Pop-up Nature

Teddy is getting ready for the Coronation today and can’t wait to have ice cream 🍦 and cakes 🎂 🍰 😋🎉

⭐️🐬What’s in the bag?

Each week we learn an interesting fact about a sea creature, plant, or shell.

This week we learnt about the amazing Starfish. Here are some facts we learnt today:

⭐️A starfish usually have 5 arms but some types can grow 50 arms
⭐️A starfish can regrow an arm (how clever)
⭐️They can be orange, blue, purple, red and white
⭐️Starfish eat mussels and clams. When they eat, their stomachs exit their mouths to digest the food, and re-enters the body when they’ve finished eating!

⭐️

🐬😊New Sessions start May!!

Cullercoats Bay
Friday’s 9:30-10:30am
Ages 0-5 (most suited to 18 months plus)
Accessible with a pram
Siblings welcome
payg or block
£5 per session or £20 for the block.
To book text Claire: 07539295254

Each session is completely new and includes exploration, singing and storytime. Block includes rock pooling. Sessions are really relaxed and friendly.

5th May
12th May
19th May
26th May

😀

Easter 🐣 card ideas

🐰The first card is really simple made from scraps of paper and just torn into shapes. My 6 year loved doing this and you don’t need any special stuff. You could use any old paper or material and its not fussy. Then simply stick a cottonwool tail on.

🐣The second card we just used some black card and cut out some templates out of an old cereal box (I always save cereal boxes so handy for extra paper/sticking or collages). I had some chalk pens but you could easily just do this with actual chalk which is easier for younger ones. I must admit I enjoyed doing some dot cards myself it feels really therapeutic (there’s something about dots)🤣

😄👋Yay beach sessions start this Friday. 🦀🐬Come along and meet Herbie the hermit crab and learn about shells and sea creatures. There is still time to book. Text Claire: 07539295254

Cullercoats Beach
9:30am-10:30am
payg or book a block of 4
0-5 years
Siblings welcome
All sessions include exploration, stinging and storytime. Accessible with a pram.

Looking forward to seeing you on Friday 😊 Claire

Happy Mother’s Day to all the amazing mum’s out there doing their best to juggle everything school runs, finding shoes in the morning, rushing to clubs, school picks up, homework, sleepless nights, putting a bright smile on, hiding in the toilet to send a text or eat some chocolate in peace 🤣and being the glue that holds everyone together. Enjoy your day this one is for you. I hope you have a wonderful day whatever it looks like. You deserve it! 🥰🥰 # # #

👋 Hello

Come and have fun in nature. Beach sessions will start at Cullercoats Beach Friday 24th March. Book now!! Each session includes exploration, singing and story time. Little ones have so much fun and learn so much about their natural surroundings.

4 week block
You can block book for £20 or pay as you go £5per session.
Ages 0-5
Siblings welcome
All equipment provided.

Session Dates:
Friday 24th March
9:30am-10:30am

Friday 31st March
9:30am-10:30am

Friday 21st April
9:30am-10:30am

Friday 28th April
9:30am-10:30am

To book text Claire: 07539295254

🦀🐬🐚

😃📕What was your favourite children’s book?

🐻Peace at Last has to be one of my favourites. Like lots of parents I try 🤣to read to my little ones (not always easy after a long day at work, clubs, tea) but it’s that lovely one on one time they really love, and it’s great for language development sometimes just looking at the pics and describing what they see and pointing bits out is fun too. You don’t always have to finish a book. Little and often is great.

Sometimes i’ll take a book with me when we go outside make it part of the day (mainly cause I need free cheap ideas) and it’s another activity as part of a picnic. You can do what works not many little ones sit and listen for long.

Having a few really good books it’s better than loads (Hairy Maclary, Gruffalo, The Hungry Caterpillar, The Scarecrows Wedding) or popping to your local library so they can start picking out books they love and develop that early love of reading.

We got given some little story cubes recently and they are great for making up silly stories as a family. The more silly the better.

