A forest is a no brainer as a free but fun thing but nevertheless it is an enjoyable free feature worth mentioning here, since sometimes it seems it is forgotten about when living in a city. Almost forgotten about even though its rehabilitating effects on e.g. stressed people are scientifically proven, kids love it, not to mention that they can walk surprising distances when hopping from root to root, looking for stones and squirrels. Or “hunting” for mushrooms.
That’s what we did today when I picked the kids up early from daycare, because that’s what they wanted to do. The sun and warmth are back after the rains, so after a hectic couple of weeks I thought the calm of the forest was a great suggestion. But no, we didn’t pick mushrooms like all other normal people do at the moment, as there are heaps of them now. But picking mushrooms requires somebody to know what to pick… Yeah, I “pretty much” recognise a couple of edible and poisonous ones but what’s the point, when I’m the only one in our family eating mushrooms anyway? In this hunt wooden sticks were carried as swords, stones were turned, and a “barbecue made”. Great way to start the weekend! Enjoy the forest!
We saw some that even I would not eat 😉
The “barbecue” that prepared our “snags”. Turns our “eating” doesn’t fill the stomachs so we did rush home for dinner.
Free But Fun 
[…] course, one can be active with children, and I like to take mine swimming, ice skating, bike riding, walking in the nature or up a mountain etc. It is affordable, fun and I hope my children will learn to enjoy doing […]
Thinking about it, now that I read your post, one of the things I enjoy the most in Finland is its forests. If this is not an indicator of getting old, then nothing is! 🙂
Yep, us oldies are pretty lucky when it comes to finding forests in this country 😉
We need to go for a walk in the woods again. It’s been too long.
I know that feeling!
Odd trivia: I read somewhere kids have poorer balance nowadays than way back, and that some specialists think it is because we walk too little in the woods and too much on even surfaces now. Can’t remember the source, so don’t know about the truth in the statement but an interesting thought.
Definitely an interesting thought!
Love the new page design, Vilma!