The Benefits of Time Outdoors for all the Family

Just over three years ago our family took the brave decision to sell our house and move away from the area we had lived in for fifteen years. My husband and I both changed jobs, the kids changed schools and we swapped a town and being close to London for the countryside and being close to the beach. It was the best thing we have ever done!

At the time we moved the children were 6, 6 and 10 years and becoming increasingly accustomed to indoor play, multi-media activities and days out to theme parks, swimming and the like. Yes we took them to the play park and we would sometimes walk around a local lake but there was no-where near enough time spent outside just enjoying being kids, breathing in the fresh air and running free.

When you live on a main road and children are not allowed out to play it really does restrict their freedom and imaginative play. Here in Sussex we live in 220 acres of land and the kids have friends who live in the same community and they go and collect conkers, play make believe in the church yard, skate on the private roads or organise mini sports days on the west lawn. The world is their oyster and they have so much freedom to play here.

"For a new generation, nature is more abstraction than reality. Increasingly, nature is something to watch, to consume, to wear – to ignore." Richard Louv, Last Child in the Woods.

Review: Y Flicker Air A3 Scooter

For quite some time now my girls have been going on at me about the new style scooters, the ones that have split foot boards and you can ride them without putting your feet on the floor. Miss M has been the one, on and on she has badgered, can she have one and I said yes, if she paid for it.  They both have perfectly good regular scooters and I didn't want to be spending money out where I didn't need to.

It was for this reason that when I saw the Yvolution Y Flicker Air A3 Scooter available for review I applied straight away. When all three kids arrived home from school and saw the scooter box there was whoops of joy and both the 8 and 12 year olds were equally as happy and could not wait to try it out. I have to say I thought it would be Miss M that rode it most and would not be willing to give it up to the other two but actually it has been her twin Miss E who is besotted with her scooter. She has been ready at 7.30am each morning before school so she can have at least 1/2 hours play before school. I can not moan at that!

Summer holidays are made of these...

I love days at home in the summer holidays and especially when friends come to visit. What a nice day we had to chill when Anya and her boys came over to see us last week.

We really didn't get up to much. Anya and I got treated to a song, dance and acrobatic show in my front room where we got told off for chatting too much and were threatened with being chucked out!

We enjoyed what my kids call a pick and mix lunch, where we helped ourselves to pizza and salad and then we took a scroll round some of the grounds and showed off the amazing place where we live.

My kids were keen to show their friends the low-ropes course, so they all had an hours fun down there, practising their balance, laughing (and moaning) at each other and sadly having a tumble or two as well. Anya was superb at helping the kids and she got stuck right as in as the photos show.

Clarks 100 things to do before you are 10 - Water fun!

When Clarks told me they were launching a list of 100 things that every child should do before they are 10, I started to worry a little. My JJ is turning 10 at the beginning of October and that does not leave us long to be able to get through 100 things!

The first part of the 100 long list launched on 10th July and I think it is a great free resource to give parents a little prompter of things that could be fun to try out over the long summer holiday. The 50 Spring/ Summer activities include some corkers like hosting a great summer bake-off and creating a garden assault course.

Clarks sent me a little box of goodies and suggested a few activities that I might like to try out with my kids.  I was very pleased to see that not all of the activities require loads of preparation, time or money, there are simple ones like climb a tree. What I can say is that they are all designed to be fun.

The first task that the kids and I decided to take on was to 'enjoy water wars', activity number 32. In our box was some water bombs and I told the kids early in the day that before bath time that night they could have some fun in the garden, the excitement started to build straight away. I realised that whilst I'm a nice Mum and they love me, I'm not a spontaneous kind of fun mum and water fights would not be big on my agenda normally.

The sad news was that I could not get the water bombs to fill up, it turns out our kitchen sink mixer tap was just not made for filling water bombs. Of course I couldn't let the kids down so we filled up some bottle and they had fun with those, getting soaked in the process. What I realised is that it does not matter what they use they just want to get soaked and enjoy themselves.

Have a peek at the fun they had -

Yes, I really should have taken that washing down first!

Why don't you see what you fancy doing from the list this summer?


Disclosure: I was provided with Clarks vouchers to take part in this initiative.  I have not been told what to write and I remain honest.

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#CountryKids - A simple photo story

One of the best things about Fiona's #CountryKids linky is that you do not have to spend lots (or any to be honest) of money to be able to create an enjoyable day that you can blog about.

As dh is living 100 miles away from us at the moment it means I need to do the children entertaining all myself and I wasn't quite sure what I would do with the kids last weekend when the blazing sun was here.

I should have known there was no need for anything too flashy with my kids, they just love to get outside and seeing as it was so hot it seemed fitting to add some water in the mix so they could cool down too.

Here is our photo story from last Saturday -

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It's so important that kids want to play outside

I expect every parent knows how important it is for their children to lead an active life and probably many, especially those with older children know it can be a struggle to get your kids to want to go out and do something physical in the garden, but all that fresh air, it is so good for them.

It is amazing how things change, when I was the age of my oldest child (nearly 10) I went out into the street and played every day. All the local kids would come out together and we would happily play games such as 20/20 Home, It, Stuck in the Mud and then make believe we were in our favourite TV shows like the A-Team and Chips. Nowadays my JJ is happiest on his computer playing online building a world, chatting to his friends. Fine in moderation but like everything in life balance is key.

Of course it is my role as a parent to ensure that JJ does get outside and we take regular trips to the park, adventure playground, lake, woods etc but not every day have I got the time to head out somewhere.  Life dictates that there is work I have to do, dinner to cook, the house to clean etc and that means the children have to play at home and in our garden. Recently JJ and his sisters have taken to playing 'sports club' and they make a little course up with the trampoline, balls, hoops, skipping ropes etc.  It is great to watch them having fun and hear their giggles in the garden.

One of their favourite activities at the moment is trampoline football and I do worry they will hurt themselves but they just love it and I can't say no to them getting all that exercise. Not only does it help them sleep well, it is also establishing the pattern of being active, which I hope will carry through to adulthood. JJ had occupational therapy for a couple of years as he was always clumsy and had balance issues and again sports like football and all physical exercise in facts really helps him. I have seen his coordination improve no end in the last year or so.

When he came home from school one day and said he wanted to join a local football club I was over the moon and he seemed to really enjoy it at first but sadly he soon found it far too cold training outside in the winter months and he lost motivation when the better footballers did not pass the ball to him so much.  So back to the garden football it was and he is much happier to do that when friends come round to play now.  The only issue now is the balls over in next doors garden!

You may have read that in a month or so we are moving to a new countryside home and JJ is already talking about the football goals and basketball nets that are onsite at our new home.  I can see all our family having fun together heading out to kick the ball around and see who can score the most goals. I'm looking forward to this new life, things are going to change for us all.... for the better I hope.

If you fancy encouraging your children to play out more then check out the range of garden football goals available from http://www.thesoccerstore.co.uk/football-goals

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If you like what you have read and want to stay up-to-date then subscribe by email for free and receive blog posts directly to your in-box - just click the link Subscribe to Mummy From The Heart... by Email or perhaps you like to keep all your blog reading in one place, if that is the case you can follow me on BlogLovin too!