Little C and I have been exploring a brand new subscription box for kids! Mud & Bloom inspires children to connect with the outdoors, providing seasonal crafts and activities plus quizzes and games.
It’s aimed at age 3 – 8, and costs £7.95 per month, UK postage included.
The box fits neatly through the mailbox. Inside, the brightly coloured material is a nice surprise, and I can’t wait to find out what we’ll be doing with the seeds!
This month’s contents.
The first project we tried was the avocado tree.
We don’t eat that much avocado in the winter, but fortunately I found one lurking in the back of the fridge!
I also raided the recycling box for a jam jar.
Little C needed a bit of help pushing the toothpicks into the avocado pit, but togther we managed it.
This is definitely a longer-term project, as it takes a couple of weeks to sprout. We’ll be keeping an eye on this one!
Next was the organic sprouting seeds. I assumed we would be planting them, but actually, we were going to sprout them in water!
There was a mixture of big and small seeds, and even chickpeas!
First, the seeds needed to be rinsed.
Then I needed to go back to the recycling to find another jar.
Here they are at the bottom of the jar.
The seeds went into the jar, and then the top was covered with muslin.
Finally, the jar was put in a box on its side to allow the water to drain out. (Sorry for the blurry picture!)
Each morning and evening the seeds were rinsed, more water was added, and left to drain.
Gradually, sprouts started to appear.
After five days, they looked like this!
Remember how there was just a layer of seeds sitting at the bottom of the jar?
The jar filled right up! They expanded and grew so much, both the seeds themselves and the growing sprouts.
The final activity was making a twig boat. It’s been extremely windy recently, so there were no shortage of twigs to collect in the park!
When we got home it was time to arrange the twigs.
String to bind the twigs together was provided in the box. It was quite tricky to make it all tight enough to hold together, but again, this was a great joint project.
The lovely red and white material was to make a sail.
The finished raft!
We didn’t have a handy stream nearby (and it was dark outside) so the raft made its maiden voyage in the kitchen sink. Even though the tying-together was a little haphazard, it floated beautifully!
As well as the activities, Little C also enjoyed the quiz and nature news. It was very interesting to read about what’s going on in nature, even though winter doesn’t feel like a very exciting time of year.
She was also very happy to discover she’d already seen most of the birds on the list. She’s on the lookout for the others!
January is such a cold wet month and it feels like there is nothing out there at all. This box changed that. Looking for birds, going on a twig hunt, watching seeds grow, this certainly made us feel so much more inspired to look at what was going on around us.
One of the most interesting activities was the sprouting seeds. I was especially impressed that the seeds provided were organic! We enjoyed watching the sprouting process, but you can actually eat the end result! I’ve heard of sprouting seeds, but with the exception of bean sprouts, I’ve never actually tried them.
We did a taste test, and I found them quite nice, nutty and crunchy and slightly earthy, though the smaller seed sprouts were definitely my favourite. Little C was a little less keen. She managed to eat a proper mouthful, and while she didn’t mind the texture (she likes crunch!) she wasn’t too keen on the taste. But the fact that she tried something new and unfamiliar was good enough for me!
The avocado tree was a fast project to start, and avocado is yummy! However was it was one that takes some time to come to fruition we didn’t find it quite as interesting as the others.
The twig raft was definitely the most fun! The whole process, collecting, building, and floating, was incredibly creative, and it also really taxed our ingenuity! It was Little C’s favourite, not least because it had fast results.
I know that nature requires patience, and the sprouting seeds only took a few days and we could see clear progress over that time. The instant gratification of the twig raft was very satisfying, and I think it’s important for young children need to get some fast results!
This is definitely something to do with your children, it’s very hands-on. Little C is seven, and we were able to do the activities together, and she could do the quiz and nature news on her own. I think that children in the lower age range would be able to participate quite happily, even with plenty of adult support. Also, unless they’re already very knowledgeable about nature (I’m not!) the adult will find plenty to learn themselves!
We really enjoyed the things in this box. It gave is a new perspective on winter, and we now have much more idea of what to look for even when the outdoors looks empty. I think this is a lovely way to encourage a connection with the outdoors, get away from screens and rooms and explore the world around us. Children have such natural curiosity and this gives simple and effective tools to explore the wonders of nature!
As an extra inspiring creativity bonus, Little C decided to make a little person from leftover toothpicks and fabric (with a bit of bits from the craft stash) to sit on the raft!
Quick blurb from the website:
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.
