Rewild yourselves

Self-isolating? Schools closed? Are your children (or you) doing laps around the house and climbing the walls?

The changes to our daily lives over the next few weeks and months will be tough for us all, and being stuck indoors, without your usual activities, routine or social events can be enough to make anyone feel down. It’s important that we keep our minds and bodies active when we can, to keep our spirits up. Parents and educators all over the world are sharing their tips on getting through the COVID-19 quarantine without resorting to constant screen-time, and we thought we’d add our ideas to the mix.

Be sure to read the government and NHS advice before undertaking any activities outside your home. Protect yourself and protect others.

With many of us facing the prospect of being stuck indoors for weeks or months, it may be difficult to enjoy time in nature, but there are still ways us big kids and little kids alike can keep our connection to the world outside:

Minibeast hunt

How many species of bugs and crawling creatures can you find in the garden? They can be found all over the place – on leaves, tree trunks, in the soil, under rocks, and even right out in the open. This can be extended to link in with many different school subjects.

Watch the birds

How many different kinds can you see or hear? There are some great free apps and websites like the RSPB which can help you identify them and their calls. You can even do this from inside through a window.

Nighttime wildlife watching

Be sure to check on the comings and goings of nocturnal animals in the garden or in the street outside too. Sit out with a blanket at dusk or sit inside by an open window so you can use sight, hearing and smell to detect the comings and goings in the dark of night.

Build a den

Dens can be made out of pretty much anything. When I was a child and we couldn’t make a den in the woods, my friends and I would use boxes, chairs, blankets, bed-sheets and things from the garden to make ‘secret’ hideaways for ourselves. Children can entertain themselves for hours in dens, playing games, rearranging and decorating. If you don’t have a garden this can be done indoors. P.S. This is absolutely suitable for grown-ups too.

The floor is lava!

Create an obstacle course or trail around the house or garden with any objects you like. The goal is to make it from one end to the other without falling into the boiling lava (i.e. without touching the ground). Sofas, footstools, exercise mats, hoops, carpet tiles, or even chalk or tape can make stepping stones. 

Make a fire

Learning a practical skill can be a real boost to children’s confidence – and adults’ too. Something about learning a survival skill, like fire lighting, can make people feel more capable of dealing with life’s challenges. Watching a fire is also very soothing and calming. Why not try cooking a simple dinner over the fire too? You can find tips on fire lighting on YouTube and many bush-craft websites.

*Make sure you only light a fire in an appropriate place (your garden, a fireplace), using appropriate fuel (no burning plastics) and be mindful of conditions (dry vegetation, lack of rain) that could cause a fire to get out of hand.

Grow some food

You’d be surprised what you can grow with some old yoghurt pots, jars or food tins and some seeds. Use some soil from the garden, or some compost (peat free!) and grow fresh salad, spinach and herbs to go with your tinned tomatoes. Some vegetable scraps can even be regrown – check out Food Revolution Network for tips on this.

Natural crafts

Make a leaf crown, elder twig jewellery, natural mobile or wind chime, giant art attacks, mud sculptures, natural dyes, cave paintings, make your own charcoal, carve a spoon or a magic wand, and anything else you can think of. 

Watch a nature webcam

Many national parks and nature reserves have webcams set up, so you can watch the clouds roll by over the Cairngorms, follow the progress of birds nesting and raising chicks, or spy on pine martens slinking through the pines without leaving home. You could even leave one of these on a screen in the background to bring a bit of the outside inside.

Try these ones from The Wildlife Trusts

Or listen to Birdsong Radio thanks to the RSPB