50 things to do before you’re 11 3/4

When I look back at my childhood, I do so with many fond memories.

When I wasn’t in school, I was usually outdoors with my friends. Walking, riding bikes, playing and generally having what is now know as ‘old fashioned’ fun.

The majority of my childhood was spent outdoors and I firmly believe that this is how childhood should be.

Whilst I think my husband and I are in the minority because our children do not have iPads and rarely using technology, they do however, spend a lot of time watching TV.

This summer, I’m keen to change this and get our girls excited about spending time outdoors. That’s why I’ll be printing off the National Trusts activity list called ’50 things to do before you’re 11 3/4′. You can find it online here.

The list is broken down into five categories; Adventurer, Discovered, Ranger, Tracker and Explorer. It’s full of so many different things that children should experience by the time they’re 11 3/4. My favourites include:

Camp out in the wild

Make a trail with sticks

Dam a stream

Pick blackberries growing in the wild

Discover what’s in a pond

Cook on a campfire

I’ve printed off two of the activity lists for our twins, and before we start, we’ll tick off what they’ve already done, and then over the course of the summer holidays we’ll try to compete as many of the activities as possible and even add some of our very own – mainly learning to ride their bikes without stabilisers! If anyone has any tips on how to do this, please let me know in the comments below!

The thing that I love most of all about the activities listed is that most of them are free. To me that says a lot about how childhood should be. There’s no need to spend lots of money on activities to entertain children, when mother nature and the world around us can do it for free!

Have you given this list a go? How many can you, and your children tick off