😊😊 xx

😁😁 🥰 Wow had a wonderful morning at Bloom Toddler Classes Northumberland thank you so much Sophie. It was so great meeting all the little ones learning about the sea, holding hermit crabs, and making shell necklaces.

Can’t wait for my beach sessions to start again at Cullercoats Beach Friday 24th March 9:30am. 🦀🌊🐚

Happy Valentine’s day ❤️❤️❤️

Did you know most seahorses mate for life. The male also gives birth to the babies. (what a catch)😂

Go find your seahorse! 🌊❤️😂

😁Herbie the Hermit crab is excited to meet you all at our first ever collab with the wonderful Bloom Baby classes.

This Friday
We have spaces for the class at 11-11:55am! Book now.

Little ones will get to learn and explore all about the sea, hold a hermit crab, explore using magnifying glasses, and make their very own shell necklace. See you soon. 🐚🦀😁

🎟️ £12.00 🏖️

📆 Friday 17th February 2023

⏰ 11-11.55

📍 East Hartford Community Centre

⭐️ Suitable for Toddlers 15-48 months and walking 🎨

Https://bloomtoddlerclasses.com/Northumberland

😃🦀🐚I’m excited to do my first collaboration with Bloom Baby Northumberland. Join me and Sophie for a fun, hands on, sea-life adventure. Little ones will get to hold and learn about hermit crabs and make their very own sea shell necklace.

To book get in touch with the lovely Sophie:

https://bloomtoddlerclasses.com/northumberland/

😊😊

Yay February is here and it’s so exciting seeing bulbs in the garden. Here’s what else to look for in Feb:

Snowdrops
Blue t**s
🐸Early signs of frogspawn
🐝Bumblebees coming out of hibernation
House sparrows

Did you know:
Snowdrops are named after earrings not drops of snow.

A naturally occurring substance within the snow drop plant, called galantamine, is used to help treat the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, although the bulbs themselves are poisonous.

👋Happy New Year. 🐬🦀Beach sessions are back!! Get outside and make the most of the outdoors with these fun, hands on beach sessions for ages 0-5. Each session is new and includes exploring, singing and nursery rhymes.

Starting Friday 24th March
4 x week block term time

£20 block book or pay as you go £5per session.
Ages 0-5
Cullercoats Beach
Pram friendly
All equipment provided
Siblings welcome
Term time

Sessions dates:
Friday 24th March 9:30am-10:30am

Friday 31st March
9:30am-10:30am

Friday 21st April
9:30am-10:30am

Friday 28th April
9:30am-10:30am

To book text: Claire 07539295254
🐚🦀🐬

Just chilling ..😎🐌

Did you know:🐌

🐌Snails are invertebrates, which means they do not have a backbone.

🐌They move around on a single muscly “foot” and carry their home (shell) on their backs.

🐚Snails make their own shells They use an organ called a mantle to secrete layers of calcium carbonate, which crystallize and harden. Mollusks (snails, clams, mussels etc) have a physical bias toward the right, just as most humans are right-handed, and this makes their shells spiral clockwise.

🐌Snails are found on land and in the sea.

Well now you know. So when your little one picks up a slimy snail (which they love to do) you’ll be the the fountain of snail knowledge 😄

Motivation Monday this photo sums up how I feel on a Monday. 🤣😂

Love making funny sand portraits with the little ones.🦀

Photo of the day - Cullercoats Watch House

Such a beautiful and historic building and remains a testament to the fishing industry at Cullercoats.🐟🐟🐟

Did you know the Watch House first opened in 1879 and was opened to allow the village’s life brigade to look for vessels in distress. The building is sadly in a state of repair so funds are needed to save this iconic building. Check out Cullercoats Watch House page to find out more.

Butterfly feeder 🦋Something for the weekend

Feed the butterflies 🦋 with this easy and very cute recycled feeder.

(card, milk top, glue, cotton wool, pens)

🦋Draw and cut out a flower template on card (we just use an old cereal box). Little ones can then colour this in.

