What’s 50 Things about? The National Trust aims to get our pampered and cosseted kids out in the great outdoors. We all know how important it is to get our kids outdoors but too many kids are still sitting inside when they could be out and about doing what kids should be doing.
When my kids were little, if there was any shouting in the house, the dog used to jump up and down, run herself ragged and race for her lead. She had been conditioned to know that if the kids were playing up, we’d be heading outside for walkies or to the local park.
With the Easter Holidays coming up, we should maybe get our kids away from the front of their screens and outside to play more.
If it’s true that kids don’t get to go outside because their mums and dads won’t allow it, that’s sad. Our worry about stranger danger shouldn’t stop our kids getting outside. If you don’t want them to do it alone, go with them. Think what fun you could have too. Kids can join the website and get involved in the fun online. That’s the best of both worlds.
It can be hard to get going if you’re not the outdoors type, so the National Trust set up 50 Things to do before you’re 11 ¾.
We’ve done a fair few as we are tin tenting fans, so I’ve marked up the ones we still have to do in red. Camping in the wild isn’t terribly safe these days, so I suspect that is one we’ll never manage.
How many do your kids still have to do?
1. Climb a tree
2. Roll down a really big hill
3. Camp out in the wild – I guess our garden or a campsite just doesn’t count for this.
4. Build a den
5. Skim a stone
6. Run around in the rain
7. Fly a kite
8. Catch a fish with a net – hoping a tiddler covers it.
9. Eat an apple straight from a tree
10. Play conkers
11. Throw some snow
12. Hunt for treasure on the beach
13. Make a mud pie
14. Dam a stream
15. Go sledging
16. Bury someone in the sand
17. Set up a snail race
18. Balance on a fallen tree
19. Swing on a rope swing
20. Make a mud slide
21. Eat blackberries growing in the wild
22. Take a look inside a tree
23. Visit an island
24. Feel like you’re flying in the wind
25. Make a grass trumpet
26. Hunt for fossils and bones
27. Watch the sun wake up
28. Climb a huge hill – hoping Bennachie counts for the kids. I’ve done Lochnagar about 10 times.
29. Get behind a waterfall
30. Feed a bird from your hand
31. Hunt for bugs
32. Find some frogspawn
33. Catch a butterfly in a net
34. Track Wild Animals
35. Discover what’s in a pond
36. Call an owl (They live in the woods outside our house so this was easy)
37. Check out the crazy creatures in a rock pool
38. Bring up a butterfly (I’m not sure what this actually means)
39. Catch a crab
40. Go on a nature walk at night
41. Plant it, grow it, eat it
42. Go wild swimming
43. Go rafting
44. Light a fire without matches
45. Find your way with a map and a compass
46. Try bouldering
47. Cook on a campfire (unless a barbecue counts)
48. Try abseiling
49. Find a geocache
50. Canoe down a river – I don’t think a boating lake would count.