Spring is coming, and we’ve got new things to discover, make and grow with Mud & Bloom! We’ve been spotting snowdrops and crocuses, and even though we’re having a cold snap right now, it’s wonderful seeing the world slowly come back to life.
Back in January, Little C and I had a lot of fun exploring the first ever Mud & Bloom gardening and nature subscription box for children. We’re very excited to see what’s in store for February!
Seed packets and paints! We’ll see more of those in a moment.
Along with the activities, you also get information cards telling you what’s going on this month, a quiz sheet, as well as a list of flowers to spot.
Little C was very excited that not only do we see snowdrops every day on the school run, four out the five flowers on the list are in our garden!
The first things we decided to do (after the quiz and flower spotting) were Grow Your Own Cherry Tomatoes and Basil.
Included in the box were the seeds, plus four little earth pods, which are in the green parcel.
These are the seed pods.
They had to be put in water and hydrated. It was fun watching them grow!
We needed to provide our own plant pots, either proper pots or something like yogurt pots. We didn’t have any dishes with the necessary holes, and all of our yogurt pots had been dutifully recycled. Fortunately my mother discovered some little clay pots in her assortment of random gardening stuff. I suspect the earth pods should have been side by side, but being incredibly ignorant of all things growing-related we just squashed them in.
Time to sprinkle in the seeds. There were quite a few tiny basil seeds, enough for another batch, and four bigger tomato seeds. We only needed to use two of those seeds, though if they start to sprout we’ll plant the others. We were slightly confused by the wrapping around the earth pods, but we sort of opened them up to give us some more planting surface.
And there they are, sitting on the windowsill! The basil seeds needed to be in a plastic bag, which I assume acts a little like a greenhouse. Perhaps not the prettiest thing, but I think it can be removed once the seedlings get going.
Now it was time for some creative fun, Painting Pebbles!
Included in the box were a little set of acrylic paints and a paintbrush. I decided I wanted to paint a pebble too (why should kids have all the fun?) so I grabbed a couple of extra brushes we already had.
Acrylic paint is bright and easy to work with, so a great choice for this kind of craft. Little C decided she wanted to make her pebbles into people.
I decided to make a butterfly-dragonfly thing.
Acrylic paint dries fairly quickly between layers, but really, who wants to wait? The instructions suggested using a hairdryer to speed up the process, which was an excellent idea and worked perfectly!
And there are our creations!
This box is a great mix of (almost) instant gratification and long term accomplishment. Including organic seeds and peat is very thoughtful.
It’s a splendid idea to be able to grow things we can actually eat, even if we’ll have to wait a while for the tomatoes. The process of watching them grow, and eventually transferring the plants outside will be a terrific thing for us all to enjoy. The basil will hopefully not take quite so long! I love basil, so I’m really looking forward to using a plant we’ve grown ourselves. Tomato and basil is a classic combination, so we can have delicious salads this summer created totally from scratch! Perhaps we’ll add some buffalo mozzarella for a tricolore salad, though I draw the line at keeping a buffalo in the garden.
The painted pebbles are a charming idea, and something that we can do over and over again. In fact, I suspect I will end up with rather heavy pockets on our next walk! I’ve also got some spray varnish to seal the paint so they can be put outside.
Little C is very excited about growing our own food. She is keen to try the tomatoes, even though right now tomatoes are on her ‘yuck’ list. Anything that changes that makes me happy!
Mud & Bloom is a splendid way to introduce children to nature and gardening. It’s a bargain at £7.95 a month, including P+P. You don’t need special equipment, or even a garden. All you need is a willingness to get outdoors and look at the world around you!
(Oh, and the odd yogurt pot might come in handy!)
*******************************************************************
Quick blurb and pricing from the website:
A box costs £7.95 a month inclusive of shipping if you’re based in the UK.
Get 20% discount off your first box with the code FIRSTBOX20
The boxes are for 3-8 year olds and will be delivered through your letter box at the beginning of each month.
Each box includes everything you need for two seasonal activities: one gardening and one nature craft – along with instructions, quizzes and games aimed at teaching children about the seasons, plants, insects, birds, soil and rainfall.
Activities have been created by qualified teachers and they support the national curriculum with influence from Forest School, Steiner and Montessori education.
*******************************************************************************
A different version of this review was first published on allsubscriptionboxes.co.uk.