🐛In the middle of the flower glue a bottle top on.

🌸In the centre of the milk top put some cotton wool soaked in water and sugar (nectar).
10 parts sugar to 1 part water. Make sure sugar is dissolved.

🌻Stick a lollipop or straw to the back of the flower. Put your butterfly feeder in a sunny spot in the garden.

Don’t have time:
Simply leave a shallow dish out in your garden/backyard and fill with sugar water and/ripe fruits like banana.

Summer Solstice🌞🌞🌅

Today marks the longest day of the of the year for the Northern Hemisphere.

Solstice (sol is the latin word for sun and stit means still).

There are two solstices a year a summer and winter one.

Why: It’s all to do with how the Earth is tilted more towards the sun.

“On two moments each year—what are called solstices—Earth's axis is tilted most closely toward the sun. The hemisphere tilted most toward our home star sees its longest day, while the hemisphere tilted away from the sun sees its longest night”.

Lovely musical nature session today. Little ones loved exploring the beach and making their own music shakers reusing milk cartons. We also had fun making wind chimes using limpet shells.

See you over the summer for our Friday 9:30-10:30am payg sessions:
29th July
5th Aug
12th Aug

Ages 0-5
Older siblings welcome to tag along for free.

Next block starts Friday 9th Sept.

Photo of the day- Seaton Sluice Harbour

Aww we love walking along the harbour with the little ones so many things to spot (boats, lobster pots, sand dunes, watch house, mermaids, art, bridge with locks 🔒 on) not to mention the amazing park complete with curly wurly 🛝 slide.

Seaton Sluice became the centre for the coal and glass trade.

“For its size, Seaton Sluice was the centre of greater commercial activity than any other town on the North East coast, with ships of up to 300 tons burden visiting the tiny harbour”.

It’s World Oceans Day today!🌊🐬

The day is all about raising awareness about the “impact of human actions on the ocean”.

I love this book Somebody Swallowed Stanley for introducing little ones to caring about our oceans.

We use this book in our sustainable beach session and the little ones love it. A great hands-on educational activity we use is to have lots of small world sea creatures and water buckets and little ones rescue the sea creatures and clean them using tooth brushes. You can try this at home too. Little ones love water play and animal rescue. 🐳🐬🌊🛟

Stingy Stinging Nettles

Ouch we all remember these from our childhood. Here’s some fun facts:

Butterflies and caterpillars love stinging nettles! 🦋🐛

Nettles have stinging defensive hairs. The hairs inject histamine and other chemicals that produce a stinging sensation when we come into contact with them.

Nettes are packed with magnesium, iron and calcium. A great tip is to add nettles to a watering can (like a nettle tea) to provide your flowers/vegetables with great minerals. (My mother in law swears by this).

The plant has been used as medicine, food, tea and fibre.

Contrary to old beliefs dock leaves (which always grow close by) do not help ease the pain of being stung by a nettle😮 its more the placebo effect caused by the rubbing motion. However, I love a dock leaf and it makes me feel like medicine woman for 5 mins so I’ll def still be using a dock leaf.

Cullercoats dolphin watch page.
🐬
This sounds amazing! Check them out on facebook.

Who said Teddy Bears can only have picnics in the wood?😂😎🏖🐳

We had a lovely teddy bears picnic making cakes 🎂 on the beach. yummy 😋 # # #

Delightful Dandelions!
aww there’s something so magical about dandelions. No child can resist picking one. My little ones love blowing them and watching the seeds fly away.

I love learning about nature and love finding out the why’s and how’s of things esp things we see everyday in our parks, woods, beaches, gardens or along the pavement. There’s so much to learn right on our doorstep.

So i’ve learned some cool facts about dandelions (you can impress your little ones with):

🐝 Dandelions recognise morning and night. Just watch them and see: at night the flower closes up, and in the morning it opens up!

