Releia from Bare Clementines has blogged about an easy way to draw a labyrinth in chalk on the ground for your kids to run around. Find some chalk, enlist your kids to help out and set about creating the most complicated labyrinth you can, causing major backache while you’re at it!

Releia’s labyrinth is created according to the following steps (I hope I got it right, Releia):

If you are keen, you can find some more complicated desgins for drawing your own labyrinths over at Instructables. It’s as simple as creating a key (a basic key is shown in step one in the diagram above) and then slowly and systematically connecting the points. Instructables provides a number of different, interesting keys.

Last Saturday’s Guardian (UK) had a craft booklet full of crafts for all ages, including a handful for kids, and it’s available online (thanks Zoe!). You will find a great article on the joys of crafting with kids, instructions for how to make a box kite, sock puppet and my favourite; a living willow wigwam. Perhaps before embarking on this project, read Will Hodgkinson’s first hand account of putting one together with his 4 year old and 6 year old.

For more information on putting together a living willow wigwam, Willows Nursery has a great page full of wigwam before and after (above) photos.

Kathreen From Whipup kindly sent us this holiday idea.

Hi Kiddley readers, Kath here again from Whipup, doing a bit of a fill in spot this time about Traveling With Kids!

Lately, now that summer is upon us in Australia, me and the family have been a doing the occasional weekend getaway. We love going camping, that is, before we had kids we used to love to go camping, but for the last few years we haven’t felt adventurous enough to challenge ourselves quite that far. The trials of parenthood and working seem to have sapped all of our energy so that organising a camping trip just seemed too big. But now the kids are a bit older (4 & 6) and are more or less self sufficient in the basics, we have packed up the car and headed to the beach, not your usual all-the-modcons caravan park either, but a more basic no-toilet no-shower sort of place. And the kids love it, are in their element in fact. Running around naked and dirty, cooking by the camp fire, meeting other kids, staying up late – whats not to love?

But camping with kids is not all fun and games (not for the parents anyway), here some suggestions to a successful camping trip with kids.

1. Take activity books/colouring in books/drawing books etc, board games or card games (especially essential if it rains) (see our previous post on activity bags for more ideas – Ed.)

2. mp3 player for the trip down

3. Comfortable sleeping mats and sleeping bags are really essential (for the adults anyway)

4. Food – easy to prepare food for the hungry family, I find a pre-prepared frozen bolognaise sauce to be essential, as are sausages and bacon, baked beans and tinned tuna

5. Treats – of course, what camping trip is complete without chocolate and marshmallows – toasting marshmallows on the open fire is fun! (if a little dangerous, don’t forget to supervise those mini pyromaniacs)

6. Wine, whiskey or whatever – once those kiddies are asleep, sitting with a glass of something by the campfire under the stars is really magical

7. Safety – make sure you explain all the hazards in the vicinity – for us the main things are snakes, spiders and jellyfish – what are your hazards?

8. Have some jobs for the kids to do – setting up camp with eager excited children is not as easy as you might think – so instead of getting impatient and annoyed, give the kids a job to do – something that is totally non-essential and indestructible like setting up the camping chairs or handing you the tent pegs

9. Action and fun – make sure there is kid friendly stuff to do, we like to go camping at the beach where we can go surfing, rock exploring, fishing, hiking into the bush, canoing or searching for shells

10. Be prepared to enjoy your kids and listen to your senses. Throw away city impatience, schedules and stresses and try try to relax

Check out these resources for camping with kids:
Canoe camping with kids
Love the outdoors
Outdoor places

It’s the middle of Spring here, and we are beginning to plan our vegetable garden. There is much to be done, but a quick and simple project to get started on is a natural, kid-safe pesticide. It can be used on indoor and outdoor plants with smooth leaves. Make sure you realise that this is a pesticide and will kill all bugs – good and evil, so only spray where necessary.

