An overview of the fifth month of the “365 day nature play challenge”. It seems to take off this month. We play detectives, make sundials, have a big day out in the Wye Valley and a day with no electronics at all. We also find the joys of returning to the same place and make some new rules going forward into the summer…
The Big Challenges
It’s been a month of big challenges and new ideas, spurred on by bank holidays and lovely weather. At the beginning of the month we had two very different beach days, playing with the possibilities of footprints in the sand one day, and rockpools and tides on the next. At the other end of the month we had a big day out in the Wye Valley with three different challenges on one day: feeding the donkeys at Raglan Farm Park, canoeing on the Wye after lunch and finally walking with butterflies.
The next day we did a no electronics day… with mixed results and a lot of lessons learnt. My favourite day of the month was possibly the day we went to Margam Park to track deer. We both really enjoyed this and it opened up a whole new world of ideas for me of how to get kids to enjoy walks in the country.
The joys of returning
One of the biggest revelations for me this month was how lovely it is to keep going back to the same spot. Apart from our local area we are lucky to have lots of different places near us we can go and visit but this month we kept returning to the local woodland. On the first visit we explored the accidental dams in the stream and smelt the wild garlic. By the third visit the stream was dry after lots of sunny weather and the wild garlic was almost gone, but the wild flowers were blooming. We found different paths each time and it has begun to feel familiar.
Making and planting things
It’s also been a month of making things. Our sundial day was a lot of fun and really different from most of the other challenges we’ve done. Making a nest for the birds was messy and we learnt a lot about how to do it better next time! We’re still waiting for our first proper baby bird interaction (I’m hoping for cygnets).
We had a go at planting things in the garden with mixed success. The runner beans, like the goldfish, were sadly very short lived but the broad beans and the tomatoes are thriving, as are the little pots B sewed back at the start of the month.
The local park with friends
It was also another great month for playing outside with friends. The local park saw most of the adventures including the best playdate so far for B. We finally cracked it with a mix of litter picking, perfume ingredients finding, climbing trees and hide and seek.
Logistics
We had our first logistics hurdle of the challenge this month with B heading off for a three day residential with her school. The challenge is pretty safe as they’re outside for the whole time, but what to do in the gap caused an issue. In the end we did a three challenge day in the Wye Valley to keep the posts going and a post for each day.
This confirmed something that started to happen during the Easter holidays. We are going out to do a challenge every day but as the days get fuller of things to do outside, I think there will be some days when we find ourselves doing more than one good thing. As we go into the summer term, I’m going to embrace that so, while we are outside each day doing something, if one of the things is repetitive and already noted we’ll post two different things from one day instead.
Going forward
The last half of the summer term awaits. June will be a school filled time but I’m hoping to really crack the after school challenges and find some new ones. So we’re ready for the challenge filled extravaganza of July and August.
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