, a wooden spoon or a face in a log. The ideas are endless and the activity is restful, peaceful, creative and fun. My grandfather would always carry a knife around with him. It was a part of him, just as much as his trousers or any other item of his clothing. His knives weren’t anything special – just silver folding gardeners’ penknives – but he’d always have one attached to his belt by a lanyard. I’d watch him swiftly pull it from his pocket while out in the garden to cut a bit of orange binder twine, trim a tree branch, whittle a spike on a stick to push into the ground to support a tree, butter his bread or cut a piece of cheese. I grew up wanting to have something that was so useful always on me, just like he did. Unfortunately he wasn’t so good at remembering he was carrying a knife in airports, with the result that he had his knives taken off him a couple of times when flying somewhere on holiday. Of course, he argued it was his favourite knife, he’d had it for years and would they please post it back to him? Alas, that particular trusty penknife was never seen again, but as soon as he returned from holiday he’d buy a replacement. I longed for one of those silver knives, with a locking mechanism and a piece of string with which I could tie it on to my trousers. I couldn’t ever work out where he was buying these knives. None of the shops I ever went into sold them. My dad owned a garden centre and for a long time I thought that he didn’t stock these most essential gardeners’ knives. Then one day, one very memorable day, browsing the shelves in his shop I spotted the Holy Grail. There, on a shelf, encased within a shiny plastic packet, was my grandfather’s penknife. I was 10 years old and desperate for the heavenly tool I saw before me. Thinking quickly, I debated whether this would be my first robbery. It was my dad’s shop, I spent most of my weekends there and it was like my home. Surely, I reasoned, it wasn’t too bad taking something you really wanted from your own home. I’d taken the odd Calippo ice lolly from the freezer when no one was looking, but somehow this felt different, much more serious. I put the packet back on the shelf and walked sadly away. Of course I wouldn’t steal a penknife. It was a long couple of months after discovering that dad stocked that knife that I was given one of my very own. I must have pestered him relentlessly, every day going to that part of the shop and looking dreamily at the packet. Dad eventually relented and gave me my first knife lesson with my own penknife. His lesson was simple: always cut away from you. That was it. That was all I needed to know. Naturally, I’ve had to learn the hard way, but when you make your first mistake with your knife you learn pretty quickly. Having my own penknife, tied to my belt on a lanyard gave me a feeling of responsibility, one I valued very much, and I felt that it was a big step in my parents trusting me with something important. I couldn’t wait to show it to my grandfather. As soon as the summer holidays came we drove down to Devon to his farm and we were soon comparing knives. His was well used – for real reasons, unlike mine, which had been used to cut a bit of paper just to check it was still sharp as hell, or to pierce the tiniest of holes in my T-shirt, again, just to check. We quickly got to work whittling sticks, cutting rope, buttering our bread. I still have that knife today. As a 10-year-old boy it’s not exactly practical to carry a penknife attached to the belt of your trousers. Teachers at school don’t look altogether favourably on that. Children shouldn’t carry knives unless they are properly and sensibly supervised at all times by an adult. For Jasper’s eighth birthday I bought him his first penknife and he was thrilled. It’s a special kids’ one with a rounded end to avoid any unwanted accidents, but the blade itself is just as sharp as any adult knife. We’re starting to use it together for tasks we do outside, like carving a spoon to use to eat outdoors, cut some chopsticks, make a whistle, gather tinder for a fire and create sparks to light it, and so many other things. It’s really important to show a young child, within reason, the values and dangers of a knife. I learnt its value as a tool from observing my grandfather over the years. Using a knife is fun, but it’s definitely not a toy. A knife really must be respected. Make a walking stick One of the quickest things you can do in the countryside is make a walking stick, a simple item that can be treasured and used for years to come. There’s no point finding a rotten old branch that will snap as soon as it’s used as a pole to vault across a puddle or stream. No, you need to be making walking sticks that can withstand the rigours of a life outdoors. If you’re lucky enough to live in the countryside a short distance from some woods or a hedgerow then it’ll be easy to find the materials you need. Alternatively, there are resources online that can provide suitable natural materials. Failing that, a perfect walking stick, if cut to size, can be made from a broom handle bought from any hardware store. OK, you won’t be finding the raw materials yourself, but you can still adapt, adjust and alter as desired. When you and your child spend time preparing this stick, they will care. They’ll become attached to it, and, in turn, they’ll want to use it. They’ll start asking to go out for a walk with their stick. Hopefully, they’ll remind you to bring it to the school pick-up so that after school they have their adventure equipment ready. Making the stick is an adventure in itself. What you need A stick that’s taller than your child A saw/pair of secateurs A penknife What to do 1 It’s important to get permission from whoever’s land your stick is growing on. 2 Keep your eyes peeled for long, straight poles growing up from the ground. 