Tag: free activities

Win a Trip of a Lifetime by Geocaching #mwgeotrail

I’m all up for an opportunity to win a FREE trip courtesy of Mountain Warehouse.  I love travelling and my daughter is turning into quite the intrepid traveller.  I have no idea where we would go if we won.  Anyhow, the task was simple really and involved one of our favourite activities Geocaching.  We had the Shaun the Sheep Trackable, and all we had to do was find a cache, take a photo, instagram it and leave the trackable for the next person.  I checked our Geocaching app and there were 3 in close vicinity to our house.  So we got kitted up and headed out.

Kids Waterproof Jacket and Shoes from Mountain Warehouse

Kids Walking Gear Courtesy of Mountain Warehouse

We absolutely love geocaching and hopefully this doesn’t put you off.  Part of the fun is that you are not always successful and it can be challenging.

The first one was only about 8oo meters from our house, we read the notes and it mentioned we would need a long pole to grab the cache so we took an umbrella, we closed in on it quickly with a bit of bush whacking involved, my daughter shouted ‘I found it’ and then proceeded to come out of the bushes with this.

Dangers of Geocaching

As you can imagine, I nearly had a heart attack.  It’s paraphernalia for taking Heroin – needles, swabs and citric acid.  Thankfully it had not been used and the needles were not open.  I rang the non-emergency police number and they had no one to come and collect it and our local police station was shut on the weekend so I couldn’t drop it off.  They gave me very bad advice and suggested I stick it in the closest bin, I did question the safety of the Bin Man.  Anyhow, for future reference pharmacies tend to have places to dispose of needles safely.

If at first you don’t succeed……

Geocaching with Kids St Albans

Anyhow that didn’t put us off so we headed for the next one which was only a few hundred meters away.  We had to climb over the railing on the wooden walk way, we hunted high and low, even crawling under the bridge, we even resorted to reading the notes but no clues, I did then check previous logs and it looks like this one may have gone on a walk about as others were not able to find it either.  We weren’t doing so well today.

Try and try again!

We decided to have one last ditch attempt, there was another one within 500m and our dog needed a walk anyhow so we toddled off along the river.  When we popped out the other side, we knew it wasn’t going to be our lucky day, the site of the geo-cache had been completely dug up and was fenced off so we wouldn’t be able to get to it even if it was still there.

We still have Shaun the Sheep so will try again soon.

 

 

Visiting The British Museum with Kids

British Museum with Kids

My daughter’s topic at school at the moment is ‘Digging up things from the past’ which includes art.  So we thought it was the perfect opportunity to pop down to the British Museum to see the Eldorado Exhibit, to show her we are interested in her learning and support what she’s doing in school. It’s only a short hop from St Pancras International, you could walk it or jump on the tube to Russell Square.

Enduring tale of a city of gold

‘The exhibition delves into the legend of El Dorado and features over 200 objects from Museo del Oro, Bogotá, and around 100 from the British Museum’s collection.’

British Museum with Kids

If I’m honest, she wasn’t too taken with the exhibit, albeit it was rather impressive collection for adults, but didn’t have the ability to grab and hold her attention.  Do bear in mind she is only 6 but she did enjoy working out what the objects were made of and what they may be used for, which is exactly what they’ve been doing in school.

However, we are grateful for the introduction to the British Museum.  I’ve been in the UK for 15 years and have never been.  I’ve been to the Science Museum and Natural History Museum but never the British Museum.  You’d remember if you’d been to the British Museum, the columns as you walk up to the museum are impressive but when you enter the inner courtyard it takes your breath away.

British Museum for Kids

Get the most out of the Museum

After the Eldorado Exhibit, we wondered around a bit lost, not actually lost, just not sure where to start,  but then we were pointed in the direction of the Families Help Desk, where the staff were incredibly helpful.  They introduced us to a selection of Museum Trails for kids age 6-11, that were only about 45 minutes long which was perfect.

Museum Trails for Kids

British Museum Trails for Kids

Surprisingly my daughter chose the one about Ancient Egypt (Sailing the Nile), even though she previously suffered from a fear of mummies, so much so that she hid all her books that had any reference to them.  It was the perfect length, gave us a focal point and helped her to engage with the exhibit.

It’s Free!

We will definitely be going back to try out a few more of the trails.  Thanks to American Airlines and the British Museum for this opportunity.

Note:  The places to eat inside the Museum are decent, plus there are loads of pubs and other eateries dotted around the Museum.  Or if the weather is nice take a picnic and eat on the stairs out front.