Nature On Our Doorstep: #11-20
2nd April 2020
During the current crisis, we’re unable to run our outdoor programmes, but know that connecting with nature and the changing seasons is important and helps us all feel good. As schools are closed and families stay at home, Get Out More is sharing on social media a fun nature-based idea-a-day for children and families to try together at home or in the garden.
Please follow the latest advice: stay at home, only go out once a day for exercise, keep local and avoid busy places like parks and playgrounds.
Hard boiled eggs with a difference! Create beautiful leaf prints on your breakfast eggs with a natural dye, but make sure you have an adult to help with this activity. Peel off the brown skins of onions, put in a pan of water and bring to the boil. Choose a fresh leaf to decorate your egg, place it on top and tie it up tightly in a piece of old tights. Carefully put each egg in the pan and boil for ten minutes. Remove with a spoon and carefully take them out of your tights.
Make a sofa den! You don’t need to go outside to create a fun place to play and hide. We made ours with the sofa, some chairs and an old blanket- then we brought in our favourite toys and had a picnic. Remember to ask an adult to help with any heavy lifting.
Crystallised flowers good enough to eat! Pansy, primrose and primulas are edible and make stunning Easter decorations. Pick, wash and dry the flowers first. Whisk up an egg white. Brush it on to the flowers then lightly dust with castor sugar and shake off the excess. Make sure you have permission to pick flowers and use a book or internet guide to correctly identify species.
Garden assault course! Test your balance and agility while staying close to home. What can you find lying about to make your assault course? You could make it more of a challenge by carrying a cup of water without spilling any or try timing yourself! Easy to do indoors with cushions and the sofa.
Keep your own nature diary. Sometimes it seems like plants only grow when we’re not looking but what happens when we observe them closely every day? Find a plant or tree that interests you and remember to take notice of it each day. Can you spot the new buds waiting to bloom outside your window? Write or draw the changes you see; is everyday different?
Water Play! This activity can be done indoors at a kitchen sink, or outdoors and children of all ages love it! You will need some containers and food colouring. What does your hand look like when you put it into the water? Can you create different colours by mixing them together? Put a toy in different coloured water, can you still see it at the bottom of the container?
Make a dazzling dandelion garland or crown. Either thread them like a daisy chain or cross over the stems behind the flower and wrap more tightly to create a golden crown. To find out more about these so-called garden weeds, including how they got their name, check out our March blog
Let’s go birdwatching…Which of our feathered friends can you spot either out on your daily walk, or from the comfort of your house? We saw a red kite and even made our own binoculars from some toilet rolls! Click over to the RSPB website for help identifying what you see.
Make a rock pet; a lady bird, bee, hamster, dinosaur; who is your rock pet going to be? Or you could make a game like noughts and crosses or dominoes. What will you create? Write a word on your rocks to make kindness rocks or paint a picture. Hide them around the house or garden for your family to find.
Let’s get growing! All you need is a clean food container, a bit of earth from outside and some seed. If you think you don’t have any check the kitchen; fruit pips, dried peas and even some kitchen herbs will grow. Plant the seed 2.5 times deep as the size of the seed. Put your pot on a warm windowsill and water every day. Be patient – it won’t happen overnight! We enjoyed seeing how seeds germinate by planting a broad bean in damp cotton wool in a clear glass jam jar.
