The Wild Year Book

Fiona Danks and Jo Schofield £9.99 Frances Lincoln

The latest offering from outdoor experts Fiona Danks and Jo Schofield, The Wild Year Book is packed full of inspiration for getting the kids out of the house whatever the weather.

The Wild Year Book is the latest title in the Going Wild series by Edinburgh University graduate Fiona Danks and co-author Jo Schofield, who offer ideas for 70 games, crafts and adventures to do outdoors whatever the time of year or come sun, rain or snow.

The authors believe that playing outdoors should be an essential part of growing up but as children become more attached to screens and devices and have fewer opportunities to roam free it can be more difficult to engage young people with the world outside their homes.

Simple pleasures such as jumping in piles of leaves in the autumn or heading off on a minibeast hunt in a summer meadow are included, as are more involved projects such as creating a DIY summer festival or making beautiful snow and ice lanterns.

There are ideas for children of any age and projects for filling anything from 10 spare minutes in the garden to a whole day’s activity with a group of friends. This is a great handbook for anyone who already loves getting out into nature with the kids and is looking for new ideas or for parents who are new to venturing out with their kids in any weather. 8/10