50 things to do before you are 11 and 3/4

Image courtesy The National Trust

The UK's National Trust has, in its desire to get "cotton wool kids" outdoors, away from TVs, computers and video games and out from under the clutches of over-protective parents, created a list of 50 things every child should experience before they are 11 and 3/4.

Because we all know, 11 and 3/4 is a very important age for any person. I am thinking of Harriet the Spy and Pippi Longstocking as I write this — and steadfastly ignoring all references to one lightning-marked boy.


As someone who spent a lot of independent time outdoors (my mother's favourite line was "Get out, and do not come back until you are dirty,") it was interesting to see the difference between my own experience  and the changes even with my own half siblings. They were ferried to every event, over-scheduled, and my father and his wife were stiflingly in every bit of their lives. I can hardly imagine they were able to have any kind of real adventure or even flirtation until they left for university. [Of course, it would be argued, they were not in enough of my life as a child ... but I digress.]

My parents did not have money when myself and my two siblings were kids, being still students when we were born, so we did a lot of family events on the cheap. We camped a lot, we went to free concerts, we made use of the free parks and outdoor spaces around Ottawa. The Brownies, Cub scouts, Girl Guides was not the source of my outdoor prowess. (Though I did learn how to make pet rock friends from them. Still baffling.)

And I am saddened to think that so many children, from my sibings' generation down, will not have the joys of skinned knees and learning how to climb a tree perfectly. As someone without a child, I thought it was bad but not SO bad an institute had to produce a list as basic and mundane as this one.

But, then, the issue is not just one of over scheduling, but of increasingly older parents who are no longer interested in capable of really frolicking with thier kids. Mine were barely adults themselves when I was born, and I remember them rolling down hills with me, splurging in mud and running about flying kites, kicking balls, and on tennis courts and other places. [Their age also had not-so-pleasant repercussions, not least leading to a silly, stupid, destructive six-year custody battle ...]

I highly recommend everyone read this list, with child and without, because reading this made me want to climb a tree again. It is never to late to be 11 and 3/4, after all.

1. Climb a tree
2. Roll down a really big hill
3. Camp out in the wild
4. Build a den
5. Skim a stone
6. Run around in the rain
7. Fly a kite
8. Catch a fish with a net
9. Eat an apple straight from a tree
10. Play conkers
11. Throw some snow
12. Hunt for treasure on the beach
13. Make a mud pie
14. Dam a stream
15. Go sledging
16. Bury someone in the sand
17. Set up a snail race
18. Balance on a fallen tree
19. Swing on a rope swing
20. Make a mud slide
21. Eat blackberries growing in the wild
22. Take a look inside a tree
23. Visit an island
24. Feel like you’re flying in the wind
25. Make a grass trumpet
26. Hunt for fossils and bones
27. Watch the sun wake up
28. Climb a huge hill
29. Get behind a waterfall
30. Feed a bird from your hand
31. Hunt for bugs
32. Find some frogspawn
33. Catch a butterfly in a net
34. Track wild animals
35. Discover what’s in a pond
36. Call an owl
37. Check out the crazy creatures in a rock pool
38. Bring up a butterfly
39. Catch a crab
40. Go on a nature walk at night
41. Plant it, grow it, eat it
42. Go wild swimming
43. Go rafting
44. Light a fire without matches
45. Find your way with a map and compass
46. Try bouldering
47. Cook on a campfire
48. Try abseiling
49. Find a geocache
50. Canoe down a river


It should be noted the National Trust has also created a site dedicated for children (with a parents section) detailing how to do each thing above safely. Which in itself is sad.