Dinosaurs of China

Over the summer we visited the Dinosaurs of China exhibit in Nottingham. It was great, a beautifully laid out museum with wonderful information and clarity of purpose.

I loved learning about the links between birds and dinosaurs and so did Pickle and Penguin. The fossils they had were amazing and clearly showed the features of dinosaurs reflected in modern birds.

They also had a fantastic tent outside with perfectly pitched activities for the kids to extend their learning through playing with various resources.

All in all a wonderful day and learning experience. Did you take any interesting trips over the summer? I would love to hear about them. Until next time. x

Painting Rocks

This summer many people in my local area have been painting rocks and leaving them in the woods for others to find. Rocks, paint, woods, outdoors, art. It sounded right up our alley.

So we decided to join in and give it a go. We started out by digging in the garden, finding rocks and giving them a good wash. This was a great activity and Pickle and Penguin dove into it with all the energy and excitement that small people seem to muster from nowhere. They found a lovely selection and were really keen to get started with the paint.

I covered them in PVA once they were dry and the next day we went out into the woods to hide them and search for others. We found a few and have been back a few times since to find more.

Pickle and penguin love to see the different designs others have chosen, to them every single one of them is beautiful and exciting. I love to see the world through their eyes. Some are amazingly creative, taking into account the shape of the rocks, others are very much toddler painted.

I would highly recommend getting involved in community projects such as this, it is really great to see so many families getting involved and enjoying the outdoors. I have seen a lot of posts about this on the facebook community so it would be worth looking to see if it is going on in your area.

Until next time. x

Heartwood Forest

During the holidays we took a trip to Heartwood Forest. It is an interesting site where they have a lot of new woodland planted with some teeny trees as well as some established woodland.

We had a wonderful long walk around, starting with the Magical Meander. It is a beautiful trail with lots of carved animals along the way.

There were a whole range of different creatures along the way.

Pickle and Penguin loved to run up to the different animals.

This archway was beautiful, the other side had pictures of leaves from different types of trees carved on. Pickle and Penguin loved to trace the lines with their fingers and point out all of the different things they could spot.

There were muddy puddles and horses too. Pickle and Penguin found an area of the more established woodland and wanted to explore more. I just love to look up....

I love trees in the sunshine, I like looking up at the sky between the leaves and I love the dappled shade of trees in the summer time.

We had a ball in the woods. The kids were rolling logs around, we found a rope swing and had a go, peered into a badger set and built a den. It was such great family time all together.
And to top it all off we got a bit lost after wandering off of our route and ended up getting caught in a lot of rain and finding lunch in a little village pub. A perfect day.

I would definitely recommend a visit. x

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.

Bekonscot model village

So last week my parents treated us to a day out at Bekonscot Model Village. I love it here and boy do Pickle and Penguin love it here! I grew up not to far from here and remember visiting several times as a child, with family, friends, Brownies, a school trip....I even organised a trip here with my Brownie group as a leader, a recreation of my very first Brownie meeting!

It was a beautiful day and we were so busy running around after Pickle and Penguin I didn't manage to get any close up shots without them in! This is just a perfect day out for their age (17 months and 3.5). They ran around spotting trains on the fantastic model train network. They liked looking at the fish and spotting frog spawn. They ran over bridges and spotted animals in the model zoo. They watched the fair ground rides go around and the boats race by. There is even a train ride and a playground which they loved too. A really great day out.

Bekonscot Model Village is a not for profit organisation. They support local charities through their admission fee. It is a really great day out and lovely to see such a quaint tradition being kept alive. It is a fabulous model village and I would recommend a visit if you are in the area.

Until next time.... S x

(This is an honest account of our experiences. My parents paid for our entry fee and I was not asked to post a review.)