2 1/2 years old

The Gruffalo Trail

21:58

We were lucky enough to be invited to a sneak peek at The Gruffalo Trail in Wendover Woods. The Forestry Commission is hosting Gruffalo trails in 28 different forests, 15 with Gruffalo statues this summer, to commemorate The Gruffalo's 15th birthday.  The trails are open now, but on June 7th (the Gruffalo's birthday) there will be a hand carved Gruffalo statue in each of the locations.



We'd never been to Wendover Woods before, and it's absolutely lovely. Ethan is such an outdoor loving little boy, we weren't surprised to find that he also loves a forest. He was so excited to get started on the trail, so with toy mouse in hand we set off to find the Gruffalo.  Our day was filmed for a TV program about The Gruffalo Trail, so that meant a lot of stopping and waiting for everyone else to catch up, but Ethan was really patient and happily explored the woods while we waited. 



Along the trail there were signs with suggested activities and things to look for in the woods.  I particularly liked this one about the different ways that animals move, so Ethan and I moved in all of the different ways, but he definitely liked stomping like a Gruffalo the best!



Amongst the trees you could find the various characters from the book.  Ethan was very excited when we spotted the mouse (his favourite!) high up in a tree.  He was jumping up and down and wanted to go right up to the tree to find him.  He even tried to climb up the branches to touch the mouse, it was so much fun to watch him running amongst the trees so excitedly.  Because it was a special event, we had a very special visitor...



It was just after we had found the mouse that we spotted the Gruffalo walking through the woods!  We followed him to where all of the other children were, and Ethan got to meet him.  He gave the Gruffalo a high five, and asked him if he wanted to go and play in the playground.  It was so cute!  He was a little bit shy to approach the Gruffalo directly (I think just because he was so big) but eventually became brave enough to stand beside him for a photo.



The final activity of the day for us was to make some crafts with people who work in the forest.  We made a bug hotel and a Gruffalo pine cone.  Of course Ethan loves making crafts, so he was very excited to get stuck in and make things.  He made the cutest little Gruffalo using a pine cone, some googly eyes and pipe cleaners as arms, feet, horns, a smile and purple prickles on his back.

We had a fantastic day, and loved meeting some other bloggers and their families, some of whom have written much more detailed posts about our day!

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