Is that a rhododendron?

When visiting your local park, or even better public garden see if they have a guide to the flora and fauna. You can play a kind of bingo (first to spot all on page 6 wins) or just get the children to tick off each specimen they see. It works with one child as well as a group, and is educational!!When I was a child there was the weekly 'nature walk' which doesn't seem to be done anymore, I remember being given a sheet with pictures of hawthorn, elderflower etc to find and identify in the countryside. I loved the challenge and my children do too!

Are we nearly there?

If you've never heard that, you aren't a parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle... basically you've never travelled with kids. Bless them, they give the first ten minutes a good effort, but those travel games last all of five minutes and reading in the car can make some people ill (I do know one lucky mother whose children can read away in the car, even the thought of doing that, however makes mine feel rotten!)

You may also have an advantage when travelling with more than one child as they can interact with each other, and even better in the same age range, but what to do on a long journey when you've only one... or two but the small one is happy to spend the time mashing liga into the car seat while the other one does her (or his) best to prolong the inevitable...

"Are we nearly there?"

I once passed a very long train journey without once hearing that question, in fact when we arrived at our destination there was a fleeting look of disappointment. How did I do it?

I simply told her to take photos of things she found interesting from the window and that she could tell us all about them when we reached our destination.

There wasn't a peep... and some of the snaps were quite good too....

Monte Cassino

Taken from the window of the Cassino-Roma Train

by Mary

Enviromental Art!

Sometimes there is just enough time in the day for a short walk, and if you're like me a nice stroll in the local wood is just enough. Its a nice way to "get in a bit of air" as my grandfather would have said!

I am so aware of the lack of daily exercise my children get - compared to my own childhood which consisted of long walks to school, fast spurts of chasing at playtime, and long afternoons of running, cycling or skipping... compared with todays sedentary inclinations of our children (faster traffic and fear playing a part in that)...

So when you're on a short walk why not set them a task, increase the activity in a fun way. One brilliant way to do this, and to encourage them to use their imagination and creativity is to set them the task to create art within the environment.

Give them a start by suggesting a theme, maybe a spiral or a star, and watch them run along collecting bits and pieces, as you stroll leisurely by...

This can be done by a solitary child or by a group and can be called upon at the drop of a hat when needed!

Enjoy!