People used journey sticks to tell stories about their travels.
Can you decorate a stick to remind you of the places you have passed on your nature walk today.

1. Find a really good stick to map your journey.

2. Tie a long piece of wool to one end of your stick.

3. Go for a nature walk looking for things to decorate your stick with. Wrap the wool around each item you find, to hold it in place on your stick.

4. You can use feathers, blades of grass, seeds, leaves and more. In fact anything you find on your way.

5. You could then tell a friend about your walk by looking at your journey stick.

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Finding an area that is far from the urban "night-glow" is the first step, Hucking Estate is especially good. Let your eyes get accustomed to the darkness and after 10 or 20 minutes more and more of the stars and planets will appear. If you need a light, try a red light as this won't affect your night vision as much.
Many years agao our ancestors would be able to navigate and tell the season by where the stars were in the sky. We have maps and sat nav now. Try to find "the plough", a saucepan shaped constellation, then visualise a line with the two stars that make the end of the bowl without a handle. This line should take you to another bright star. Dropping another line vertically to the ground will show you where north is.
You can also download apps on smartphones and tablets and learn with very useful animations of the night sky.

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With the sun creeping higher in the sky, longer days allow more sunlight to hit the woodland floor through the still leafless trees, spurring the early spring flowers to bloom. Early flowers are wood anemone, lesser and greater celandine, early purple orchids and off course bluebells. Don't forget the buds on trees will be bursting forth and the catkins of hazel and pussy willow. If you have a magnifying lens look at the pussy willow catkins and the colours appearing like fireworks.

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Woodland birds can be hard to spot as they fly on their way through. A great way to spot woodland wildlife is to find a place where you can stop and won't be disturbed. Be as still as possible and listen out for all the sounds around. After some time (10 to 20 minutes) you should be able to know what the "normal" sounds are around you, making it easier to know when a new visitor is nearby. And quite often birds will fly close to you if you are able to be quiet and still.

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Butterflies are sometimes easier to identify than birds as it is possible to get closer to see distinguishing features. If they fly off they may not fly far so it is easy to follow.

The Big Butterfly Count is a nationwide event encouraging people to count butterflies over a 4 week period, usually July and August. Why not download the sheets and have a go? http://www.bigbutterflycount.org/

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What you need is a pen/crayon/pencil and a piece of card (card is firmer than paper).

Find a comfortable spot to stay in your chosen woodland, maybe away from busy paths.

First close your eyes for a minute to get used to being aware of how many different sounds there are. Try counting the different sounds (e.g birds, vehicles, farm animals, streams/rivers, wind in the trees etc). If you’re in a group, who can hear the most? Who can hear the quietest?

Then listen to one of the groups (e.g just birds) and see if you can differentiate between types of birds? And if there is one type of bird you can hear, is there more than one? If so, which directions are they?

Once you have listened to all the types of sounds, think how you want to portray these sounds as a quick drawing or doodle.

Now you are ready to make your sound map. Mark a cross in the middle of your card (this is where you are!).

Close your eyes again and begin to listen to the nearest sounds. Draw/write these sounds on the card near to the centre, if the sound is to the left then draw/write it to the left of the cross. If it is behind you, draw/write it under the cross etc.

If the sound is loud you could create a larger mark. People record sounds differently - words, shapes, symbols, drawings etc.

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Different trees have different leaves which can be used like an artist's palette. An activity for any time of the year but best when the leaves turn from green to shades of yellow, orange, red and brown in the autumn.

1. Collect as many leaves of different shapes, colours and textures.

2. Find a suitable flat spot on the ground with a single colour background. Even clearing leaves to create a frame is good.

3. Choose an idea for a leaf painting. Abstract, geometric (spirals and shapes are great) or a woodland animal.

Maybe our ancestors used natural materials to leave messages for others - saying what animals would be around, who the woodland belongs to etc.

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