You will need:
the grated rind of one lemon
1 cup wormwood or tansy
1 cup lavender
1 cup sage
1 pint boiling water
1 teaspoon non detergent soap

In a heat-resistant 1 litre (aprox a quart) jar, mix lemon and herbs. Pour boiling water over the mix and let it steep until cooled to room temperature.

Drain, reserving the liquid. In a plastic spray-pump bottle, dilute 1/8 cup of the herbal liquid to 2 cups water and add the teaspoon of soap. Store the rest safely.

Now it’s time to spray those nasty, vegetable eating bugs.

This recipe comes from Kidsgardening.com which has a really great section on gardening with kids for parents.

It is with some reluctance that I post the details of this game – a game which still brings back a little pang of self-conscious pre-teen bad feelings circa 1982. I was the new kid at a new school and I attended our first casual clothes day (at a school that requires a uniform these are golden and rare days indeed!) wearing a singularly bright pink tracksuit with banana yellow panels. Even for an 11 year old in 1982 it was a fashion tragedy which was met with much mirth from my class mates. When we played this game at morning break these class mates managed to victimise me with every round. HOWEVER – I can see that this game can be lots of fun, so here’s how you play:

You will need:
An open space
Four markers (cones, beanbags etc)
A gaggle of kids who are familiar with their basic colours
optional: a bunch of coloured fabric flags or scarves

Sometimes called “Uncle Sam”, (thanks Emma!) Crocodile should be played outside in a largish play area. Two markers are placed to mark out a start line and then place the other two markets at least 20 feet away to mark out a finish line.

One player is chosen to be the Crocodile who then stands in the centre of the playing field. The other players stand along the start line and if using flags or scarves, these should be tucked into waste bands or pockets, leaving a tail hanging out.

The players along the start line then start chanting “Crocodile, crocodile, may I cross the river?” and the crocodile replies “Yes you may, yes you may, if you are wearing *insert colour*”.

All the players who have that colour somewhere on their clothing may pass across to the finish line (you may want to put in an “underwear doesn’t count”) without being tagged.

The rest of the players must then run across to the finish line and avoid being tagged by the Crocodile. If using flags or scarves the Crocodile must attempt to remove the flag or scarf from the player (obviously the player is not allowed to hold on to the flag).

The players who are caught then join the Crocodile in the middle of the field as Crocodile Helpers. Begin the game again, this time with the Crocodile Helpers also tagging players. This goes on until one player is left who then becomes the Crocodile for the next round.

“We’re going on a bear hunt. We’re going to catch a big one. What a beautiful day! We’re not scared.”

One of the most fabulous children’s books we have is Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury’s “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt“. I know many children who become slightly obsessed with this book and need to have it read to them every night. Next time you take your toddlers or preschoolers to the zoo read this book to them before hand and then take along a note pad and pen and have a bear hunt through the zoo, listing the different bears that you come across. For slightly older children, talk about where the bears have come from, what they eat and how they live in the wild compared to how they are displayed at the zoo.

You might need to explore your local zoo’s website before hand to find out what species of bear you will find, or speak to a zoo keeper when you get there before setting out on you bear hunt.

Some other bear resources include:
Bear content from the Animal Planet website.
Bears.org has a list of species, bear myths, and further links.

How to grow socks is a brilliant activity which involves finding a pair of wooly, or fuzzy old socks you are willing to sacrifice for the sake of science. After walking through some dense nature in your fuzzy socks, you take them off and check them for seeds. If you see some, wet your sock then put it in a baking dish. You will need to prop this up on one end so that it is on a slope and then fill the low part of the container with water. Place it in a warm spot and check every couple of days for your seeds to sprout.

