Fungi

I love Fungi. Don't you? Have you seen the amazing range of shapes and colours that you can find in an early autumnal wood? Have you ever noticed how magical the world of fungi can be?

A wonderful selection. x

Picking Blackberries

We have done a lot of blackberry picking over the last part of the summer. Pickle loves to pick the blackberries but won't eat them unless they are in a crumble. Penguin can't seem to stop eating them from the bushes as we wander through the woods.

We have had a few crumbles, made some jam and some blackberry gin. We have also had lots of purple fingers and a few purple faces too.

Wonderful outside time with my two. 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 30

So!! We made it. Today was a great day. We had a full morning out going wild. We went to a field nearby and were catching grasshoppers. Pickle even managed to catch one himself! We collected a few natural materials while we were out and then Pickle and Penguin both made clay butterflies with what they found.

What beautiful art, showcasing the world around us and a perfect end to our month of wild!

30 Days Wild - Day 29

Today Pickle was playing in the garden with a water squirter. He loves to spray the plants, his play house, anything really. Today he sprayed some water droplets on these wonderful leaves.

These leaves always catch and keep the most wonderful water droplets on their surface. They are beautiful. We watched them form and join and little fingers poke.

Until next time! x

30 Days Wild - Day 28

Today we watched a brand new ladybird emerge from its pupa stage. It was great to see and Pickle and Penguin were really happy to watch, they love checking our plants for ladybirds, their pupa and the larvae.

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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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!