What we did on the 30 Days Wild Challenge Week 3

Three-quarters of the way through the 30 Days Wild challenge, and we’re definitely feeling a little more in touch with our outdoor world. I’ve really enjoyed finding new wild places to explore, and learning some new crafty ideas to do with the kids outdoors (which really don’t take much time or effort at all). Most of all I’ve like learning more about UK wildlife, where to find it and how we can do our little bit to improve their lives.

I think my kids have loved doing an activity, the older one especially. He adores being outside and learning about the natural world, so I hope I’m installing a love of it for the future. This is what we did on week 3 of the 30 Days Wild Challenge with Surrey Wildlife Trust:-

Built an insect house

We cheated a little as we had an insect house in a tin to build (great idea for a gift by the way) but you can make an easy DIY insect house too. We now have a daily insect watch to see who’s been sleeping there overnight!

Made shapes out of nature on clay

My artistic streak has improved no end on this 30 Days Wild Challenge. I bought some clay (which the boys just loved modelling and shaping) and we went outdoors to collect some bits and pieces before doing some pressing and painting onto our bits of clay.

Made more effort to walk to school

We’re lucky enough to be able to walk to school through some woodland so this week we made the effort to leave a little earlier and stroll through the slightly longer woodland route. I’m not sure why we don’t do this more often. No car fumes, worry about cars and far prettier.

Wrote our names out of nature

We definitely got the gold star of approval and show and tell for this one! We collected different coloured natural materials then wrote out our name with it back out in the garden at home.

Explored Whitmoor Common in Surrey

Whitmoor Common is a Surrey Wildlife Trust site just north of Guildford. It’s a lovely spot for a walk and feels very wild. There’s heathland and woods but we especially enjoyed exploring the bogs and more marshy areas and sitting by the pond for while to look for dragonflies.

Made some wild art in the woods

A quick after school arty activity where you mark out a square on the ground as your ‘paper’ then go forage for natural materials to make a picture. There are different ways you can do this like thinking of a theme to draw, or doing different sized pictures. Whatever you do it’s a good way to immerse yourself in nature for a bit.

Practised some meditation on summer solstice

I’ll be honest I feel pretty worn out most of the time so even a few minutes meditation did me good. I do try and do some meditation every now and then when I feel the overwhelm but lying still outside and tuning into the sights and sounds around me was an even better way to check out of my busy mind for a while. Did the kids do this?! Nah!

Here’s what we did on the 30 Days Wild Challenge for week 1 and week 2.