Outdoor fun at Nymans

I am a huge fan of outdoor play and love nothing more than rounding the kids up and taking them on adventure out in the fresh air and what’s more, it is very often free to do.  If you are a regular visitor to my blog, you will know I have a days out page where I feature fun stuff to do, or places to go with the kids.

Last weekend I was very lucky to be invited to Nymans  – a National Trust Property in West Sussex with my family to take part in a blogger event to promote outdoor play and a natural childhood.

My older children were with me and got to take the little ones outside to make Mud Monsters and bird feeders, whilst we were introduced to David Bond and Project Wildthing!

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I was really shocked to learn that we are one of the worst countries in the world for encouraging outdoor play, and our kids roaming area is significantly less than our own was when we were young.  Apparently my family is fairly unusual by the fact we walk to school!

We had a very informative session and breakout about how to encourage outdoor play, which is a whole other post entirely, and then it was time to have some lunch followed by outdoor fun.  My older boys proved what a challenge it can be by breaking out their phones to play games during lunch, but they more than made up for it in the afternoon.

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There was some good, old fashioned horseplay…….

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The chance to travel in style………..

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Some bamboo inspection………..

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We were taught to make a proper Den by Rob Cowen and all the children got involved and had great fun!

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My older boys were in their element when they got to build the campfire with the aid of a flint striker……..

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And the best bit about a campfire……………the marshmallows of course!!

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By the end of the day, they were all shattered and Eliza had a typical toddler meltdown followed by a monster sleep…….. there is definitely something in that fresh air you know!!

Oh, and the chance to get a photograph of all my babies in the same place at the same time, thanks to TheBoyandMe!

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If you love outdoor play and want to join in, or grab some ideas, why not check out the Country Kids linky by Coombe Mill and / or check out Skimming Stones by Rob Cowen and Leo Critchley – I have loads of ideas already!




Country Kids from Coombe Mill Family Farm Holidays Cornwall

7 thoughts on “Outdoor fun at Nymans”

  1. It was such a fabulous and inspiring day wasn’t it? I have really felt so liberated ever since and we had such a brilliant day yesterday exploring our local country park, putting into practise what Rob taught us. It was fabulous to meet you finally, your children are gorgeous and confident and so happy! Glad you like the photo 🙂

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  2. This Nymans project looks right up my street. So lovely to see the National Trust promoting outdoor fun for kids, it is the perfect link for Country Kids and I fully support all their efforts. The statistics you quote are quite shocking. Thank goodness for people like you prepared to shout about outdoor fun. Thanks for linking up

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