We have been staying at my mum’s house for a few days, and I was looking forward to the opportunity to go out for a walk or two, so on Sunday afternoon we went up to the village green, ignoring the prospect of rain.  We took our Autumn Leaf Hunt Checklists with us.  The printed list was perfect for Tiddler, but a bit easy for the others so they made their own additional lists before we set off.

When we got up to the green, the children spent some time playing on the roundabout before starting their leaf hunt.

When we started looking, we found plenty of acorns very quickly, and then some conkers, and lots and lots of leaves of all different colours – beautiful but rather wet.

Rabbit was very pleased to find a feather as well.  Tiddler just enjoyed showing me the leaves one after another which kept him busy for quite a long time.

All the children completed their checklists.  As you can see, Monkey was particularly proud!  By this time, it was raining but we didn’t want to turn back just yet, as we really hadn’t been very far.  So we continued for a little way, in the direction of the woods.

We found some haw berries by the roadside which Owl helped me to pick.  (Daddy later made some delicious haw sauce, which we ate with roast chicken that evening.  it was gone so quickly I didn’t get a photograph!)  Then we walked up to the edge of the woods, but had to turn back as the children were in their trainers and it was too muddy (we had left the house in rather a hurry to try and beat the rain!)

On the way back across the green, we saw lots of mushrooms, which Rabbit and I decided must be a fairy garden or a fairy village.  And as we walked back along the road, we stopped to look at the cows in the field half way along.

Just before we arrived back at the house, we stopped one last time to pick some elderberries.  Despite the rain, it was a very enjoyable walk, though rather a short one.

On Monday afternoon, after a morning in the house the children were needing to get outside for some fresh air again.  This time we didn’t get any further than the garden, but we managed a bit of leaf art (Rabbit did the face, and Owl the rocket), Tiddler rode his bike and all the children played with a frisbee which kept them outside in the rain for quite a while!  In the meantime, I made elderberry syrup with the berries we had collected the day before.  I had enough to make one jar, which Owl and I are working our way through, and I don’t think it will last very long.  We are just getting into our stride with collecting and producing it – I hope next year we will start earlier, and be able to make enough to give some away too.

I’m linking this post up with a new linky I have just discovered, Entertaining and Educational, which asks “What have you and your kids been learning about?”  I like the emphasis on learning together.  I may have been a little over-excited about foraging recently, but I hope the children will see that learning is not something that happens at certain hours, during term-time, or only while you are a child.  I hope they will grow up knowing that learning is just something you do all the time, and it’s a lot of fun.