3 Hazel is the best species of tree to look for, but ash, blackthorn and holly are all suitable too. 4 Coppicing is a method of woodland management employed by woodsmen who require long, straight poles. When tree stems attain a certain diameter – an inch or two – they are cut at ground level and used for hedging or charcoal production. The tree stump then sprouts again, sending up new, straight poles. Woodsmen can choose the thickness of the pole, depending on the requirements they have, leaving some to grow for many years while others can be cut after just a few. 5 Hazel is the most commonly coppiced tree. Coppicing is a sustainable method of producing wood. Hazel can easily be found in woodland or hedges, and usually provides a range of diameters to fit any size of hand. Hazel is easily cut and carved, and is very flexible, making it ideal for walking sticks. 6 Depending on the age of your child, adjust the size of stick you choose. Thinner lengths for younger children will be lighter and more easily handled; slightly thicker, more robust sticks will be better for older children, who will be more likely to put their weight on the wood. 7 Once you’ve found the perfect-sized piece of wood carefully cut the pole from the base. The leaves and any twigs growing off can be removed to create a beautifully smooth, straight stick. Cutting their own walking stick can be a wonderful lesson for your child. Give them the saw and show them trust, but it’s vital that you show them how to use any tools safely. If they are involved in every aspect of this process they’ll appreciate, learn and remember so much more. When the final draw of the saw cuts through the stick it’s an incredibly satisfying achievement for a young child and one that should be celebrated. Now you have your walking stick – poking stick, wizard’s staff, pole-vault pole or whatever else it is you’ve decided to use it for – you can head out into the world with a tool that you have sourced, made into something useful and worked on together. Ladybird walking stick You now have a simple walking stick that your child is already hopefully pleased with. Walking has suddenly become easier and more enjoyable. Now it’s time to create something really fun using a number of different skills. What you need A cut walking stick A penknife Acrylic paints (red and black) What to do 1 With a penknife, start carving the top of the walking stick into the shape of a ball. 2 Depending on the type of wood you’ve found, the shaving of the end should be fairly easy with a sharp penknife. Again, fresh hazel is ideal. 3 This is the perfect activity for you to teach your child safe-knife technique (see ‘Use a penknife’, see here (#ubd4fe17d-6aa6-466e-869b-32be078397f6)). You’re not making anything complicated, so the cutting of the wood can be done all in the same direction, making this an ideal exercise with a knife. 4 Once you have a smooth, rounded end to your walking stick, it’s time to get out the paints. 5 This part can be as simple or as complicated as you want to make it. We’ve always kept it really simple and just dipped the rounded end into some good red acrylic paint. 6 Leave this to dry, which does take a little while. Perhaps it’s now time for dinner! 7 Finish it off by turning the little red ball on the end of the stick into a ladybird. All that’s needed is black paint – or even a black Sharpie – to give you a line straight down the middle, some small eyes and a load of black dots. A ladybird looks really great on the end of the stick, turning the walking stick into something even more special, something cut, carved, painted and cared for by you and your child. As an after-school activity it’s perfect. It doesn’t take too long, it’s engrossing, and there’s something at the end of it all that will be used and treasured for a long while to come. If the stick gets damaged, broken or lost it’s no problem. There’s barely any cost and it gives you the opportunity to do it all over again. I promise you your ladybird artwork will improve in time too! We’ve given these simple hand-crafted products as presents to people in the past. Without fail, people love the design and the thought – and they use them! Whether you’re an adult or a child, if you receive one of these walking sticks you’ll be dead chuffed. Of course, it doesn’t have to be a ladybird on the end; it