Looking back at the National Trust's "50 things to do before 11..."

There was some controversy when the National Trust first released their "50 things to do before 11..." list. I never really checked it out in great detail before now but saw a link Yeo Valley tweeted a while back and decided to have a closer look.

Turns out, we've done lots of them already so my 7 and 6 year old children are well on their way to completing the list. I would actually think (or hope?) that most children would do these things through out a normal childhood but maybe I have a blinkered view. I suspect many of these things have been achieved because a) we live in the countryside and b) we holiday a lot in the UK. I'm in no way a natural country bumpkin, totally townie at heart so I did feel quite pleased that my children were managing to have a good outdoorsy childhood experience without trying too hard.

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 the tree
10. Play conkers

11. Go on a really long bike ride
12. Make a trail with sticks
13. Make a mud pie
14. Dam a stream
15. Play in the snow
16. Make a daisy chain
17. Set up a snail race
18. Create some wild art
19. Play Pooh sticks
20. Jump over waves

21. Pick blackberries growing in the wild
22. Explore inside a tree
23. Visit a farm
24. Go on a walk barefoot
25. Make a grass trumpet
26. Hunt for fossils and bones
27. Go star gazing
28. Climb a huge hill
29. Explore a cave
30. Hold a scary beast

31. Hunt for bugs
32. Find some frogspawn
33. Catch a falling leaf
34. Track wild animals
35. Discover what's in a pond
36. Make a home for a wild animal
37. Check out the crazy creatures in 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 swimming in the sea
43. Build a raft
44. Go bird watching
45. Find your way with a map and compass
46. Try rock climbing
47. Cook on a campfire
48. Learn to ride a horse
49. Find a geocache
50. Canoe down a river

So 32 out of 50 so far and with hardly any effort we could definitely do several more.  It's certainly given me some focus for future activities with the children  For instance, we have an old pond so we could do some pond-dipping and keep an eye out for frogspawn. I've thought about buying butterfly kits before so that's something I'll do and a snail race? Well that's easy isn't it! 

It's definitely worth encouraging children to get out there and enjoy nature - there's so much fun to be had and it does make me feel a little sad that there are children out there who will never know the simple delight of finding blackberries on the hedgerow on a short nature walk, or tying bits of bacon on the end of a string in order to catch a crab or two!