30 Simple Ideas for 30 Days Wild.

We have been joining in with 30 days wild for a number of years now.  If you’re not familiar with this then it’s a month-long nature challenge in June with inspiration, ideas and help from Wildlife Trust.  I thought I would go over some of our simple 30 days wild ideas we have previously tried out and will be doing more of the same this month. I have also included a free printable download and a few helpful books and resources at the bottom of the post. These resources are all aimed at nature play and really enhance open-ended nature play indoors and outdoors whilst also providing some mindfulness activities.

How to get involved in 30 Days Wild

At the start of the month you can download or be sent a 30 days wild pack. Packs are tailored for individuals, families, nurseries, schools, care homes and other organisations to take part in.   From our 30 days wild download pack we stuck our wall planner to our kitchen door. This is a great reminder for us to keep track of what we have done and seen.  The planner also really inspires our 6 year old to do a bit of writing every few days and fill it out. This was great to see and he has even doodled a few illustrations on there.

If you’re worried that 30 days wild is a bit too much to commit to then the key is to keep it simple.  There of course have been plenty of days over the past few years of taking part that we have have missed.  There are days where we may spot or do more than one wild thing and that to me makes up for any missed days.  The key to the challenge for my busy family of 6 is to keep it simple, especially on weekdays and busy days. If you haven’t been outdoors together for long enough then it could be as simple as reading a nature book at bedtime, putting on a wildlife programme or watching an animation like the Very Hungry Caterpillar when it’s pouring with rain outside.

30 Simple Ideas for 30 Days Wild

As I said we have very much kept it simple.

1. Bug hunts- Grab a bug viewfinder if you have one and go on a bug hunt. I have a simple free printable available to download; Early years colour me in bug scavenger hunt – Click Here
2. Make a den in the garden and get camouflaged to sit and wait for birds or squirrels to visit. Maybe take a beach tent to a local parkland and set it up near a hedgerow/trees and wait to see what comes along. Take snacks and books to keep littles entertained.
3. Make a scrap nature journal to fill up with your spots and findings.
4. Press some wild and garden flowers and then add them to their nature journal. You can make flower potions/soup with these instructions
5. Spot and Draw some wild pictures of stag beetles and butterflies.
6. Order some bug sticker books for a rainy day and let them add them to their nature journal.
7. In the garden or local park plant some wildflowers. This post gives you some handy tips for motivating little gardeners to get creating in the garden.
8. Make a bird feeder and watch the garden birds or other wildlife visit  Here are 5 easy bird feeders that you can make with your kids.
9. Go for a walk through a common / woodland and look at tracks in the mud, we also looked at poo droppings and tried to guess what animal had been there. They enjoyed this as what child doesn’t find poo gross but fun to discuss! For urban and rural areas you can make a small house out of a cardboard box and sit it out overnight with some cat or dog food inside. Pop some flour down outside the box and see what wildlife comes to visit by identifying the tracks.
10. Hatch your own butterflies and release them with an easy to use Butterfly kit.  We released 5 into the wild and the children thoroughly enjoyed seeing the life cycle.
11. Read some nature stories such as Percy the Park keeper and learn some fun facts on parklife.  Also How to help a Hedgehog and protect a Polar Bear for infants and junior aged children to make them more aware of ways to help the environment going forward.  We have also looked at a great Nosy Crow night time wildlife explorer book and found out facts about nocturnal wildlife.
12. You could do clay nature prints by rolling out some clay and using cookie cutters to cut shapes out. Simply press some leaves into the clay to reveal natures imprints.
13. Bark Rubbings – Get out with some crayons and paper and do some different bark rubbings.
14. Get spotting – We love eye spy books and I have popped a few favourites in the resources below.
15. Make a wildlife habitat in your garden for a hedgehog, toad or frog.
16. Make a stick man out of sticks and string.
17. Bird Spotting – Take some binoculars out and get spotting with a bird eye spy book. Maybe visit a local RSPB site nearby.
18. Watch a wildlife program on a rainy day such as Springwatch.
19. Make Mud Pies in a mud kitchen or washing up bowl with mud and spoons.
20. Do a science experiment such as a rain cloud in a jar – We followed a simple Pinterest tutorial to do ours.
21. Listen to the birdsong at dawn or dusk depending on whether your little ones are night owls or early starters. Watch the sunset and talk about the birdsong.
22. Make Nature paintings/collages using sticks, leaves paint and glue. Make a nature paintbrush to extend the activity and/ or use mud to paint with.
23. Make some play dough and use natural materials as loose parts. Or make homemade coloured dough using natural dye with herbs etc.
24. Visit the beach and make a beach in a bottle jar – see beach games post for a how to guide.
25. Make a donation to the Wildlife Trust or to the RSPB to help protect our British wildlife.
26. Camouflage them up and go on an expedition with a backpack full of explorer items and a picnic and you will be sure to find some wild things along your way.
27. Go pond / river dipping. Alternatively get water play out in the garden and pop some plastic bugs and loose parts in a bowl with a net for little ones to get scooping.
28. Make Peppermint tea or nettle tea. We often spot bugs when we’re picking herbs and leaves in the garden. You can then encourage them to try drinking it when you’ve supervised a safe concoction to drink!
29. Do some watercolour pictures of some wild flowers.
30. Make a simple bug house, bird box or butterfly / bee feeder.

I hope that these 30 simple ideas for 30 days wild inspire you and your littles to get wild. I have included a Pinterest board to inspire you further below.

Resources for Wild and Mindfulness Nature Play

Books

Night time Explorer

Eye Spy Books

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Play Resources

Bug set

Clay

Rolling pins

Bugs

Bug Sticker Book