could be anything, although the simple ball shape is easy to carve out. Have a go at carving other things from the wood and adding carved designs down the stick too. The options are limitless, and as your carving skills are practised and developed your sticks will only get better. Before long, like at ours, there will be a whole collection of sticks of different lengths, thicknesses and questionable designs at your front door. Read somewhere unusual If your lives are anything like ours, getting the evening school-book reading done is not the easiest thing in the world. We’re finding more and more that reading is left until the last moment before we walk out of the house in the morning. It always seems to be done in a rush, with a toothbrush in the mouth and everyone scrambling around to find what they need for the day. This is not conducive to good concentration and therefore enjoyable reading time. It’s certainly tricky with three children, giving each one the time they need and deserve. It’s something we’re always battling with and trying to figure out. Daisy and Daddy sitting under a hedge reading, by Daisy. Notice the smile – they are genuine from us both. What you need A reading book/homework Warm clothes A rug or coat to sit on Tarpaulin or plastic sheet to shelter under What to do 1 Take your child to read or do their homework somewhere unusual after school, anywhere that isn’t home. 2 Stop somewhere with a good view – run up a hill or climb a tree, walk to the middle of a field or clamber into a den you’ve made. 3 Take a large plastic sheet or tarpaulin and shelter underneath it in the dry and read together when it’s bad weather. Despite being outside with plenty to look at and with it being a strange situation, it’s actually really easy to concentrate. For some reason, taking yourselves away from the everyday distractions of home concentrates the mind and enables you to focus on what you’re doing. I’ve found that Jasper remembers the books or parts of the books that he’s read in unusual places far more than he does when at home. If the book doesn’t get read, then at least you’ve spent some time together outdoors that you wouldn’t otherwise have done. So it’s a win-win! Climb a beanstalk The story of ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ has grabbed all our imaginations at some point in our lives. We’ve all been nervous for Jack as he climbs skywards towards the land of the giant at the top of the beanstalk, and yet more scared when he hides from this behemoth of a man, shouting weird and scary words at the top of his lungs. What does ‘Fee-fi-fo-fum’ even mean? There have been many versions of the story written over the years, with various different illustrations, all creating fear and excitement in those who hear it. After school, to use up that last bit of energy in your young person, why not climb to the top of the beanstalk and encourage them to catch the giant! Climbing a beanstalk, by Jasper. Sometimes the giant is scary, sometimes he’s nice, but he always makes us laugh. Suitable trees aren’t always available at short notice with limited time, but if they are, then great. Helping your child escape and create a game in an imaginary world is stimulating and hugely beneficial. What you need A climbing tree with plenty of branches low down, so your child can get off the ground. What to do 1 This activity is like a game of hide and seek, but it’s more exciting. Have an idea of a tree you can climb into and be prepared to run. 2 Ask your child to count up to an agreed number. 3 As with hide and seek, quickly make your way to the tree and climb to a point that’s just out of their reach. If they can climb, then the higher the better. If they’re too young to climb, it’s no problem. Just get slightly off the ground. This could be on a stool, a garden bench, a big rock or a tree stump. Once they finish counting and start looking, the fun begins. 4 When they spot you up in the tree, start acting like a giant, growling ‘Fee-fi-fo-fum’ and swinging the branches. 5 The game stops when they reach you and touch your feet. It’s such a simple activity but incorporates so much. It gives you and your child the chance to be free, run and climb. I guarantee there will be a lot of laughter when the game is in full swing. Please do take care, as an excited child climbing a tree can pose dangers. In the excitement to catch you they can forget to hold on. Please be aware of this as you play the game. Challenge Change the character who has to be found. You could be a pirate, dinosaur, monster, alien or an escaped wild animal from the zoo. Guarding treasure is a great game. Take a piece of cloth that is the treasure. Tie it loosely at the place you have climbed to. Once you’re caught, they’ve won the treasure and get to go and hide and guard it themselves. Cloud spotting Much of what we do involves looking down. We look down to read, write, watch animals, find insects, build dens, carve wood, start fires and cook. When you think about it, we don’t spend much time looking upwards into the sky. But the sky is ever-changing. It’s a