A Nature Scavenger Hunt is likely to be lots of fun. For little children it really only needs to be as simple as writing up a list of items to be found before setting off on a walk and then helping them work through the list. Perhaps they could collect items in a bag and bring them home or just leave them in the wild. List objects such as a smooth stone, a red leaf, a yellow flower, a seed pod and so on – this will be challenging enough for them to enjoy. The older they are the more complicated you can set the tasks; counting objects, comparing species, finding animal tracks and so on. Even older children might be encouraged to look at humans’ impact on nature, geographical formations and possibilities for land care. You need to know the area you will be walking through beforehand to make this a great success, and you will also probably need to set out some rules such as leaving animals and insects in the natural habitat.

Find out before you leave what species of animals and birds you are likely to find in the area you are walking through and make up a chart with your kids which they can fill in and tick off as they see examples of the wildlife. This might require organising a walk at sunset and spending time quietly observing rather than walking through the bush at great speeds but can be really rewarding.

Another idea is to get kids to plot a map of their ramble, with little kids keeping it simple and free-form, perhaps marking in major points of interest (very big knobbly rock, waterfall etc) while older children could carry along a compass and plot directions either simply or more detailed according to their age and interest.

Getting the kids to take along a camera is also a great idea. Let them snap the things on their scavenger hunt list, or give them a new set of things to photograph thinking about texture (some rough bark) and colour (different shades of green) , movement (creek moving fast compared to creek moving slow) and so on. Perhaps even just let them explore and photograph things that appeal to them most. See Phil’s tips for Introducing your kids to digital photography.

More nature walk ideas:
Maximizing Nature Walks from HGTV

Magic Cabin has a lovely collection of outdoors exploration items such as the Terra Kids Adventure Tools which includes a wrist compass, collecting box and a magnifying glass and prism lens set – all good things to take along with you on your walks.

Hearthsong has a couple of items worth noting too – a Young Naturalist’s Notebook : “Observe and record the birds, butterflies, animals, insects, reptiles, and other creatures that visit; draw a map; preserve the leaves and flowers; find out which way the wind blows; figure out who the tracks belong to; and more.” and an explorer pack for slightly older kids which includes binoculars, an orienteering compass, a signal whistle with thermometer and flashlight.

20 Fun and Easy Things to Do With Your Children in the Outdoors from Nature Net.

Make a mobile or critter from the things found on a nature walk.

Whilst our blog is published in Australia, just like all blogs we have an international audience and an especially large group of our visitors come from North America. So especially for you, coming up on the 24th of June, is the National Wildlife Association’s second Great American Backyard Campout (via Parent Hacks). You are encouraged to gather your kids and grand-kids and enjoy a night of s’more-making (being an Australian I have no idea how good these are), stargazing and nature-watching right in your own backyard or favorite camping spot. The National Wildlife Federation have most noble intentions. They are keen to get kids to turn off the TV, and to get them “outdoors to experience the wonders of nature.”

The Great American Backyard Campout site has some great resources for getting prepared for your big night out including a detailed packing-list and recipes to try over your campfire.

You will need:
An open space
A group of kids who can vaguely count

One child is chosen to be Mr Wolf. All the others stand back in a line at least 15 paces and at most about five metres (about 16 feet). Mr Wolf turns his back on the group. Now all the children cry out “What’s the time Mr. Wolf?”. Mr Wolf chooses a number between 1 and 12 and calls out, for example; “It’s 3 o’clock!”. Everyone paces forward the corresponding number of steps, counting out loud. This continues until Mr. Wolf perceives that the group are quite close – and then when asked what time it is, he or she can shout out “Dinner Time!” and then turn around and chase the group back towards the start line. The one who is caught becomes the next Mr. Wolf. If no one is caught, the existing Mr. Wolf continues on to the next round. It sounds very simple, and it is, but it is good fun for little kids who are learning to count.

You Grow Girl has a set of simple and clear instructions for how to grow a pineapple plant from the discarded top of a pineapple. While we may not all be lucky enough to live in a warm climate, the article assures us that “…as long as you have a sunny window and a moderate indoor climate you can grow your own.” Print the article here.