🐞 Dandelion seeds can “fly” as far as five miles away, thanks to the wind and the fact that the seeds act like parachutes!

🦋The name dandelion means “tooth of the lion” and refers to the characteristic deeply indented leaves at the base of the plant. Each of these plants is actually a cluster of small flowers. After blooming, the yellow petals are replaced with a series of stems with fluffy white threads.

So now you know😊.

An old funnel from a salt pan in the smugglers cave. Me and my daughter always wondered what this was when we wondered through the caves behind the southern pier.

🧜‍♀️Did you know:
Salt was a precise commodity here in Cullercoats.

“There were 19 salt pans situated along the cliff tops and along the old wooden pier. In their hey day, the pans produced 2,180 tons of salt a year”.

Dunstanburgh Castle, Craster Alnwick

I love the walk along here and if you’re lucky the cows are sometimes grazing along here too. 🐄🌿🐚

Sea shells!! - Lovely day at the beach today learning about shells, sorting them by shape and texture and listening to the sounds of the waves. Our little ones loved holding and observing the sea snails and hermit crabs and using the big magnifying glasses to investigate 🐌 🐳🐠

Do the STOMP do the dinosaur 🦖 STOMP!

We had fun hunting for dinosaurs footprints around the caves and digging up fossils today.

Beautiful 🌸 blossoms

These always make me so happy esp when you see a beautiful street lined with them.

🌸Did you know:
Known as "sakura" in Japanese, these pale blooms are a symbol of more than just spring — they stand for renewal and hope.

🦭Lovely to see this little fella at Cullercoats Beach today. He was happy and healthy and just chilling waiting for the high tide to come in again. The wonderful volunteers were on hand to keep and eye and ensure the pup wasn’t disturbed.

Did you know:
🦭 Pups are born with white coats and suckle from their mother for about two to three weeks. The mother will then leave the pup to mate again before leaving the beach.

🦭Sand eels, cod, lobster and crab are a seals favourite foods

🦭Between tides, seals will haul themselves out of the water onto rocks or sandy islands; these are called haul-outs

Red hot sunrise 🌅 over Cullercoats Bay. There is something so magical about the sunrises. We didn’t get out of the house in time (like hearding cats with my 3) for this one but we did still get to see it in all its wonder x

Happy Easter 🐰🐰🐰I hope you have a wonderful day with your family and friends. Love Pop-up Nature xx

Peepo🐣🐰🐰

Happy Easter! Why not have a go at making these easy egg heads with your little ones they’ll love seeing their seedlings grow. We had a little competition to see whose would grow first. The wonderful thing about cress seeds is that they grow so fast. Its also@a fun decorating the egg.

Simply crack a egg and empty the yolk so you just have the shell left. Take the top off gently.

Soak some cotton wool so it’s damp and gently place in the egg shell.

Have the little ones scatter some cress seeds on top and leave in a sunny window.

Decorate the egg with googly eyes or felt pens. whatever you have.

In 5-7 days the seedlings will start to grow.

Easter Egg threading activity

Great for slightly older children and great for hand eye coordination. Simply cut eggs shapes out of card and use a hole punch to make some holes. They love using the hole punch. You can then use leftover string, or wool to thread through the holes.

Mermaid - Seaton Sluice

Beautiful mermaid sculpture. My little one loved spotting this mermaid when we were out on a little walk.

3 SPACES AVAILABLE!!

Create magical memories with your little one and make the most of our beautiful surroundings.

Sessions are full of fun, adventure and learning.

Ages 0-4
Friday’s 9:30-10:30am
Term time
Under 1s free
Siblings welcome
1-4 £5 (£30 per block)
All equipment provided
Come rain and shine

Each session is one hour and includes exploration, singing and story-time. Each session is completely different and themed and little ones learn all about their natural surroundings while using their imagination. The session is really friendly and relaxed and everyone welcome. Accessible for prams.

6th May
13th May
20th May
27th May
10th June
17th June
(24th June additional make up session)

To book text Claire: 07539295254