dynamic space of swirling particles and molecules. Skies change colour and shape all the time, and so to have a very basic knowledge about the sky can mean that looking at it is much more interesting. If you know what you’re seeing you’ll notice things more. When you notice things more, you’ll become more interested in those things and want to learn more about them. When you know more about them, you’ll want to share your knowledge with others, which sustains this ever-growing cycle of interest and knowledge. Cloud spotting, by Jasper. Jasper watches the clouds in the sky – amazingly, he’s got the dog doing it too. The sky is a mystery to children, and the source of endless stimulation to their imagination. As we grow older, our heads grow heavier and our eyes become diverted towards the ground. Why not have a go at changing that, and turning your own and your children’s heads to the sky? What you need Eyes! What to do 1 Go outside, tilt your head to the sky and open your eyes. 2 This can be done any and every time you’re outside, whether you’re in the countryside or in the heart of a bustling city. Look up out of the car window or, even better, stop, get out of the car, lean up against it and look up. If you’re not too worried about the paintwork then why not spread a picnic mat on the car roof and allow your child to lie on their back and watch the sky. What will you see? Cirrus. These are the highest-forming clouds at 20,000–40,000 feet of altitude. I always think they look like wispy floating feathers high in the upper atmosphere. They are formed when warmer dry air rises, turning moisture into ice crystals, and they indicate a change in weather, where warmer air is moving in on a front. Cirrocumulus. Also seen at 20,000–40,000 feet. These are sheets of clouds made up from small cloudlets of ice and they might cover large areas of the sky, looking like fish scales or ripples. These distinctive shapes are made when turbulent vertical currents of air meet a cirrus layer. They often indicate a change for the worse in the weather. Cirrostratus. These white, often transparent, thin wisps of cloud are the thinnest you’ll see. They can be used to predict the weather over the next 24 hours. They usually indicate that there’s likely to be wet weather on the way – either persistent rain or sometimes only a light drizzle, depending on the specific qualities of the cloud. Altocumulus. These are mid-layer clouds made up of water droplets and ice, giving them an ethereal appearance, and are usually white or grey. They differ from cirrocumulus, which are white, higher up and generally smaller. Altostratus. Usually featureless, these are thin sheets of cloud stretching out over the entire sky. Sometimes the sun shows weakly through them. They usually form when a thin layer of cirrostratus drops from a higher level, and they can indicate that a change of the weather is on its way. They often form ahead of a warm front; as the front passes, the altostratus layer will deepen to form nimbostratus, which will produce rain or snow. Nimbostratus. These are dark, grey featureless layers of cloud thick enough to block out most of the sun. The rain or snow they bring will usually remain until the front has moved on. Stratocumulus. These are the most common clouds seen at low levels in the sky and have clear, defined bases. They are indicators of a change in the weather, but can be found in all types of weather, from settled, dry weather to rain. Stratus. These are the lowest-lying type of cloud, uniform white or grey, which we know from dull, overcast days. They sometimes appear on the ground as mist or fog. They can produce light drizzle if thick enough. Cumulus. If a child were to draw a cloud, it would be a cumulus cloud. They are detached, individual cauliflower-shaped clouds that form when warm air from the surface rises and cools to form water vapour, which then condenses and forms cloud. If they continue to grow in height and size they’ll eventually turn into cumulonimbus clouds. Cumulus clouds indicate fair weather, but if they do grow into cumulonimbus clouds they are capable of producing rain. Cumulonimbus. Everyone knows the look of these clouds. To me they are magnificent, exciting, daunting cathedrals of water vapour towering up into the sky. These thunderclouds are the only type of cloud that can produce thunder, lightning and hail. Their bases can lie very close to the Earth’s surface but stretch high into the atmosphere. They often grow from small cumulus clouds over a hot ground surface and can also form along cold fronts where warm air is forced to rise over incoming cold air. They are associated with extreme weather and once precipitation begins, they’ll usually only last a short period of time. I studied physical geography at university, and weather was a part of the degree I remember enjoying very much. University for me was more about fitting lectures and study around rowing training, but because the subject was of genuine interest to me I managed to learn a significant amount. Now it’s my job to pass that knowledge on to my children, which