B and I have another go at a windy winters day challenge, and sum up all we learnt about playing with the wind on the 365 day nature play challenge.
A new windy day challenge, part one…
Saturday 24 January. Very windy and occasionally a bit rainy. 7°C
After days of rain today we have a windy day. It’s not warm but it is mainly dry. We’re going to go to the windiest place near us and see if we can make some fun. I’ve found a couple of old pieces of board, which will balance up against each other; some sticks from an old wind break; a roll of wrapping paper left over from Christmas; some big bits of drawing paper; a big old towel; a hair towel and an old blanket. Also scissors, string and a stapler.
We start off with the board and compete to see who can get it to balance up in the wind for the longest time. It’s not easy. It mainly falls down but we’re beginning to laugh already. Next we stick two sticks in the ground and have a go at tying things on to them and seeing what happens. Boringly, the wrapping paper and the towel actually stay in place quite well. The drawing paper is much better. We try and staple it, it escapes and we end up chasing it for ages. The hair towel is satisfying too. We tie it on by one end and it flaps around like crazy.
Belatedly B asks where the wind is coming from. She holds up a bit of paper and tries to see which way it’s blowing but it’s so windy it’s blowing in all directions. I suggest we look at the waves on the sea in the distance but she’s not buying that. In the end we go with her hair. You know you’ve facing into the wind when your hair is going straight backwards.
A new windy day challenge, part two…
Now we’ve got to grips with the wind direction and how towels and blankets behave in it we get to the core of the mission. B wants to have a teddy bears’ picnic. Setting this up so they don’t get a) blown away or b) blown into the mud strikes me as a proper challenge.
I want to continue with the posts but B thinks the deserted playground is a better option. Working out the best place to barricade is the tricky bit. B’s instincts are to go for the covered area on the ground under the slide but we find we can’t stop the wind getting underneath. We move on to the top of the slide. This works fine. There’s lots of bars to tie towels and blankets onto though we do have to do several sides before we succeed enough.
Victorious, B has her tea party. The teddies are secure and don’t get mud up on them. Though I’m wishing by now I’d brought some gloves.
I have to say, I find playing in the wind a lot more fun than playing in the rain. It’s quite hard to get the rain to help but the wind is really naughty and that can be brilliant.
Here’s our other favourite ways to play in the wind:
Flags and air socks
Last January we had a go at making our own flags and air socks and it was actually really easy and a lot of fun. We used willow canes from the garden but any stick would do. We found old material and paper and stapled them onto the sticks. Then we took them to a windy bit of the park and tried to work out which way the wind was blowing.
We took an old pillow case as well. With hindsight we should probably have cut the other end open to see what happens.
Leaf chasing
Look for a dry brittle old leaf. Let it go into the wind and chase it. It can take a while to get the right one but when it goes it’s a lot of fun. Plus you can race each other and see whose leaf wins! Best to do somewhere with absolutely no cars… because the wind isn’t safety conscious!
Watching the birds fly
If you can find yourself somewhere high or open with a good view of the sky, watching seagulls and crows negotiating wind currents is brilliant. You can watch the babies to see if they mess up, or try and work out which one is best. With a bit of luck they might even do some acrobatics for you.
Flying an aeroplane
You can find these polystyrene planes about now. They’re not expensive and are a lot of fun. Work out whether you should throw them into the wind or let the wind take them.
You might need the whole ‘which way is your hair blowing’ trick to work it out.
Watching the waves…
Obviously don’t go in them! Watching them can be really exciting. You can see how close you can get or throw sticks or stones into them to see what happens. Try and work out if the tide is coming in or going out by putting something near the waters edge and seeing if it gets swept away.
Leaning into the wind
Can you get the wind to hold you up? Can you lean on it? How far do you trust it to hold you? No photos as we were far too busy falling over!
Getting ready to fly a kite
We spent a surprisingly long time half flying a kite, because we couldn’t find the right place to do it. We’d get it out and hold it up on a short string and watch it try to fly and crash. Maybe not as satisfying as the real things…
However, we also found you can hold a plastic bag up in the wind, and it works almost as well.
…and finally, of course, FLYING A KITE
It took us ages to work out how to do it and we had quite a few disasters. Here’s our tops tips:
- Get the right kite. I don’t think you need an expensive one but some are definitely tougher than others and there’s nothing worse than when it breaks on your second try.
- The person flying it needs to stand with their BACK TO THE WIND. I’m pretty sure we spent quite a few hours trying to do it the other way.
- We found it worked when B held the string and I walked back with the kite till the string was totally stretched out. Then I waited for the wind, let it go and it flew.
- The right location is really key and surprisingly hard to find. We settled for an empty beach in the end.
- Watch out for other people (and dogs) about. It can move hard and fast. A deserted place is definitely better.
- There was a family where we were camping who took their two beautiful old fashioned kites out every day and flew them slowly and consistently in one small place for hours. We have none of this technique. Ours did furious figures of 8 and crashed on the beach a lot. We can aspire!
