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The Smaller Explorer

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30 Days Wild Day Day 23: Making a mini nature reserve
EnvironmentNatureUncategorized

30 Days Wild Day Day 23: Making a mini nature reserve

A quick after school random act of wildness today. We printed off the Wildlife Trust’s young supporter Wildlife Watch’s mini nature reserve activity and got to work.

We found an old rectangular plant pot, some compost, a couple of rocks, some twigs and small branch and an old yogurt pot. F poured the compost into the pot, then we added all our bits and pieces and poured some water into the yogurt pot.We will now wait and watch to see what magic happens in our mini nature reserve.

This activity is a bit like the gardening. It’s a slow burner, which can be frustrating for kids, but they do love it when a bud breaks through and things start to happen.

The activity originated from Window Box Wildlife blog, a whole blog dedicated to the goings on of a windowbox that began just as ours is doing so now. It’s a fascinating read and really opened my eyes to the fact that nature is just everywhere you look, even down to what looks like a boring old pot with soil in it.

mini nature reserve

June 25, 2019 0 comment
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30 Days Wild day 10: Going on a eggbox scavenger hunt
EnvironmentNatureUncategorizedWoodland

30 Days Wild day 10: Going on a eggbox scavenger hunt

We wrapped up as warmly as we could and headed out to Staffhurst Woods, one of Surrey Wildlife Trust’s loveliest reserves, for an eggbox scavenger hunt. If you come earlier in April and May, you’ll witness a carpet of bluebells. We try to come every year as it’s a truly beautiful place in Spring for a picnic. It’s also lovely any time of year, even this damp and gloomy day in June!

Where’s summery June gone? We’re struggling a bit in this damp weather. That said, I’m in the middle of reading Simon Barnes’ brilliant book ‘Rewild Yourself’  and one of the chapters talks about ‘magic trousers’. Basically, if you arm yourself with a pair of waterproof trousers as well as a rain jacket, you’re set to get out there into the UK’s predictable weather. Such a simple tip but so true. My kids have got waterproof trousers, but I haven’t so I’ve ordered a pair in case this downpour continues on throughout June.

B painted an eggbox before we came (outdoors!). We let it dry before sticking on some ideas for what to look for on our eggbox scavenger hunt. There are tons of ideas out there for scavenger hunts depending on the time of year and environment you are in, but today we went for a woodland-inspired scavenger hunt collection from The Woodland Trust. 

Then we hunted around for bits and pieces in Staffhurst Woods, before having a quick snack on our picnic rug. We looked for:-

Something yellow (couldn’t find much but found a yellowy/green leaf)

A nibbled leaf (bramble leaf)

Something bendy (leftove of a bluebell stalk)

Something weighless (fern leaf)

Something rough (bark, complete with woodlice)

Something delicate (moss)

B enjoyed poking around close to the ground but also just clambering over fallen logs and jumping about being silly. Must be something about the fresh woodland air! The heavens opened before lunch so we admitted defeat and headed home and back to buy those waterproof trousers.

Eggbox scavenger hunt, toddler on fallen log in woods

Enjoying the woods’ natural playground

Eggbox scavenger hunt, toddler in woods

B looks for items to go in his eggbox

Eggbox scavenger hunt

June 13, 2019 0 comment
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30 Days Wild Day 1: Beachcombing with kids for treasure
Uncategorized

30 Days Wild Day 1: Beachcombing with kids for treasure

I spent the last part of the half term up in Suffolk with my parents and the kids. The coastline in Suffolk is truly lovely and very unspoilt still as roads travel up to small villages and towns instead of along the coastline (which usually means lots of unchecked development).

I visit the beach a lot with my kids in Suffolk so we decided to try something a little different for the start of our 30 Days Wild challenge; beachcombing on Felixstowe beach. My eldest son (five) loves nothing more than ferreting around for odds and sods. I’m always turning out pockets filled with the flotsam and jetsam of natural life so I thought beachcombing would be right up his street.

Beachcombing with kids, looking at seaweed

Kate explaining how to make a whistle out of seaweed

Kate Osborne, a jolly and extremely knowledgeable lady runs Beach Bonkers, which takes groups out along various parts of the Suffolk coastline to look for treasures of the sea. We met at a beach hut where she gave us a run down of the types of things we might find (different rock types, fossils, shells, shark’s teeth, seaweed, bombs! (very rare), plastic (unfortunately not so rare), then we found a patch of shingly beach and started hunting about.

First we concentrated on the larger rocks, picking up stones and shells we thought were interesting, and Kate would give us some background on what the rock was. We found granite, quartz and flint, limpet, whelk and oyster shells plus an 80 million year old sea sponge, all within a couple of metres. Kate told us all sorts of interesting snippets of information along the way. For example, did you know that whelks vomit into limpets and then eat them up. Grim but fascinating!

Then we moved onto an area with small stones to hunt for shark’s teeth. I was so chuffed that my boy found the one and only shark’s tooth! If you want to look for them, they are not white as you would think, but black and very glossy.

We finished with Kate showing us a fantastic woolly mammoth’s tooth fossil she found on a beach close by. My eldest was in heaven. Beachcombing was a hit.

Beachcombing with kids, Shark's tooth Felixstowe Beach

F with his sharks’ tooth find

Beachcombing with kids

June 3, 2019 2 comments
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Woodland activities for children
EnvironmentSeasonsUncategorizedWinterWoodland

Woodland activities for children

It’s National Tree Week this week, where we can all take the chance to give our cherished trees a hug! It’s also a great time to look into what woodland activities for children are going on around you – such as tree planting, climbing, woodland walks and foraging. Much outdoor fun with the family to be had.

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November 27, 2018 4 comments
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What to do on a weekend in London with kids
Age rangesCafesExploreFarmsGalleriesMuseumsParksPrimarySecondaryTeenyTravelUKUncategorized

What to do on a weekend in London with kids

I’m a massive fan of London. London without kids is fun. London with kids is even better. Anything you fancy doing, London will have it, and a lot of the best activities for kids in London are free too. Because there is such a lot to do, I’ve split this blog post up into themes – so whether you have a dinosaur fan, book worm or outdoor explorer you’ll find the best of London for the family.

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June 28, 2018 7 comments
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Amazing family-friendly hiking routes around the world
AdventureAge rangesEnvironmentMountainsOverseasPrimarySecondaryTeenyTravelUncategorizedWalking

Amazing family-friendly hiking routes around the world

The art of adventuring successfully with children old and young is being able to balance what you want to get out of the trip with what is going to satisfy the younger members of the party. These worldwide hiking routes manage to do that. Outstanding views, some challenging sections, and a little off the beaten track for the adults, but safe, well-marked trails that can be tackled in small sections, with features that kids will appreciate too like huge trees, ancient volcanoes and warm hostel stays.

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May 22, 2018 10 comments
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for families who like to explore

The Smaller Explorer is a blog for adventurous families. I search out the best of what's out there that's fun for kids AND adults (and maybe a bit of a break from the norm), plus provide lots of achievable ideas for exploring and having adventures in the UK and overseas.

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the smaller explorer is an online magazine for adventurous parents. We search out the best of what's out there that's fun for kids AND adults, plus provide lots of achievable ideas for exploring and having adventures in the UK and overseas.

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