Welly Walk Gruffalo Hunt

So far it has pretty much rained throughout the whole of January and February and as such the boys football has been cancelled for the last two weeks as most of the country deals with floods. However this is no excuse to be stuck indoors and not get out and about. So today we packed up the wellies and headed over to Thorndon Park for a Gruffalo hunt. Armed with a map the two boys navigated their way through the woods and found each of the characters in turn. Holly didn't miss out on the action as she was strapped to my chest in the baby harness the whole time.

 

Our Gruffalo hunt map which the boys both fought over (note to self buy 2 next time!).

 

Funny enough the squirrel is the first animal to find on the trail and low and behold as we were all looking up at the wooden squirrel in the tree, Joshua spotted a real one right in front of him.

 

The first find went to Joshua who found the squirrel at the start of the trail.

Holly was strapped to my chest all the way around, albeit she slept most of the way around.

Since we last did the Gruffalo hunt they have made some changes over the park. Firstly they have ordered the hunt in the same sequence that they appear in the book/film. Secondly they have added the snake which was always missing and swapped the mouse and the baby Gruffalo around (as they always appeared the wrong way round as per the story). 

Next was the little mouse with his delicious acorn.

Yum, yum...... the mouse has now swapped places with the baby Gruffalo.

The fox is the hardest to find but both boys remembered where he was hiding from last time we did the hunt. Only this time I think he was hidden even more by loads of wet mud. 

Great pose by Joshua looking like a proud explorer with the fox hidden in his tree house.

Me and the 3 kids trip trapping across a bridge.

Anyone remember what animal the mouse stumbles across after the fox? Take a look at the picture below and see if you can spot it. 

No the next animal is not Joshua or Brandon!

It is the owl hiding at the top of the tree.

After the owl we found the new snake which is hiding by his log pile house exactly as in the book.film. It was a little muddy and slippery here but that didn't stop Joshua climbing all over the logs and the snake and then jumping down into the mud. 

Joshua standing tall over the snake and Brandon proudly showing the map.

Tina has kittens as me and Holly climb the log pile for a photo opportunity with the snake.

Brandon find the baby Gruffalo next (and yes hes still using the map well).

Baby Gruffalo, now to find the last animal, the big Gruffalo.

Brandon was first to spot the giant Gruffalo as Joshua was too busy thinking about grabbing sticks to build a den in the words. You would not believe just how muddy it was by the Gruffalo. Tina was not impressed as we trudged through what appeared to be swamp land. 

Purple prickles all over his back......

Poisonous wart on his nose, black tongue and terrible tusks.

Family photo with all 5 of us by the giant Gruffalo.

After finishing the hunt we just about had time to go into the woods to build a den before the next lot of rain started to come down. Again Tina was having kittens as I started lugging tree trunks on my shoulder whilst carrying Holly in the harness on my chest (not recommended).

Brandon searches for sticks to build the den.

Joshua checking out our den.

Brandon places another stick in place.

Is it Arnold Schwarzenegger in Commando carrying the tree across his shoulder? No its only Joshua lugging half a tree through the woods.

Its always good to get outside in the fresh air and get some exercise with the kids. Having the Gruffalo hunt in the park is such a fab idea as it keeps the kids interested in hiking through the woods and gets them really involved. Then to chill out when we got home we all got to sit down and watch the Gruffalo DVD.