We’re now three-quarters of the way through this year’s #30DaysWild and have been enjoying getting outdoors and learning more about wildlife and nature. We tend to come up with our own activities for each day during #30DaysWild rather than following the activity suggested in the daily email. This week we have been joining in with some of the suggested activities though, particularly during the last weekend; the Big Wild Weekend when we joined in with the Big Wild Campout and the kids’ quiz. It’s been about twelve years since I last slept in a tent, but this year’s #30DaysWild had me camping out for a couple of nights in the garden with the kids. Sophie thoroughly enjoyed her first experience of sleeping in a tent and Thomas coped well with it too. Here’s our summary of the activities we’ve been enjoying for our third week of #30DaysWild 2021:
Day 17
Sophie and Thomas enjoyed picking raspberries and wild strawberries from the garden. We also picked some of the radishes and lettuce that we’ve been growing this year.
Day 18
Sophie and I enjoyed watching one of the British Wildlife Tales drawing tutorials on YouTube and drawing a rabbit.
Day 19
This weekend was the Big Wild Weekend with various events taking place, including the #bigwildcampout for Saturday night. Daddy was away for the weekend but had put up both our old tents in the garden ready for us to camp out overnight. We had a practice run with the four of us sleeping in the big tent out in the garden midweek but then I was on my own for the #bigwildcampout itself. It was just as well we’d had both tents up for a few days as I’d discovered that the bigger one wasn’t quite so waterproof, so with a rainy night forecast, we were camping out in the small tent. Thomas wasn’t quite so sure at first but soon settled down, and both children slept well (and slept through the dawn chorus at 4am). I didn’t sleep quite so well but it was a fun experience and thankfully we all stayed dry!
Day 20
We finished off the Big Wild Weekend events by joining in with the Big Wild Kids’ Quiz on YouTube. Sophie is currently making a shoebox garden in her Muddy Puddles outdoor learning sessions at school so she collected some fallen rose petals and grass from the garden to take into school to add to this.
Day 21
Back in April we put some of the forget-me-nots and daffodils from the garden in Sophie’s flower press (and then forgot about them!) While trying to think of a #30DaysWild activity for today, I remembered and dug out the flower press. We were very pleased with how well they came out – the daffodils were particularly pretty. Sophie stuck some of the flowers in her nature journal and I glued some of the forget-me-nots into my ‘life after Jessica’ journal. Forget-me-nots always make me think of her – I never noticed any in the garden until my first Mother’s Day without her and it felt like a little gift from her.
Day 22
We took a walk through a wildflower meadow after Sophie’s swimming lesson to see how many different wildflowers we could spot. We spotted lots of different ones – ox-eye daisies, buttercups, ragwort, cow parsley, thistle, bird’s foot trefoil, red and white clover, and tufted vetch.
Day 23
We headed to Black Park after school for a walk around the lake. Sophie and Thomas enjoyed feeding the ducks and looking out for the giant ladybirds which are currently placed around the park. There are ten altogether and we managed to find five of them. Sophie also found a big feather.
You can read about other activities we’ve enjoyed while taking part in #30DaysWild over the last few years here.
Well done with all of your growing. I noticed tomatoes on my tomato plant during the week. I can’t wait until they are ripe.
The camping out sounds like fun. I am glad you all stayed dry. x
Thanks Kim. How lovely to see tomatoes starting to grow on your tomato plant 🙂
Oh wow, you are doing so many lovely things for #30DaysWild.
It sounds like you have done really well growing your own fruit and veg. What a treat for the children to be able to pick their own from the garden.
You are so much braver than me on the camping front. I just know my two would take hours to get off to sleep, I would need a full week to recover!
Have a lovely weekend. x
Thanks Jayne. The children love picking the raspberries and wild strawberries. I was a bit apprehensive about the camping particularly with Thomas. It did take a while for him to settle but it went much better than I was anticipating.
What great fun, Well done on the tent! I bet they just LOVED that! #MischeifandMemories
Thank you, they thoroughly enjoyed it.
My kids tried camping out in the garden a few years ago, and didn’t even make it to midnight. Love the bunny picture! #MMBC
I wasn’t sure how well it would go and was quite impressed that the children did actually sleep well!
Wow you have done so much. The tent overnight looks like your kids had fun x #mmbc
Thank you, they had fun camping outside in the garden 🙂
I love the pressed flowers. I wouldn’t think of pressing a daffodil, but how pretty is that flower? Well done on your first sleep out. I’m so surprised they slept through the dawn chorus. Your flower photos are beautiful. I can see that Sophie is pleased with her big feather. Good find. #mmbc
Thanks Cheryl. I was quite impressed at how well the daffodil came out.
Is it week 3 of the 30 days wild already?! Wow, it’s really speeding past. I have to say, I am just SO impressed with you camping in the garden with the littles, and even more so that you did a trial run and chose to do it again on your own. We don’t have a big enough garden for this, but I’m really inspired. Maybe we’ll give it a go in the front room. Thank you for sharing your wonderfully wild adventures over on #mischiefandmemories xxx
Thank you, I was relieved that camping out in the garden went better than expected!
We love camping here and have done 3 trips already this year with two more booked. It is so great for the kids. Now that you have tried it in the garden do you think you might do a trip further afield? #MischiefAndMemories
I think I’d be more willing to consider a camping trip than in the past, and we’ll definitely camp out in the garden again but given the choice, I’m still likely to opt for a hotel or cottage stay with a comfy bed!
Ooh my kids have been fruit picking in our garden this week and Anya has been flower pressing with my mum. Waiting for a bit more warmth before we brave camping in the garden… Thanks for linking up with #MischiefAndMemories
Temperature-wise it wasn’t too bad for camping out. We all managed to stay nice and warm overnight.