50 Things to do Before you are 11 3/4

                           
                                          Me and a little friend checking out the New Forest ponies.


The National Trust have published a list of 50 things children should try and experience before they are 11 3/4 as a way to encourage kids to enjoy the outdoors. I was lucky, growing up I was in the cubs, had a massive woodland and playing field at the end of my street,  used to go on WATCH nature trips and my parents and grandparents were always taking us to the beach or places in the middle of nowhere. Today it's not so easy, with busier parents, busier roads, more fear about kiddy pervs, more built up areas etc. One thing I would definately advise is to take your child to Brownies or Cubs as this can be a great way for them to experience things on the list below, also check out your regional Wildlife Trust as they are often located in built up areas but arrange trips for kids to go pond dipping etc. Also camping and caravanning holidays give kids a chance to do some of these things in safer places, if you live in larger cities.

A few I have thought of which are not on the list - Find a bird nest (tell them not to knick the eggs, but its great watching the chicks) play in the sand dunes, dig a moat so the tide can fill it up, keeps some worms in a jar, catch a bumblebee in a jar (release it later) watering plants with the watering can, make a bridge across a stream, peel a stick with a pen knife, make a bow and arrow, take a dog for a walk, make a daisy chain, have a grass fight, help make a picnic, play hide and seek, make an igloo in the snow, give them some wood, saw and nails so they can make something, feed a horse.

1. Climb a tree

2. Roll down a really big hill

3. Camp out in the wild

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
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
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
37. Check out the crazy creatures in a rock pool
38. Bring up a butterfly
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 compass
46. Try bouldering
47. Cook on a campfire
48. Try abseiling
49. Find a geocache
50. Canoe down a river