Born to be Wild book launch - Free nature activities for families

Last Saturday we were invited to a day out at Rainham Marshes RSPB for Hattie Garlick’s Born to be Wild book launch. We had never been to Rainham Marshes before and we were not sure of what to expect but the place really exceeded our expectations.

It is quite amazing to believe that Rainham Marshes is really close to London and yet it’s a huge open space perfect to go walking and enjoying nature.

After our arrival we were taken on a bit of a tour of the Rainham Marshes by the lovely Louise, stopping to check some of the plants and nature around us which of course all the kids loved.

Our first stop was to do a bit of pond dipping, one of the activities out of the Born to be Wild book. We were all given nets to try and see if we could catch any little creatures with them. The kids were beyond excited and really wanted to give it a go, they were lucky and much to their delight they did catch a damselfly nymph.

We then proceed to go indoors to do an Easter Tree which is another of the activities from the Born to be Wild book. Lot’s of glitter, glue, tissue paper and paint, what’s not to like? Making a mess and creating something fun is perfect and this is what we did for an hour or so.

Sometimes as parents we just forget how easy it’s to entertain children in an inexpensive way using things from our environment.

The Born to be Wild book is organized seasonally and then by materials. There are plenty of activities going from cloud watching to making a shell necklace and the best thing is that all activities can be done without too much expense using ordinary household items.

You don’t need to be an earth mother to enjoy this book, nor you are expected to spend everyday doing outdoor activities but it’s one of those books to have handy at home.

You can see why Hattie Garlick has written this book, her love for the outdoors and her passion for developing children’s imagination are quite obvious.