Last Sunday morning I brought a basket of "treasures" to show the children as part of our Earth Sunday celebration. Itsure was fun for me. Amongst the items were a really unusual sand dollar, a small conch shell, a piece of moose antler, and a whale's tooth. We didn't dwell on the demise of these various creatures. Instead they were very inventive in their attempts to identify them. Kids are wonderful and it is important to encourage them that they live in God's Wondrous World, as the hymn says.
Later I saw a list, as did reader Anne, of what one writer identifies as a sort of pre-adolescent Bucket List, the things every child should do before his or her twelfth birthday. In this day of Helicopter Parents hovering over children this may seem to be impossible and even irresponsible, but I like it. Sorry that it is compressed like this but it would go on forever otherwise. What do you think? What would you add?
1. Climb a tree 2. Roll down a really big hill 3. Camp out in the wild
4. Build a den 5. Skim a stone 6. Run around in the rain
7. Fly a kite 8. Catch a fish with a net 9. Eat an apple straight from a tree
10. Play conkers 11. Throw some snow 12. Hunt for treasure on the beach
13. Make a mud pie 14. Dam a stream 15. Go sledging
16. Bury someone in the sand 17. Set up a snail race 18. Balance on a fallen tree
19. Swing on a rope swing 20. Make a mud slide 21. Eat blackberries growing in the wild
22. Take a look inside a tree 23. Visit an island 24. Feel like you’re flying in the wind
25. Make a grass trumpet 26. Hunt for fossils and bones 27. Watch the sun wake up
28. Climb a huge hill 29. Get behind a waterfall 30. Feed a bird from your hand
31. Hunt for bugs 32. Find some frogspawn 33. Catch a butterfly in a net
34. Track wild animals 35. Discover what’s in a pond 36. Call an owl
37. Check out the crazy creatures in a rock pool38. Bring up a butterfly39. Catch a crab
40. Go on a nature walk at night 41. Plant it, grow it, eat it 42. Go wild swimming
43. Go rafting 44. Light a fire without matches 45. Find your way with a map and a compass
46. Try bouldering 47. Cook on a campfire 48. Try abseiling
49. Find a geocache 50. Canoe down a river.
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ReplyDeleteWould add many things, riding a train, going to the city, watching a scary movie, etc., etc.
ReplyDeleteLOve the list! Will have our 12 year old look at it and see how many she thinks she has done. I know I've done most and I think she has too, but will be interesting to see from her perspective.
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Wicked/Awesome!