Primary Times - the definitive what’s on and where to go family guide of activities and events for children of primary school age. Things to do with your kids during the school holidays including arts and craft activities, music and theatre for children, parties, competitions, days out, and family attractions along with term time drama schools, dance classes, after school clubs and sports activities. Things to do at a place near you!
Gardening and nature tips for families
Gardening and Nature Activities for Kids at Home
We have pulled together some great ways to enjoy gardening and nature activities throughout the year, often in low-cost and eco-friendly ways
If you have any nature related resources/activities that your family particularly recommend - please send them to us at lisa@writeplacemedia.co.uk.
Online activities from nature organisations/charities/experts
The upcoming summer and more time at home present the perfect opportunity to cultivate green fingers in your youngsters. This Gardeners World article presents 10 easy gardening projects for kids, most of which require materials that can be easily sourced around the home. The BBC Good Food website has compiled a very informative article detailing crops that are easy for kids to grow with advice and practical information ideal for beginners. For younger members of the family - Mr Bloom's Nursery mini-site is full of beginner tips and fun videos.
It is also entirely possible to get involved with growing your own foods with little or no outdoor space. This Guardian article is a great beginners guide to growing vegetables within limits and we really like this Countryfile idea detailing how to make a mini egg box garden.
Our top nature resources come from national charity The Wildlife Trust who also have their own regional branches. Their 'actions' page is full of dozens of projects that can be carried out as a family including bug hotel building and how to make your outdoor space as welcoming as possible to wildlife and insects. Their partnership with the Royal Horticultural Society - Wild About Gardens contains fantastic downloadable factsheets about garden wildlife along with practical identification sheets and easy project instructions to make your own backyard habitats.
We also recommend that you check out The Wildlife Trust Facebook and Instagram for more ideas. You can also take part in their 'Action for Insects' campaign by downloading their free guide with handy tips on what to do at home and around their gardens to support your local insect ecosystems. You can also get ideas how how to develop your own garden butterfly patch with this useful guide from the Wild About Gardens website.
Online activities from nature organisations/charities
The National Trust's 50 Things To Do Before You Turn 11 3/4 list is a perennial favourite for outdoor challenges and ideas.
The Woodland Trust have removed their Nature Detectives site, although you can still find activities being shared on social media and via their blog including this tree ID page.
Scroll down on the Forestry England- Forests at Home Page and find downloadable activities that can be down when out-and-about or at home including beginner's guides to stargazing, forest bathing and more.
The RSPB website has a fantastic array of easy-to-do activities available for families to help support your local wild bird population and enthuse youngsters about all things bird-related. Ideas include making bird feeders, nest boxes, bird food cakes and crafts.
The Butterfly Conservation website contains butterfly identification resources, an opportunity for families to report their own local findings as well as downloadable activities and resources to inspire and educate children for free when signing up for their mailing list.
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We love this list of 37 fun outdoor activities from the excellent Hobbycraft activities and with clear ratings for cost, difficulty and the amount of time they will take to complete. Projects include rock painting, bird feeder building, painting and obstacle courses.
Younger children will love the Mr Bloom: Here and There minisite which has a variety of songs, recipes and other activity ideas inspired by nature.
The new Disney+ streaming subscription app has a thread of excellent nature documentaries suitable for younger audiences and has produced these themed educator guides which are based around these features as well as some of their popular classic films.
The Countryfile website is a fantastic resource for information and articles about British wildlife. We especially recommend their crafts section which is full of ideas for all ages and their spring wildlife guide which will tell you where to see and how to identify local wildlife
The Discover Wildlife daily newsletter from the BBC Wildlife Magazine team will provide you with a daily dose of inspirations from their experts
We also highly recommend a number of apps that can help with wildlife identification, particularly the iNaturalist app. Find more gardening apps that are easy to use with parental supervision here.
Online nature programmes available for streaming (parental discretion is advised)
The Radio Times has compiled a list of the best high quality nature documentaries currently available on Netflix, Disney+ and Prime including David Attenborough fronted shows and new exclusives from the Disney Nature documentary thread.
Both CBBC and CBeebies have collated their finest child-friendly nature shows . Alongside this, the BBC have a section on their iPlayer site completely dedicated to all of the science and nature documentaries that are currently available for streaming.