30 Days Wild - Day 27

Today was a rainy day. It was a puddle splashing day. It was an opportunity day. We did the puddle splashing thing again of course. But we also started the day by putting to glasses of water outside on our garden lawn.

I hear you why on earth would you do that? How is that wild? Well today we were learning a bit about weather. We were learning about rainfall. I asked Penguin how much water he thought would be in the glass after all that rain and after seeing all those puddles. He understandably thought it would be full. Of course it wasn't. He was surprised and it sparked a little conversation about puddles and rain.

We left one glass outside to see how much more rain falls over night but this was our day rainfall...

Tomorrow I think we will find a ruler and do some measuring!

30 Days Wild - Day 26

So each weekend Penguin brings a book home from preschool to read. Last weekend he had one about bees. It was all about how they live and their life cycle. He loved it. He was really very interested in all the information and we read it a lot. On Saturday too, I guess that is another wild thing we did on the transport museum day...

Anyway, today we were watching some bees outside. They were visiting clover, we saw their pollen sacks and their fluffy bodies. We spoke about what the bees were doing and what they got from the plants and how. We talked about how bees were important and we should be kind to them because they help us. A lovely conversation and happily watching the bees.

30 Days Wild - Day 25

Today the afternoon was spent in a friends garden with a few other families. The kids played, there was tennis and swingball, bubbles, it was wonderful.

I had a little tour of their beautiful landscaped garden. They grow a lot there, courgettes, raspberries, tomatoes, cabbage, all sorts. As well as their flowers, it really puts my garden to shame. I couldn't believe how much further on their plants are than mine, they have big tomatoes on their 5ft tall tomato plants.....my tomato plants are only around 5 inches tall and are barely flowering yet! It is really inspiring to see such a wonderful garden and so much growing, it gives me an itch to grow more. I feel like an allotment is worth looking into for next year....hmmmm another idea for the list.

No photos today either, there were people everywhere and too much fun and laughter to be looking through a camera!

30 Days Wild - Day 24

Today we had a very busy day. We visited the London Transport museum which means most of the day was spent on trains and looking at trains and buses. But looking at public transport and changes to the ways we have traveled, including the changes in pollution I am going to count as a win.....

We had a nice train ride into London, looking out of the windows at gardens and hedges, trees and plants. It was a lovely ride and we saw plenty.

It is not quite wild wild but it is pretty modern wild and Pickle and Penguin had a total blast. If you haven't visited the London Transport Museum and you live in the vicinity, go. It is a great day out and perfect for our two, ages 3 and 1. They have things to look at, things to climb on and dress up in, things to drive and sit in. It is really great. Really.

30 Days Wild - Day 23

Today we made an assault course in the back garden for all of the dinosaur and animal toys. We used sticks and stones, hay and even a few petals from a past-its-best rose. Later I also added a tray with water for them to wade through. At the end we placed our paper mache cave for all the animals to hide in.

This kept Pickle and Penguin amused for quite a while. They really enjoyed setting it up and making the dinosaurs and animals run through it.

30 Days Wild - Day 22

Today we spotted a squirrel in the garden nibbling at our strawberries!! We didn't manage to catch a picture before it scampered away but it did provoke an interesting conversation about wild animals and how they find food.

30 Days Wild- Day 21

Today we made some butterfly pictures in the garden. Pickle and Penguin put pieces of tissue paper onto butterfly shape cut outs and then sprayed it with water. It was a lovely cool activity for a very hot day!

After a little while we peeled off the tissue paper to reveal a beautifully patterned butterfly! It would be really lovely to make this with different shapes of tissue paper when they are a bit older and more thoughtful about design.

30 Days Wild - Day 20

Today we bought a bit of the outside in! We have a lovely rose plant hidden away at the bottom of our garden, today we cut some of the lovely white roses and bought them inside to sit on our windowsill. I love to have flowers in the house and Pickle is interested in looking at the flowers and describing them, he says they are pretty.

30 Days Wild - Day 19

Today we lay down on the roundabout at our local park and looked at the clouds. We looked at the wispy shapes and had a lovely talk. We listened to the sound of the wind and the birds in the trees. It was peaceful and tranquil. It was lovely.

30 Days Wild - Day 18

We have been reading a book we have borrowed from the library, it is called 'Where's the Starfish' by Barroux. It looks at the problems caused by ocean pollution in a way that is easy to understand for toddlers and young children.

