27 ways to spend a KENTISH SUMMER at home

Try these Kent-themed ideas for the ultimate ‘stay-cation’ – without having to move further away from home than the garden gate

- Emma Ward

Go on a minibeast hunt in the garden

NATURE DETECTIVES

Try these top tips from The Woodland Trust to enjoy connecting with nature at home. For tree-themed fact sheets, interactive quizzes and puzzles, visit treetoolsforschools.org.uk.

1 Go on a minibeast hunt

You’ll be amazed at the variety of wildlife that calls your garden home. Look in the grass for a worm emerging after a shower of rain, or hunt down a snail exploring a dark, damp spot. Look up to see butterflies and bees darting about, looking for nectar.

2 Make a loo-roll bird feeder

Save the inner cardboard tube of a loo roll and smother it in peanut butter (no added salt and sugar versions are suitable for birds). Roll it in bird seed and thread some string through the hole. Hang it up and see how many birds you spot feasting on it.

3 Create some butterfly symmetry art

Splodge some paint in different colours on one half of a sheet of paper. Fold it in half while still wet, so the paint spreads on both sides. Carefully open it up to reveal colourful butterfly wings. Add in a body and antennae, then hang it up for a cheerful decoration when it’s completely dry.

4 Build a Lego forest

Dig out your Lego blocks and make your very own forest, complete with trees, animals and flowers. Work together on a massive project, or see who can make the biggest, most imaginative or most colourful model.

5 Write a story about woods or trees

Inspire those creative juices with a story challenge. Start your budding writers off by providing them with an opening sentence with a tree-based theme. Or set a rule that the story must start, end or completely take place in a forest. Share your stories together at bedtime.