50 Things to do before you’re eleven and three quarters

April 17, 2012

The National Trust is trying to encourage young people to get away from the TV and computer screen to rediscover the outdoors. You remember creepy crawlies, mud pies, that broken collar bone you suffered falling from a tree. Great stuff.

They’ve published a list of Fifty things to do before you’re eleven and three quarters and even though I passed that age long ago I feel pretty pleased with the number of ticks I’ve achieved. I have to cry foul though, finding a geocache was never an option in the olden days. In case you’re interested, here is the full list…..

• Climb a tree
• Roll down a really big hill
• Camp out in the wild
• Build a den
• Skim a stone
• Run around in the rain
• Fly a kite
• Catch a fish with a net
• Eat an apple straight from a tree
• Play conkers
• Throw some snow
• Hunt for treasure on the beach
• Make a mud pie
• Dam a stream
• Go sledging
• Bury someone in the sand
• Set up a snail race
• Balance on a fallen tree
• Swing on a rope swing
• Make a mud slide
• Eat blackberries growing in the wild
• Take a look inside a tree
• Visit an island
• Feel like you’re flying in the wind
• Make a grass trumpet
• Hunt for fossils and bones
• Watch the sun wake up
• Climb a huge hill
• Get behind a waterfall
• Feed a bird from your hand
• Hunt for bugs
• Find some frogspawn
• Catch a butterfly in a net
• Track wild animals
• Discover what’s in a pond
• Call an owl
• Check out the crazy creatures in a rock pool
• Bring up a butterfly
• Catch a crab
• Go on a nature walk at night
• Plant it, grow it, eat it
• Go wild swimming
• Go rafting
• Light a fire without matches
• Find your way with a map and compass
• Try bouldering
• Cook on a campfire
• Try abseiling
• Find a geocache
• Canoe down a river

Photo: Matt de Waard.