We try to read a broad range of books and like to include those which deal with issues such as this. 'The Lorax' from Dr Seuss is another favourite of ours and we have also read 'Where's the Elephant', also by Barroux.

The books by Barroux have beautiful illustrations and leave a very powerful message in their wake. Pickle and Penguin love the game of finding the animals in each picture and have made thoughtful comments throughout the book. They are great for their ages of 1 and 3 but I expect the impact will be greater as we look at them again as Pickle in particular gets older and more observant. It is an important message that lies very close to our hearts.

30 Days Wild - Day 17

Today we went on a trip to ZSL Wipsnade Zoo. We had a fantastic day, we saw a lot of different animals. Pickle and Penguin love animals and were fantastic, it was a long day but they really had a wonderful time. I think the favourite was the giraffes, it was certainly one of my favourites.

It was a really hot and sunny day, a lot of the animals look like they were enjoying the sunny weather or sitting in the shade. It was lovely to see the African Hunting dogs, it is a new exhibit and I don't remember ever seeing them before.

The elephants were having a great time throwing dust and mud on themselves to keep themselves cool. This guy looks really happy with the grass he has to munch on. I was amazed by the dexterity of their trunk as this one picked the grass and put it into his mouth before wandering over to the pool, mixing water with the dust and squirting his belly with it.

I always get mixed feelings visiting the zoo. I know that the zoos do a lot of great work, I love the excitement of the children seeing all the different animals and I know that them seeing the animals ignites their interest and enthusiasm for the animals and I hope it will go onto inspire them. I love to watch the animals myself too but I do sometimes struggle with the size of some enclosures. The animals seem so big to fit into such marginal spaces. I think they are doing work on the Sea Lion exhibit at Wipsnade and I look forward to seeing it when completed, it doesn't seem like they have a lot of space. Wipsnade is better than a lot of zoos I have seen for enclosure space, it is a pleasure to visit. I look forward to our next visit!

30 Days Wild - Day 16

Today we learnt about ants. We watched a group of ants trotting across the path and we watched them climbing a tree.

We spoke about why they might be climbing the tree. We watched them going up and down and from one nest to another across the path.

They are super hard to photograph! They are so fast and so tiny!

They were really very busy and both Pickle and Penguin were mesmerised by them. I am sure there must be a great children's story in there.

30 Days Wild - Day 15

Today we learnt about Australian animals. Pickle was sent this book:

I don't think it is available in the UK but it has a lot of different Australian animals in. We have talked about the obvious ones before, Pickle knew Koala, Kangaroo and Emu but there were a lot of animals in the book even I hadn't heard of before. 

We spoke about some of the animals and Pickle really wanted to find out more. We sat with our tablet and we went through each animal in turn and found out a little bit more about it. 

Pickle was particularly excited to learn that the Bilby pouch faces backward to prevent dirt getting in when it is digging. It was a lovely thing to sit and do together and both children learnt a lot about animals living on the other side of our beautiful planet. 

30 Days Wild - Day 14

Today we did some weaving. I made a little weaving frame from some sticks and twine, then Pickle, Penguin and I went on a little walk and collected grass, flowers, leaves and feathers to weave into the twine.

It was pretty successful. Penguin is too little for the weaving but she was really keen on picking the flowers and grass for Pickle and I to weave in. They also spent some time exploring a log for animal homes. There are a number of holes in and around the log, I would love, love, love to know what lives in there!

30 Days Wild - Day 13

Today we went to the Hatfield Farm and Hertfordshire Goat Sanctuary. Pickle and Penguin really love it there. Pickle in particular loves the big sand pits they have. We took buckets and spades with us and played for sometime in the sand.

Of course the idea behind the trip was to see the animals and learn a bit more about the different types. Farm animals are pretty easy so the smalls both know all their animal names and noises. I really wish they would put some better signage up at this particular farm. There are some very interesting goats with 4 horns but I have no idea what they are called.

Quite something, don't you think? I think they are fantastic.

These pigs were oh so snuffly, I don't think I have ever heard a pig do so much grunting! It was fantastic reinforcement for Penguin and her funny little pig noise.

Penguin loves the tractor trailer ride. She got so very excited! It is a nice ride to end the trip, but you really do have to be careful, the first time we went on the ride we sat on the wrong side and got a really lovely view of the hedges....

