Let’s have an Adventure

So with school closures confirmed and the possibility of a number of weeks with children at home, we thought we would try and help in a small way by putting together some easy go-to ideas for adventures with your little ones.  All designed to offer variety to your day or week, and most importantly keep the spirit of adventure strong even if you are not able to go very far for a period of time.

These are adventures at home, both indoors and outdoors, and some ideas for easy and cheap or free adventures in wide open spaces, as circumstances allow.

Here’s to adventure, however we can do it, continuing to be kind and smiley to each other, and really looking after ourselves and our loved ones. 

The lovely @growherwild used a brilliant phrase this week “turn it all in to an adventure”. What a brilliant way to look at it, especially for our children. Yes to that.

Adventures at Home

• Build a Den – this is awesome because you can achieve it quite easily indoors or in the garden.  This is not weather-dependant at all, and just so much fun.  They can have snacks in there, read in there, have tea parties, write letters, play music, the opportunities for adventure and giggles are endless.  It is on the top of my to do list with the boys 

• On this idea, they could build their own dens (depending on their ages) and then review their structure afterwards, they could give themselves points for location, height, space, etc…

• Treasure Hunts – thesis a good one for a rainy day.  An adventure round the house looking for and solving clues, finding letters to sound out words, collecting numbers to complete sums or crack a code.  They can be really simple but really good fun. I will try and put a few together and then share them for you to use

• Letter/Post Card writing.  The fantastic @worldattheweekend inspired this idea.  They are writing postcards to family members who are having to self isolate.  I thought this was a gorgeous idea.  It gets the little ones writing and will be so special for the recipient.  Could be a traditional postcard or email if that is easier.  They could add images and ask questions and then if they get replies in return pop them in to a scrap book or box of memories

• Go around the world.  One idea that came to me today was that you could pick a country each week and do some research on it – find out about their language, food, culture and traditions.  Would be a lovely way to ‘adventure’ from home.  You could do drawings, look up recipes, draw maps, put together a ‘Round the World’ scrap book.  This could be so much fun and really inspiring for them.  What a nice way to spend time you are forced indoors… still being inspired by the world around us

• Picnics. My little Adventure Boys literally LOVE picnics.  Henry will quite often ask for a ‘Picnic Tea’ when he comes home from school.  Always makes me laugh as I can remember my sisters and I doing the same.  I think this is a lovely little adventure for those at home – you can do it indoors or in the garden, get out a picnic blanket, set up the teddies and the food. So much fun

• Nature Hunts.  If you can, definitely take the treasure hunts outdoors.  One nice idea is a little nature trail or hunt.  There are several ways you could do this.  They might have to find something outdoors for every colour of the rainbow, or things that start with a specific letter. Or you could have a quick look, write a list of things in your garden, and then they go outdoors, find them and draw them.  Or they might have to collect a list of thing and then turn them in to a potion, or make some wild art

• Grow your own!  Starting a veggie patch, planting some flowers, getting involved in some planting of seeds… the kids will love this and it will be a nice way of adventuring outside whilst still being at home 

• Reading.  The school my little one attends recently launched a fab project which encouraged children to read in weird and wonderful places.  Reading books and magazines is going to be a fab use of time over the next few weeks any way, but I think this could add some adventure and fun to it.  They could find the most weird and wonderful place to read in the house or garden and take photos of themselves reading there, they could award points to the places they find – for example for comfort, view, weirdness etc… 

• Art and Photography.  It will be a great time to get crafty (if you can bear it!!) If the weather is dry then art in the garden would be fab (plus it means less mess indoors.  Winner.) I am thinking we could try taking photos and adding effects to them, drawing some of the favourite things we find in the garden, some wild art, pictures we could send to family and friends who are not able to get out, chalk drawings on the driveway or patio.  

• Jars of Adventure… This is something my eldest and I are going to do together over the next couple of evenings.  We are going to use a couple of jam jars, and then write ideas for some fun things we could do each day on to slips of paper.  One jar for outdoor wide open spaces, as long as we can go out.  One jar for ‘at home adventures’.  I am going to encourage him to come up with the ideas. Clearly these might need some review!!  But I am hoping it will give him some ownership of what we get up to, and he is bound to come up with some cool ideas that I haven’t thought of.  Hopefully not all football related…  Each day he can pick one out and we will give it a go.  This will be a nice break from any school work he needs to get done, will give us something nice to do as a family, and will hopefully be something to look forward to.  It might be any of the ideas above, or perhaps things like baking, making something, playing a game, lego, watching a movie, looking at old photos, making a scrap book.  Lots of ideas.  TO be honest this needs to be about fun and variety.  It is going to be hard enough, so the more enjoyable and exiting the better!

Adventures in Wild Open Spaces 

• If we are able to get outside, then these are some of the things we will be aiming to do.  I am thinking big wide open spaces, plenty of fresh air and lots of running about wild and free…

• The National Trust have made a wide number of gardens/parklands open for free and there is no better place for children to let off some steam and go on an outdoor adventure

• The beach.  If you are near to one, these are fab for taking some deep breaths and feeling the positive effects of some fresh air.  Just some buckets and some imagination and you are off on an adventure. My boys also love taking cars and trains with them and making massive tracks in the sand.  Keeps them entertained for ages!

• The woods and forests.  Any of these nearby are perfect – you can often be completely on your own up there and the possibilities for some adventure are endless – lots of hiding, collecting, nature-hunting, and beautiful fresh air

• Being near water.  I always find this massively soothing, and it is a fab place to adventure.  Walks near rivers, canals, lakes are all fab for adventuring if you have the chance – you could do a bit of a nature trail and get points for different things you spot along the way

We hope these little ideas help in some way. They may not all be for you, but I hope they spark some ideas.  I say don’t stress too much over the school work and the sitting down to piles of books, or arguing about writing.  Enjoy time together.  Play, explore, adventure.  Good luck and lots of love xx