Easy ideas for challenging times
In these testing times, where we are encouraged to spend more time apart than together with schools and workplaces closed or closing lies perhaps the perfect opportunity to connect with Nature and breathe in some fresh air.
I have compiled 10 ideas for activities that you can do at home with your kids, in your garden or neighborhood or in the local forest, park or beach all depending on where you live and what you feel up for:
- Go for walks and collect nature treasures i.e. fallen leaves, sticks, stones, pieces of wood. You may want to bring a reusable bag to hold all the bits if your kids are anything like mine and will fill up everyone’s pockets in a split second.
- Paint the leaves and rocks you have collected. These can be decorated with names, faces, days of the week, numbers, animals, beads, glitter, rice, oats or anything else on hand. The rocks make nice little gifts or table decoration and the painted leaves are great for homemade greeting cards and collages.
- Plan a scavenger hunt for your kids and let them choose between taking photographs, sketch or draw pictures of stuff on the list i.e. a pattern, something green, something multi-coloured, a series of three, something round, something smooth, something spiky – be creative and explore together, there are no limits to this creative challenge.
- Make a bug hotel or a fairy garden and place it on your balcony or in the garden and keep an eye on it to see if anyone moves in. Lego figures and old fish tank plants make good props too.
- Make your own foam paints using dads shaving foam and a bit of food colour. Fill them in empty ketchup and sauce bottles. Give it a good shake and get painting. Warning: This will get messy!
- Get those nature books out and read; paint pictures and take notes.
- Ask your kids to draw a treasure map of your garden for you to explore. Watch out for booby traps!
- Go bug hunting at night with a torch and see the world from a nocturnal animals’ perspective. Where would you hide from predators if you were a mouse in the garden?
- Organise a gardening and repotting session – dig out a bunch of shoots from your garden and get some seeds from avocados, mango, papaya or anything else you may have in the house – let the kids repot in miniature pots or upcycle old jam jars and empty yoghurt pots.
- Bring an empty bag on your walk and collect the rubbish you come across. It does not have to take long and you do not need to aim for a ton. A little goes a long way and can make a big difference to the wildlife around us.
Stay safe everyone!