30 Days Wild - Day 12

Today we picked some strawberries from our garden! Pickle and Penguin love to stoop and peer at the strawberries beginning to blush. They are learning to check and see if they are ripe before picking them.

Both of them love strawberries and they love to pick them fresh from their very own garden.

30 Days Wild - Day 11

We planted a new tomato plant in our garden today! Let's hope we get some yummy tomatoes growing on it soon!

30 Days Wild - Day 10

Today we played poo sticks, walked, spotted birds and looked at cows in a field, walked outdoors, explored an adventure playground and had a picnic.
We went for a day out at Aldenham Country Park. We had a lovely walk and the kids really enjoyed the 100 acre wood and play area.

It was really nicely laid out, Pickle and Penguin loved peeping in the various characters houses. And of course Pickle jumped right in to play in the sand where Roo plays.

We spotted this heron in a nearby field! We saw a red kite too but it was high up and I couldn't catch a picture as we watched Pickle and Penguin by the reservoir.

30 Days Wild - Day 9

Do you remember these guys? 

Today we found out more about them! They are Ladybird larvae! I never knew. We learnt a lot about the lady bird life cycle using the iDial. You can find the iDials here... 

It turns out these little guys were getting ready to pupate. They are still in the same position as here but now in the Pupa stage. We will be keeping an eye on them to see if we can see them emerge as ladybirds!

30 Days Wild - Day 8

Today we picked lettuce leaves from the garden for our dinner!

Sorry for the poor quality pictures, I may have had a 'helper'.

30 Days Wild - Day 7

Today we went and bought some straw to bed in the strawberry plants!

Pickle and Penguin loved this one. And there is just a little bit of mess.....Some of the plants have some nice looking strawberries growing!

30 Days Wild - Day 6

Today was a wet day. A really wet day. I didn't dare take my camera out in the rain but we did a bit of puddle splashing but decided to have a peep at some wild life cameras as our main activity.
This is the site we used. We liked the Osprey nest cam the best I think...


Later when the rain cleared up we went and looked at a couple of trees with our wild life trust iDial but I will do another post about that another day....

30 Days Wild - Day 5

We went on a mini mini beast hunt! We had a good search around in the garden to see what we could find.

I have no idea what these things are! I think they might like aphids as these plants are covered in them! We found a snail and an ant, a spider, lots of aphids, a few ladybirds and these friends. Penguin was rather pleased with her ant.

30 Days Wild - Day 4

Today was a Daddy afternoon. Pickle and Penguin went out for a walk to the library and then for a play in the park. One of the kidlets favourite outdoor activities! They love to be outdoors and moving around.


Unfortunately I don't have a photo to go with this....imagine swings. They pretty much just love flying through the air on the swings.

30 Days Wild - Day 3

Today we had a little scavenger hunt to make a rainbow from the plants in our garden. We struggled a bit for blue, strange as it is my favourite colour......

Sorry for the bad light in the photo. I took the picture after Pickle and Penguin were in bed, we were just too busy before hand!!

30 Days Wild - Day 2

Day 2 of our 30 days wild challenge. We decided that we would have a go at potato printing outside in the garden! Using vegetables and spending time outside!

30 Days Wild - Day 1

We started the day by making some 'binoculars' from toilet roll middles. Pickle and Penguin were quite happy to sit and stick bits on them and were very keen to take them outside to look for things.

We went to the park and had a look at some trees, fed the ducks with bird seed and had a picnic. Certainly a wild filled day to kick things off. I am sure some of these activities will be repeated at somepoint during this month!

Making Fossils

Did I mention Pickles love for Dinosaurs? I did? It is a sickness I tell you!

He likes to 'hunt' for fossils and explore his 'objects' (his term not mine!) with his magnifying glass. We have been talking a little bit about how the fossils were made. He is 3 so we are talking basic stuff...

Anyway I thought it would be fun for the kids to make their own fossils. It is really simple to create a little cast, I think I will repeat the idea looking at footprints like the ones we found on the beach on the Isle of Wight.

Pickle and Penguin both chose a shell and made an imprint of it in some air dry clay. I then mixed some plaster of paris and they very carefully helped me to pour it into the imprint. We left it until the next day and then were able to uncover our fossils! Penguin loves to look at them, she points and says 'my fossil, mine.'

A nice little activity, pretty clean too. I was careful to mix the plaster of paris myself as there are hazards so just make sure you read the packaging before using and take necessary precautions.

Until next time...