*ad/gifted We were sent the box from Mud and Bloom for free, to put through its paces and test, in exchange for writing the review. All opinions are honest and my own*
Nature is important to children’s well being and happiness, as well as it being important we all need to connect to nature. Nature play is the best way of helping our children to develop physically, emotionally, and socially. It’s got all bases covered! Nature play, nature craft, and nature based activities all help strengthen the connection and bond with nature. Mud and Bloom set up their subscription nature boxes to inspire families and children into the outdoors and to connect to nature.
What Are The Mud And Bloom Nature Subscription Boxes?
Mud and Bloom produce a box on a monthly basis that contains several seasonal nature crafts and gardening activities. Everything you need is all contained within the box, plus lovely illustrated instructions, nature news for that month, and a quiz. The box we received was a March box.
The boxes are as environmentally friendly as possible, being plastic free and using certified organic seeds where they can. You also do not need to have a garden. The gardening activities can be done in pots and come with included peat free compost pellets to use. The aim of Mud and Bloom is to make nature accessible to everyone.
The Mud and Bloom Box For March:
So what activities did we discover in our lovely box?
- Making a nature wind chime: A lovely idea making a nature wind chime from some of our thousands of sticks our trio have collected in the garden. An easy craft that all three loved doing.
- Twig Covered Pot:. This was a little bit more complicated, but once the children had got the hang of tying the knots and getting the sticks to stay still, they enjoyed it. It made a very effective pot decoration.
- Plant Wild Tomato Seeds:. Tomatoes are a great seed for children to plant as they are very easy to grow, they grow quite fast, and then the produce can be eaten…perfect! We planted in small pots which will then be moved outdoors….we need to wait until late May for that here in Sweden.
- Plant Cornflower Seeds: These are perfect flowers to attract bees, which is vital these days in giving them a helping hand to find the supplies they need. They are also easy to grow. You can plant them straight outdoors at this time of year as they are quite hardy. However, the ground is still frozen here in Sweden making any digging hard, so we have sown ours in oversized plastic pots to then move outdoors when the weather improves!
- Bird Spotter Quiz:. This is seasonal and the paper it is done on is beautifully presented. Our birdlife is similar in Sweden to the UK so my double trouble got busy in the garden doing it together.
- March Nature Quiz: Again this is beautifully presented and big sister played quiz master to her twin brothers who tried to guess the answers.
- March Nature News Card: All about what is happening in nature in the month of March.
How We Found The Mud And Bloom Nature Box:
Our trio had so much fun! Although the boxes are aimed at 3-8 year olds, our 11 year old loved the activities in there too. It was nice to see them connecting to the nature happening in the month of March and using nature for craft supplies as well. We always plant seeds every springtime and these 2 packets set us off for the year. We have never done cornflowers, and while we do cherry tomatoes usually, we have not done wild ones before. So we are awaiting these and can not wait to put them outside once the weather warms up. The instruction cards are so beautifully laid out and presented, and the instructions are very easy to follow. Everything you need is in the box making life very easy….we live on an island so we would have to drive for any required supplies, but we were ready to go with this beautiful box.
These boxes are great to use for nature based learning, and would be a great idea to supplement home education supplies. A subscription or an individual box would also be a really good gift idea as well. The boxes start at 7.95 GBP/month with free shipping. Mud and Bloom do also ship abroad, so make sure you contact them and request a quote for postage. You can choose between single or sibling boxes as well. If you use the code MAMMASSCHOOL you can get 15% off your first box 🙂