February half term was very different for everyone this year and we were excited that there were so many virtual festivals and events to keep Lily busy at home, especially as I was still working too, so without holiday clubs, she was left to entertain herself for much of it.
One of our favourites was the virtual forest school event, hosted by Avocado Events and Wild Things Forest School.
The event
The event cost us £15 including a goody box sent to our home, filled with everything we needed, as well as a few other treats and surprises. There were also options for £5 without the box or for £10 to pick up the goody box for those who were local to York.
The goody box contained some beautiful acrylic paints, heart-shaped cutter, some Child’s Farm goodies and more, aswell as a lovely little heart-shaped chocolate. By having this in advance, we also knew to collect some natural treasures to use in the activities too. I hid away the box for Lily so it was a lovely surprise for her at the end of half term!
The event was an hour long, and the time absolutely flew by. It was Valentine’s themed, with a story and an activity. Having not done anything like this before, and Lily only having had one ‘live’ event with her school (where they only took the register and said hi!), I wasn’t sure how she would get on as it was ‘new’ to her, but it was absolutely fantastic, and engaging for all the children.
The story
The story was one of our favourites – Guess How Much I love You. The event started by saying hello to everyone and then the story was read. Lily loved bouncing up and down like a bunny and getting involved in all the actions – she even chose the story again at bedtime for one of our bedtime stories!
They then had time to speak about who they loved and talk about some special woodland treasures too.
The activity
The activity was salt-dough baking. The goody box contained a heart cutter as well as full instructions to what we would need, so we had prepared all the ingredients before the event started.
It was great fun for the little ones to mix all the ingredients together, roll them out and cut the shapes. Although she needed a little help, Lily managed to follow the screen, and it was great interaction to be asking the kids on the screens how they were getting on as we went along, to make it feel like they were all involved.
It was an activity we could have done ourselves, but by having it interactive with other children, it gave Lily the chance to get involved with other children, making is such a fun way to spend half term.
The activity involved hearts, but Lily wanted to also make some snowflakes and trees, and then used the leftover dough to make her own butterfly. You could also press some of your woodland treasures into the dough to make some beautiful unique patterns.
The decorations needed to go in the oven on a low heat for three hours, but by the time we had got through the activity after the story, the hour had flown by.
The painting
The beauty of the activity meant that it went beyond the hour and gave us something to do in the evening once the salt dough had cooled down, as well as through the weekend too – we do love any ideas for something different right now, so it has been fantastic, and Lily really enjoyed her creations.
We used both the acrylic paints from the goody box as well as her acrylic paint markers to draw on them once she had painted them – hours of fun for her!
She was also excited to hear about the little competition as well as see the other creations from the children involved – little ones inspire each other, and while we can’t meet in person right now, this was the perfect opportunity to help the children have a bit of ‘normality’ too.
She is really excited to give her creations out as gifts – especially to her grandparents who we can’t see right now, and the avocado is for her daddy as he loves avocados!
Thank you
Thank you so much to Avocado Events and Wild Things for such a lovely event. It was so well organised and we wouldn’t hesitate to attend an event by Avocado Events or Wild Things again as they were so friendly and great with the little ones.
Although they are based in York, it was so lovely to be able to get involved from Leicester too. Lily misses her real forest school so it was lovely to have virtual nature-themed activities, where kids can interact with each other and learn, while the real events can’t go ahead.
Lily had a fantastic time and is already enjoying all the painting activities too. Thank you for making February half term at home so special, interactive for the little ones who aren’t able to interact with other children right now, and giving us a fun activity for the weekend too!
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