The Great Bug Hunt Adventure

We woke up on Wednesday and the thought struck me that we had no plans whatsoever for the day. No nursery drops, no play-dates, no kids classes, no cards basket collections, no appointments, nada. It felt good. The whole world was our oyster so what would we do?

Treetop forest views
Treetop forest views

The sun was shining, so I knew I wanted to get outside. I told Boo that we’d go on ‘an adventure’. By calling it that, excitement levels notched up, and the pressure on me to think of somewhere to go increased! Last year, we’d been up to Cannock Chase with a friend and her son for a couple of hours, and it had stayed with me. It popped into my head, and I knew Boo and Little man would be quite content there. I called my mum, too, and invited her on our adventure, so Nanny was roped into the fun, too. I’d tweeted that we had no plans, and someone suggested going on a Bug Hunt, which fell into my Cannock Chase plans nicely, and added an extra element of fun to the trip that really made the day.

The bug hunt begins..
The bug hunt begins..

So, unbeknownst to Boo, I popped a Bug Hunt checklist, her bug kit (maginifying box, notepad & pencil), sunglasses (added to the detective nature of the trail to wear glasses!), and drinks and snacks into her backpack, and off we set.

It’s around 20 miles from our house, so a little jaunt, but a pleasant drive through some beautiful countryside, and only when we arrived and pulled into the tree lined car park did we reveal what the ‘adventure’ was. I’m sure she’d have been very happy to have arrived at a huge park, with a playground anyway, but adding the surprise element with the Bug Hunt definitely made it all the more interesting to her and gave us all a purpose as we set off from the car into the woods.

Drum fun
Drum fun

Our walk involved plenty of cutting through the woods, rambling through long grasses and jumping off rocks, so it was a good job that nanny was there as Little Man’s pushchair is good, but not fully off-road ready! Our first ‘tick’ was for a bee, of which we saw plenty. This was quickly followed by a butterfly and an ant. As we neared a woodland clearing,we could hear a pounding noise, so we ventured in to find a circle of upturned blue tubs with lots of sticks lying round on the ground next to them. It didn’t take Boo a moment to catch on so she was soon going round hitting them all discovering how each one made a different sound. I thought it was a great idea to have fun little activities like this scattered around the area, and this was the first of many that we found..

Three Bears Chairs
Three Bears Chairs

Next up, we ticked off a spider and during a tromp through the woods, found lots of older children and their families building various dens with branches leaves and twigs. There were several being created, and I can see that for older children this would be heaps of fun to do and wile away a fair bit of time!

Walking on, Boo found huge wooden creatures to clamber up on, a dragonfly, a tortoise and a rabbit, along with the Three Bears’ Chairs – she sat on all of them, of course! At the end of this little trail was also a small maze which was playing host to quite a few children, while their families had picnics set up on the grass nearby.

Swinging
Swinging

We strolled on to the final stop, the play area, having struggled to complete our hunt, I must confess. Where are all of the ladybirds this year? And we couldn’t find a caterpillar either, but Boo didn’t appear overly concerned, particularly when she saw the size of the play area, and the hunt was forgotten for a little while! This was also Little Man’s chance to get more involved in our outing, as he’d been very good seeing the sights from his pushchair, but it was time for him to get out and have a play. We were then back to the car, and Little Man promptly fell asleep as we started back, while Boo regaled us of tales of her Bug Hunt.

All in all, a fantastic day out was had by all. It was all so simple to do, and practically free, which always appeals 🙂 The only cost was the car parking, which at £3 for all day, I thought was more than reasonable for the adventure we had. For older children, there’s also a Go Ape centre there, and there’s a visitor centre and cafe so everything you’d need for all day family fun.

 

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26 thoughts on “The Great Bug Hunt Adventure”

  1. What a fab day out and at little cost! It seems there are a lot of activities aimed at all age ranges and with a picnic you could quite happily spend the whole day having fun. I love the three bears chairs they are great, thanks for sharing your lovely photos with Country Kids.

    1. It was brilliant, and yes, you could easily spend the whole day there, particularly with older kids, I think. Thanks for hosting 🙂 x

    1. It was brilliant. And little things like the chairs and the drumming really made it feel special 🙂

    1. It was great, thanks – we will definitely be returning 🙂 And the chairs are such a fab extra little quirk!

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  4. I haven’t been to Cannock Chase for years and definitely not with the children. We used to go all the time as children ourselves. I’d no idea there was a Go Ape either-I’m adding it to my list right now!
    It looks like a lovely adventure you all had together-days like that are very special xx

    1. Go, it’s brilliant! They have the Gruffalo Trail there at the moment, too & the play area is fabulous! X

  5. Looks like a brilliant place to spend the day. We bought my nephew a bug hunt kit for Christmas – I haven’t managed to take him out on an adventure yet but you may have just inspired me! x

  6. Cannock Chase sounds so much like Alice Holt Forest which is near us in Hampshire. Alice Holt also has lots of interesting wooden items, trim trails, giant pencil maze, giants chair, etc. and lots of walking and cycling trails and a Go Ape too. They also have the Gruffalo Trail there too! The bug adventure sounds like a great simple idea too – I may try this with the boys one day – I’m not 100% convinced they would get as involved as Boo did though as they are such physical, active boys and they really just want to run around in the play areas!

    1. Oh yes, sounds very similar then. Boo loves to run about, but the bug hunting keeps her coming back!

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