July is almost upon us. My birthday month. And to me July always means a long month of summer with lazy days in the sun and plenty of relaxing in the garden with good food, drinks and friends. It's also the time of year when I start to look at my home with different eyes. Start to look at the garden differently, and want to try to combine the two more to embrace summer properly in the home. A friend has recently renovated her house and when I went round for a nosey I completely fell in love with the Sanderson wallpaper that she has hung on her stairs. For me it totally captures the ... read more
Interplay Pocket Microscope
For absolutely ages now Little Miss C has been obsessed with the idea of becoming an explorer and naturalist of some kind. She loves nothing more than being outdoors and hunting for insects and bugs. We have so many bug hotels situated around the garden - many of them made from old shoeboxes and other things pilfered from my recycling bin. It therefore seemed perfect to ask her to review the Pocket Microscope from Interplay. We've had handheld magnifying glasses before in various kits, but this is the first time that she's had a microscope to play with. In the box you get the microscope ... read more
Born to Be Wild with the RSPB #BornToBeWild
Photo Credit: RSPB With a daughter who currently has her heart set on being "a nature explorer who also is an artist" an invitation to the RSPB reserve at Rainham Marshes to meet Hattie Garlick, author of the wonderful new book Born To Be Wild, was absolutely perfect. Both kids love being out in the fresh air, but Little Miss C really gets a buzz from doing nature based things outside. At school she seems to spend hours and hours in the playground building bug hotels and feeding snails and when inside she's always happiest when sat at the kitchen table with some gloopy glue and a load of ... read more
Exploring nature in our back garden as a Wilko Wild Bird Blogger
I'm pretty sure that I'm not the only parent that's keen for their kids to understand and appreciate the nature that's all around us, but the thing that always amazes me is how many people overlook the nature that's right there under their noses in their own back garden. Mr C and I have always been big nature lovers and that was cemented when we bought our first home together. Instead of having a back garden we instead explored a local community nature reserve that was at the end of our street. It gave us the desire to create our own little bit of a nature paradise once we had our own back ... read more
Review: Nick Baker’s Bug Safari from Interplay
We love all things nature based in this household, so when we were asked to review the Nick Baker's Bug Safari from Interplay I just knew that it would be perfect for Little Miss C. Her dad writes at UK Nature Blog and is forever finding interesting bugs and other creatures in the garden so this was a perfect opportunity for her to do similar. So, first of all here's what you get when you unbox it: Bug tongs Tweezers Field lens Viewing pot with magnifier lid Brush Instruction booklet with insect identification details in it LMC rushed out int the garden with it all ... read more
How Strong is an Ant? And other questions about bugs and insects
We're huge nature fans here in the C family - so much so that Mr C also runs UK Nature Blog when he has time - and we all enjoy getting outside as much as possible to see what we can spot. From a young age Little Miss C has been a big insect and bug fan and we've always encouraged her to see what she can spot in our own back garden. So being asked if we wanted to review How Strong Is an Ant? was a perfect opportunity to teach her a bit more about all the bugs and insects that she enjoys finding under stones and in the soil. The Good Question! books, of which this is one, are a lovely series ... read more
Barefoot walk at National Trust Godolphin
Some days end up with you doing something completely different from what you imagined when you woke up that morning, and one of the days of our Cornwall trip was exactly like that. It's fair to say that Godolphin is one of the National Trust's smaller properties - the guy checking membership cards was based in a gazebo (a posh one, but a gazebo all the same) and the tea room was small but perfectly formed. We were handed a leaflet about the barefoot walk that they have - aimed to help children check off one of the 50 things to do before you're 11 3/4 - and pointed us in the right ... read more
Jack and Boo’s Snowy Day – Philip Bell & Eleanor Bell
After being sent a review copy of Jack and Boo's Snowy Day I joked with author Philip Bell on twitter that he now needed to send me some snow. Damn it, he's good as this is the scene we woke up to yesterday morning! Having read the book with Little Miss C just a couple of days before it meant that she was super excited about the unexpected snow and instantly wanted to go out into the garden and explore and that's exactly what this book is all about. Written by Isle of Wight resident Philip Bell, and illustrated by his wife Eleanor, Jack and Boo's adventures in the snow were inspired by a ... read more
A nature butterfly
On Sunday afternoon we headed down to the annual family day at our local nature reserve here in St Albans. Mr C and I have been involved there for years helping to run things, but it's only now that Little Miss C is getting a bit older that we are getting involved more as members than volunteers. Whilst the bug hunt and pond dipping were of interest to her today, but she's not yet ready to properly try her hand at either. We also unfortunately missed the start of the storytelling session which was much more for her age range, but we were in time for the craft ... read more
Fifty things to do before you’re 11 3/4!
After my recent post about how we should be allowing our children to explore the outdoors more to help them to connect with nature I was delighted to hear on the radio news this morning about the National Trust's new Fifty things to do before you're 11 3/4 campaign. If you're not seen this on today's news then let me tell you a little about the campaign. The idea is to encourage children to put down their computer games and step away from their TV sets and instead embrace the great outdoors. They have come up with a list of fifty activities for children to try with ... read more