Activities for Little Bear Cubs
Hello fellow Bear Cubs! It's Arthur here! I love going out into the woods with my mum and dad and foraging for plants and mushrooms. But that's not all I enjoy doing outdoors! I also love puddle-jumping, climbing trees, spotting wildlife, making art with mushrooms and other wild things, and making sweet tasty treats in the kitchen. I've asked my dad if I can have a special page of the website where I can share some of my favourite things to do with you. I hope you enjoy doing them as much as I do!
I'll be adding more and more activities to this page, so keep checking back to see what else I've been up to!
I'd also love to hear what you get up to when out foraging with your family!
Please let me know using the Contact Us page, or tagging me in to your adventures on Instagram or Facebook!
Some Things I like to do
This is me giving my favourite pet chicken, Bimini, a hug. I also have a cat called Figgy Pudding, and a crazy dog called Treacle Toffee.
Treacle Toffee often comes out foraging with me, but she's more interested in swimming and sniffing other dog's bums than plants and mushrooms!
This is my little sister, Sybbie. I love her so much! She's too young to forage properly, but I'm really looking forward to teaching her about foraging, soon.
My favourite animal is the T-Rex. I also love crocodiles, frogs, lizards and snakes. We sometimes find frogs and toads whilst foraging and I really want to find an Adder.
When I'm not foraging, I love to splash about in puddles and streams. I always wear my wellies or waders as it rains a lot in Northumberland, where I live.
Another thing I love to do is balance on fallen logs and jump off the end! Sometimes I feel like I can fly! I also like to climb trees and dangle off the branches.
Some Fun Things For You to Try
Making Sugared Primroses
Primroses are one of my favourite flowers. Every spring, I head out with my dad to the woods near my house and gather primroses. I bring them home so I can turn them into really sweet treats in the kitchen. My mum says she'd one day like to put them on a cake, but I always eat them before she gets a chance! They're so easy to make and all you need is an egg and some caster sugar. You can learn how to make them, too, here.
Making Mushroom Spore Prints
My dad showed me a great way of making art using mushroom spores. Spores are a bit like seeds in plants. When the time is right, some types of mushroom drop their spores in the forest to make new mushrooms. If you're lucky, you can get a mushroom cap to drop it's spores onto some paper instead, which will make a lovely colourful print! These prints are beautiful on their own, but you can also arrange lots of mushroom caps on the paper to make patterns or faces. You can learn how, here.
Painting with Inkcap Ink
Some types of mushroom spread their spores by turning into a gloopy mess of ink. These mushrooms are called Inkcaps. One type of inkcap, called the Shaggy Inkcap, is very good at turning into ink and you can use this ink to paint with! The problem is, my dad loves to eat these mushrooms on toast, so I have to be quick if I want to use one for painting. You can find out how to turn a Shaggy Inkcap into ink and use it for painting, here.
Shaggy Inkcaps are one of my dad's favourite snacks, but they are also great for painting with!
Eating a Witch's Egg
This one is only for brave little bear cubs! Stinkhorns are one of my favourite mushrooms! They look weird. They smell gross, and are always full of flies! Although you would never want eat a fully grown, stinky one, you can eat one when it's very young, as an egg. Stinkhorn eggs actually don't stink, and are filled with jelly and other cool green stuff. But there's one part Inside that actually tastes really nice! Kind of like a crunchy radish. If you're feeling very brave, you can find out how to open and eat a Witch's Egg, here!
Bone Detective
Whenever we come across any animal bones on a forage, I always like to try and work out which animal it used to be. You start by placing the bones back together as best as you can, then use the internet to try and work out who they belonged to. My favourites so far have been a Red Fox and a Northumberland Wild Goat. My dad also once brought me an owl pellet, which we cut up to find the bones of a mouse! My dad says your mum or dad can order an owl pellet kit, here.
Foraging Treasure Hunts
My dad sometimes likes to give me a list of wild plants to find whilst we're out foraging. If I find them all, I get a prize! These treasure hunts are sometimes all edible plants and mushrooms, but sometimes, they are also poisonous ones that I need to know about. You can download Treasure Hunts for Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter and have a go yourself by clicking on the links.
Bird Spotting
Just like we do with plants and mushrooms, my dad also gives me lists of different birds to try and find. It's really fun spotting blue tits, nuthatches, and robins! I have two spotting sheets you can download, Spotting Sheet 1 and Spotting Sheet 2. My dad is currently working on some animal and insect spotting lists, too, so check back soon for these!
Building a Den
I really love building dens in the woods using sticks and any other things I can find. They are great places to play and have fun. If you can't go to the woods very often, you can always build one in your garden, too. For this, my dad says you can get a den building kit, here.
Fossil Hunting
I absolutely love dinosaurs and I also love finding fossils. You can find them almost anywhere where there are rocks or stones - I've even found fossil shells at Pre-school in the pebble pool! The best place to find them though, is at the beach. Next time you're there, have a look at the rocks and stones on the seashore - it's much easier than you think!