I try to do every time we go outside and I tell them to look up. Challenge As you’re directing your gaze up to the sky, have a look to see if you can see anything in the shapes and patterns of the clouds. Most of the time, with the right cloud conditions, there’s something obvious that can be made out from the shapes that form up there. Usually it’s a strange creature or a face – let your imagination run wild! There are a number of really useful apps and websites available for identifying cloud types. The more you look and compare the clouds, the easier it will become to distinguish between them. Of course, there are cross-overs and similar-looking clouds. They aren’t always easy to identify, but it’s great fun trying! Give your child a mission to photograph the sky every day for a week. At the weekend collate all the photographs and identify them together, creating your own cloud-spotters’ guide. It may take a number of weeks to get a wide range of different clouds, as they are obviously weather dependent. Collect and cook some dinner This time after school is limited, bordered by a pretty restrictive schedule. Dinner time and bedtime in our house are relatively unmovable markers in the day, so why not make use of the time by collecting food and helping to prepare for the evening meal in an exciting and fun way. Depending on the season, this could be really very simple or it may need a little extra planning. I admit that you wouldn’t want to do this every day, but on occasion it can transform this grey, fuzzy period into a really fun, memorable activity. There are so many different plants, fruits, nuts and berries that are readily available, free, delicious and healthy, and out there. It’s important to make sure you know exactly what it is you’re collecting before you pick it, so check time and time again if you’re not absolutely certain. Here I’m keeping it really simple, giving you a few options throughout the year. What to do 1 Take a walk, always keeping an eye on the plants and trees around you. 2 It’s important to be observant. The more observant you and your child are, the more you’ll start to notice the often subtle differences between the various species that grow in your neighbourhood. 3 Always be willing to stop, look, check. Take your time. 4 Collect only the amount that you’ll need. 5 Never touch any plant or mushroom that is – or could be – poisonous. If in any doubt at all, leave it alone. Spring Spring is a beautiful time of the year. When people are asked for their favourite season, the answer is often spring. Perhaps we are experiencing a feeling that takes us back to the distant past, when winters really were something we had to struggle and fight through in order to even see the following year. Of course, very few of us these days really need to ‘survive’ the winter, but the feeling lives on. Things start to grow because of the warmer temperatures and increased hours of daylight. Wildlife is active, and birds in particular are noticeably more active, preparing nests in which to hold their eggs and raise their young. There’s a feeling of life and energy, and it’s the perfect time to start heading out after school to look for some free dinner-time supplements! Dandelion One of our most abundant and well-known ‘weeds’, dandelions are an ideal healthy food that we can enjoy collecting in that short time period after school. Dandelion leaves – and roots – can be eaten at any time they’re growing, but they’re at their absolute best in spring, when the new, fresh leaves begin to sprout. Compared with lettuce, they contain significantly greater quantities of vitamins A and C, protein, fat, iron, phosphorus, calcium and carbohydrate. They create a natural super-salad that can be eaten on its own or ideally added to another salad as a supplement. What you need Collection bag (a sandwich bag or similar) Plant-identification book/app What to do 1 Keep your eyes peeled for dandelion leaves. Many plants can frequently be found growing together; if so, there’s likely to be an abundance. 2 Once identified correctly, pick the leaves and place in the collection bag ready to take home. 3 When you’re collecting the leaves it’s really important to guide the collection process. As it’s a low-growing plant it’s important not to pick any leaves from the side of the road or in areas where people and dogs regularly walk. Dandelions do tend to grow in obscure and sometimes seemingly unhealthy places, such as along the edge of a busy road, but there are always plenty in more remote and suitable locations. It’s a matter of common sense and choosing leaves from clean environments. 