Two Roads (2022)
ISBN: 978-1399802864
Reviewed by Piers Warren
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If you’re looking for ideas to get your children or grandchildren more connected with Nature then this is the book for you. It is written by wildlife TV presenter Steve Backshall, who presents such series as the hugely popular Deadly 60, and his wife, the Olympic rowing champion Helen Glover. They have three young children and this book describes numerous activities – mostly outdoors in Nature – that they have used to entertain, educate and rewild them.
There are also contributions from a number of other experts who offer their own experiences of helping kids get closer to wilderness, including Dame Jane Goodall, Michaela Strachan, Sir Chris Hoy, Tim Peake, Brian May, Bear Grylls and many more.
The book is split into chapters covering different environments such as garden, woods, seashore, and different themes such as birds, freshwater, using lenses, tracking, rainy day activities and so on. Each of these chapters contains a short introduction, about a dozen different activities and then a viewpoint from one of the guest contributors.
Some of the activities are old favourites such as den building, Pooh-sticks, pond-dipping, rockpooling, making rope swings, hide and seek, making Nature tables and so on. But even these come with full instructions and tips from the authors who have clearly tried all of them with their own children and put their own slant on them. They are suitable for a range of ages from toddlers to teens. Some need no equipment or preparation (throwing pebble games on the beach for example) while others, especially those for older children, will need considerable planning and gearing up (rock-climbing and coasteering for example).
It has to be said that both authors come from the privileged position of having had wonderful childhoods with parents encouraging them to be out in Nature, and are both very fit and clearly energetic people who live life to the max. This energy comes through with their enthusiastic advice and yet they’re not afraid to point out where things have gone pear-shaped and what they learned from that.
This is a reference book in that if you’re planning a trip to the seaside, or want to stay at home and entertain the kids in your garden, you can read the relevant chapter the night before and make a list of activities to do. If you’re going on holiday with children/grandchildren then more ambitious activities can be planned in advance and any necessary equipment organised.
Although in my case (I have a three year-old grandson) some of the activities will not be suitable for a number of years, there were many other ideas that had not occurred to me that I will certainly try soon. This is not a book to be read and put away, but will be used frequently. The important thing is that it reminds us of the value of getting young people out in Nature, away from screens and technology, and the myriad fun activities that there are to do in Nature, good for both mental and physical health. And of course those benefits will extend to the parents/grandparents as well as the youngsters.