50 things to have done before you are 11¾

[vilakins]

The British National Trust is aiming to get the UK's 'cotton wool kids' outdoors. Here is their list of the 50 things to do before you are 11¾. Except for #49 which can only apply to today's kids and which I've replaced, this is an instant nostalgia trip for me.

Which ones did Vilakins manage?

1. Climb a tree (many! And it's amazing how few adults look up when they're trying to find you; actually almost zero)

2. Roll down a really big hill

3. Camp out in the wild

4. Build a den

5. Skim a stone (well, I never got the hang of it, but I tried)

6. Run around in the rain (not much on rain, sorry)

7. Fly a kite (I had the best kite my father made: spotty calico hexagon which flew really well. Acrtually Greg and I still have kites)

8. Catch a fish with a net

9. Eat an apple straight from a tree

10. Play conkers (don't have them here)

11. Throw some snow

12. Hunt for treasure on the beach

13. Make a mud pie

14. Dam a stream

15. Go sledging

16. Bury someone in the sand

17. Set up a snail race

18. Balance on a fallen tree (easy as falling off a log, my grandfather used to say)

19. Swing on a rope swing

20. Make a mud slide

21. Eat blackberries growing in the wild (ah, so many times!)

22. Take a look inside a tree

23. Visit an island (lots of 'em)

24. Feel like you're flying in the wind

25. Make a grass trumpet (and daisy chains!)

26. Hunt for fossils and bones

27. Watch the sun wake up

28. Climb a huge hill

29. Get behind a waterfall

30. Feed a bird from your hand

31. Hunt for bugs

32. Find some frogspawn (and man, the frogs that must have developed from the tadpoles I overfed and Mum made me release must have been monsters)

33. Catch a butterfly in a net

34. Track wild animals

35. Discover what's in a pond (lots of oxygen weed and mud. And tads)

36. Call an owl (I have a couple on the garden. I call them moreporks, and indeed that's just what they are)

37. Check out the creatures in a rock pool

38. Bring up a butterfly

39. Catch a crab (both kinds: actual crabs, and mis-strokes when rowing)

40. Go on a nature walk at night

41. Plant it, grow it, eat it (I grew carrots, tomatoes, and sweetcorn. We also had chickens and I'd feed them and collect the eggs)

42. Go wild swimming (If they mean rivers and sea with big breakers, then yes, a lot)

43. Go rafting

44. Light a fire without matches

45. Find your way with a map and compass

46. Try bouldering (not sure what this is, but I've clambered over boulders at the beach)

47. Cook on a campfire (oh, those undercooked spuds we kids so gamely ate...)

48. Try abseiling

49. Find a geocache Go surfing / waveboarding

50. Canoe down a river (see #43)

OK, 34 out of 50; not bad. And I'd forgotten about those grass trumpets.

Comments

[pebblerocker]

I used to spend ages down at the pond watching frogs, but I never saw frogspawn. Maybe I just didn't know what it looked like.

A friend linked me to the <a href="http://www.wired.com/geekmom/2012/05/50-geeky-things-kids-should-do-before-theyre-12/>50 Geeky Things</a> list and I think I've done more off that one ;)

[vilakins]

Oh man, I've only done exactly half of those. Of course I'd score more if I can count what I've done since I was 12.

As for #36, Greg's living proof of the old adage, "It's all fun and games till someone loses an eye".

[zoefruitcake.livejournal.com]

I knew the one you replaced had to be the geocaching one ;0)

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

There can't be many people here who could have managed that before they were 12.

[zoefruitcake.livejournal.com]

the oldest they could be is 24

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

It's been around for 12 years? I didn't realise.

[zoefruitcake.livejournal.com]

May 2000 it started :0)

[lolmac]

I had to look up abseiling, which I know as rappelling. Honestly, I would want a kid to be at least 12 before they tried that one! I was 19 when I did, and still nearly landed on my head.

I assume 'bouldering' is climbing boulders. I definitely did that one. I'm pretty sure that 'wild swimming' is swimming that isn't in a swimming pool, which I also did, and which I absolutely think everyone should do!

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

That's wild swimming? Then that's what I did all summer holidays! My parents had to yell at me from the beach to come out of the sea; I'd be in there for hours.

If that's bouldering, then I've done that too, also at the beach.

[jaxomsride.livejournal.com]

An interesting list, but I can't help thinking that each year children are warned about the dangers of swimming in rivers and ponds and yet it is on their list of things to do.

That and you have to be able to afford the holidays that allow you to go rock climbing etc. Adventure holidays that would allow abseiling and so on were way out of my parents budget. I was lucky in so far as I lived near a beach. Not that it had rock pools.

I'm surprised they advocate catching butterflies as well. It's tricky doing that without harming them.

Re Bouldering
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bouldering

I did it without the crash mat, in fact used leap about them like a proverbial mountain goat.

It's more fun to catch a fish in your hand and trickier too!

Well the ones I didn't manage:

3: Camp out in the wild. (Hard for a British kid to do this, it's difficult enough persuading a parent to allow a garden camp out.)

8: Catch a fish in a net. Never have used nets for "fishing"

13 Make a mud pie (Could never see the attraction - unless I did it as a toddler and don't remember)

20 Make a mud slide (Again, never appealed - besides my mum would have killed me if I'd come home that covered in mud!)

23 Visit an island (None nearby and none of the school trips went to one.)

29 Get behind a waterfall (Really? Not much opportunity at home)

38 Bring up a butterfly (Did this with a ladybird larvae, but no caterpillar)

43 Go rafting (Again no opportunity though my brother and I had a go at sea canoeing BIG MISTAKE!)

47 Cook on a camp fire (We used to light these, pyromaniacs that we were, but never tried cooking on them.)

49 Find a geocache (Not applicable I'm too old!)

50 Canoe down a river (I was 14 when I did this, much safer than the sea!)

So 40 out of 50 isn't so bad.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Outdoor stuff is easy to do here, and even easier now that schools take kids on camping trips each year for a couple of weeks with a lot of activities. Mine we did in weekends and in the holidays, mostly on our own.

Well, you've done better than me! I'm with you on the mud thing; never saw the attraction either. Give me proper clean water.

[quabazaa.livejournal.com]

Love this! When I'm not on my phone I'm definitely reposting. What on earth is a grass trumpet? Only noise I made with grass was using it as a whistle..

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I'm guessing it's the split grass blade you hold to your mouth and blow through to get a trumpety noise. I didn't get whistles; it must be a different technique?