4 Always wash the leaves thoroughly in cold water before eating them. Birch water I discovered birch water as a youngster. I soon became fascinated by the process of collecting it and the mechanisms involved in the tree that enables such a product to be harvested. It’s an incredible process, so simple and interesting to witness. This doesn’t work at all times of the year, so it’s important to be ready to make a collection of birch water in the spring when the tree fluids are flowing at their peak. The process is called ‘tapping’, and there are specific devices made for this, but it can be done really simply in a couple of easy steps. What you need A drill with small drill bit A small twig An empty 1-litre bottle/container Duct tape or bungee cord What to do 1 Find a birch tree. These are common trees and should be at least 25cm in diameter at chest height. Anything less and it’s likely the process won’t work. 2 Always seek permission from the owner of the tree before collecting the water or sap. 3 At around 1 metre from the ground, drill a very small, slightly upward-directed hole a few centimetres into the tree. 4 Stick a small twig into the hole (a matchstick will do, depending on the size of hole you’ve made). It shouldn’t plug the hole, but loosely fit inside. 5 The fluid should begin to drain out of the hole and run along the stick. 6 Use the duct tape or bungee cord to tie the bottle around the tree so that its opening is just below the stick coming from your hole. 7 Ensure the fluid is dripping from the stick and collecting in the bottle. 8 Once the collection method is secure, you can leave it alone for an hour – or, ideally, all night. 9 The time of year will make a difference to the speed and quantity of flow. At their greatest flow levels, the quantities can be absolutely incredible and a litre can be collected in an hour. 10 It’s really important to seal up the hole afterwards so the tree doesn’t continue to leak its precious fluid. Press the wooden plug right into the hole you made so the seal is tight and stems the flow of liquid. 11 The best way to seal the hole is to use candle wax, which can be melted and pressed into the area to fill any extra gaps. This should stop the fluid, sap will form and the tiny injury to the tree will disappear in no time. Gathering birch water is a fascinating process. But the best bit comes when you take your first sip of the cool, fresh liquid together with your children. Summer Finding food in summer is partly a continuation of the foraging that takes place in spring. Spring gives the freshest, smallest, sweetest natural foods, and in summer many of these ripen during the warmer months. With longer days, time outside can be stretched before bedtime and activities can be kept going for longer. Chanterelle mushrooms We tend to go a little further afield in the summer after school so we can head off in search of chanterelles, a common wild mushroom. These little orange, fruity mushrooms are absolutely delicious. What you need A collection bag (sandwich bag/small basket) A plant-identification book/app Fire-starting materials (see ‘Light a fire’, see here (#litres_trial_promo)) or a portable camping stove A small frying pan A small knob of butter, or splash of olive oil A clove of garlic, sliced What to do 1 Chanterelles can be found in mixed (deciduous and coniferous) and pure coniferous woodlands. Their orange colouring and wavy shape make them stand out from other species of mushroom that may be around. 2 If you do come across a mushroom that looks like a chanterelle, use your identification book or search online to make a positive identification. This is vitally important. If you have any doubt, leave what you’ve found behind. 3 Carefully pick the positively identified chanterelles, taking only what you’ll need. 4 Light a fire or your portable camping stove and cook them on the spot, or take them home to cook. They are best fried in a pan with a little bit of butter or olive oil and some sliced garlic. Even a child who turns their nose up at mushrooms usually won’t be able to resist the delicious-looking and -smelling food presented before them. 5 To repeat: please make sure you know for certain that the mushrooms you’ve picked are chanterelles. Eating mushrooms that you’re not 100 per cent sure about is extremely dangerous, so check, check and check again. Mushrooms, by Jasper. None of these is edible, beware! Autumn Blackberry collecting Blackberries – the fruit of the bramble plant – grow on most hedgerows, footpaths and field edges. The bramble is a really common weed that spreads like crazy every year and takes over if it’s not cut back. But it produces the most amazing fruits. What you need A collection bag (sandwich bag or similar) A pair of gloves (optional) What to do 1 Blackberries are at their best from August to October, depending on the year. If the fruits are not yet ripe, go back in a few weeks or when you judge they’ll be ready. Some years give a better harvest than others, but if you go looking at the right time you’ll find at least some. 2 Take care when picking blackberries as the spines on the plants can scratch your hands. Wear gloves if you prefer, but these do interfere with the process of collecting – soft blackberries are easily squashed – and you might be better off without them! 3 Don’t pick the berries that are growing too close to busy roads or to the ground, especially in areas where dog walkers are common – for obvious reasons. Конец ознакомительного фрагмента. 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