[CherryAmes]

This is a list that the British National Trust devised of outdoor activities all kids should experience:


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews...you-are-12.html

If you Australian-ise some of them (I've caught a yabby, not a fish, for example, and my exposure to snow has been minimal) then I've done most of them. My kids are too little as yet for most of them but there's some good ideas. Not sure what a grass trumpet is though.

I would add in (or replace odd ones with):

• Make damper;
• Learn some names of birds and flowers;
• Eat honeysuckle;
• Work out whether you like butter by holding a buttercup under your chin.

So what do you think of this list?

[Flibbertigibbert...]

What are clinkers? Are they marbles?
Had never heard of geo caching when I was a child, but growing up in the country I did most of those things, except eat an apple straight from a tree, we didn't have apples, but we did have bananas, does that count

Yes damper was a staple here, we used to also make twisties, where you get a stick and twist a knob if damper dough around it and hold it over the fire until cooked, pull it off the stick and fill it with golden syrup.

For us a regular was also cow pat fights

This post has been edited by unicorn: 29/01/2013, 02:31 PM

[countrymel]

What are clinkers? Are they marbles?

Conkers.

Conkers are a horse chestnut with a hole drilled through it threaded on a string.

You take turns thwacking your conker against the other person's conker. It is a war of attrition.

It is also jolly good fun!

[steppy]

I like the list but I'd leave out stuff like canoeing down a river - lots of families just don't get to provide kids with that experience. Most of them are pretty good though - things that anyone could manage.

[Regular Show]

I grew up in the country too so did a lot of those things.

I like the list but in reality my SN kid isnt going to get to do a lot of that. My daughter however I would absolutely encourage to do those things that are relative.

[Justaduck]

Rafting would be a tricky one here - not too many places to go & I think you have to be older than 12 to participate. Or maybe I am thinking of white water only.

Not sure what bouldering is, nor conkers, nor grass trumpet

Haven't really been to the snow - but have thrown sand at the beach if that counts
Don't think I have eaten an apple off a tree but have eaten enough other home grown fruit and veg

[CallMeProtart]

I think it's a bit smug tbh - probably aimed more at the parents than the kids. It's all a bit "in MY day kids did SUCH cool things...", without taking into account that unsupervised outdoor time is no longer considered as acceptable as it was, plus the realities of high density city living.
It's a bit out of touch, methinks - the way to get kids out and about is not to write them a list...

[Bunsen]

Unicorn do you mean conkers (not clinkers)? They are horse chestnuts hung on a shoe lace that you take turns hitting each others conker trying to knock it off the lace.

I assume grass trumpets are when you split a blade of grass down the middle then blow through it to make a noise - we never called it that but I can't think what else it might be.

Definitely did most of these growing up in the UK, will be interesting to see what Aussie alternatives people come up with - would hate for my kids to miss out because their pommey parents are clueless!

[sir_mix-a-lot]

I think I had done almost all of those things before I was 12... But I grew up on a farm, so I had easy access to most of those. Does sledging count if you do it in mud while a border collie pulls you along?

Bouldering: rock-climbing without ropes (you don't go very high).

Grass trumpet: like playing a gum leaf.

[Domestic Goddess]

I assume grass trumpets are when you split a blade of grass down the middle then blow through it to make a noise - we never called it that but I can't think what else it might be.

Yeah I think you might be right. I never really got the hang of it as I never was able to find a wide enough blade of grass lol.