Over the last few months, Flora has been receiving her own happy mail each month. Her Mud and Bloom subscription boxes have been something both she and I look forward to as it’s time that we can spend together without an iPad in sight. We’ve made butterfly petal art, created a twig boat, a fairy garden, and gone on lots of nature walks together. And we’ve even grown and harvested our own food and flowers too. So what did October’s box have in store for us?
Mud and Bloom
If you’ve read any of my previous Mud and Bloom reviews, welcome back, and please feel free to skip this paragraph (!) If you haven’t come across Mud and Bloom before, then you’ve been missing out. They offer monthly letterbox-sized subscription boxes for kids with gardening and nature craft seasonal activities for £7.95 including P&P. The kits come with full instructions, are designed to follow the EYFS, KS1 and KS2 national curriculum (ages 3 – 8), and are heaps of fun.
October’s box
Here’s what was inside October’s box:
- a biodegradeable balloon, brush and glue, plus instructions for making an Autumn leaf bowl
- some air-drying clay, greaseproof paper and sandpaper, plus instructions for making seed head tiles
- instructions for making conkers and acorn figures
- some snowdrop bulbs, organic compost pellets and tips on how/where to plant them
- a what’s happening in October fact sheet and Autumn wild fruit and nut spotter
- and a quiz.
Autumn leaf bowl
As this activity needed to be done over a few days, we started our leaf bowl first. Flora chose some leaves from a tree outside her school and we then pressed them for a few days to flatten them out.
After blowing up her balloon and coating it in glue, it was just a case of building up layers of leaves – like papier mache. They were surprisingly hard to stick down though! In between each layer, we covered the bowl with foil and left it in the airing cupboard overnight.
I have to say, our finished bowl surpassed my expectations. We think it’s beautiful – albeit not very practical as it’s rather fragile. I’m thinking it would look pretty with some fairy lights in it too. I’d love to make this again as we have plenty of glue left over as well as an inordinate amount of balloons lurking in our cupboards…
Seed head tiles
Flora reminded me that we’ve done something similar to this activity before with Play-Doh, so she was keen to get started. (I don’t recall the Play-Doh activity but her memory is much better than mine these days).
Rather than seeds, we decided to use a few leaves from our garden: conifers, cosmos, and another white-berried tree whose name I can’t remember. After rolling out the clay between some greaseproof paper, Flora cut out some shapes with cookie cutters.
It was only after she’d cut all the shapes out that I re-read theinstructions and realised each tile should have been 1 cm thick instead of 2.5 mm. Oops. So, as our finished tiles are super thin and ultra fragile we won’t be sanding down the edges. But we may well paint them and use them for Christmas decorations in due course.
Acorn and conker figures
Sadly, as we couldn’t find any conkers and only managed a few acorns, these are all Flora came up with. But this is an activity that’s easy to do again so as soon as we find a horse chestnut tree and another oak tree, we’ll get some more props.
Snowdrops
I mentioned recently that Flora has suddenly developed a keen enthusiasm for gardening and she has her own patch behind our summerhouse. She also talked her father into building her a small pond so she’s planted her snowdrops directly into the ground in a shady corner next to it.
Wild autumn fruits & nuts spotter, nature news and quiz
This spotter took me back to my childhood – I remember harvesting and eating all the nuts, although we haven’t found any recently. But we’ve got plenty of rose hips (which I leave for the birds) and our neighbour kindly let us have all his damsons. So I’ve made a glut of damson jam and, more deliciously, some damson vodka, which should be ready by Christmas 🙂
The nature news had a fascinating fact about the changing leaf colours. Apparently, Autumn colours of deciduous trees leaves are weather dependent. If it’s very cold, the chorophyll will stop being made and the leaves turn yellow. If it’s warmer (like it is at the moment) then the chlorophyll feeds the leaves for longer, turning them red. And I’m very proud that Flora knew the last quiz question, namely what a perennial is – obviously watching Gardener’s World is paying off, haha.
Final thoughts
I probably say this most months but I think this Mud and Bloom box was my favourite one yet. This time we had three craft activities and one growing activity, with all the relevant materials and instructions included. What I particularly love about these boxes is how they encourage not only Flora’s interest, but also spark her creativity. I’m fairly sure they’re partly responsible for her decision to start her own garden, which I love sharing this with her. And we can’t wait to find out what’s going to be in our November box now!
What activity did you like best in this month’s box?
I’m loving all the activities Lisa, they look so much fun and a great way to get outside and explore nature! The leaf bowl is really creative, I could also imagine this with some fairy lights, it would make a really pretty Autumnal decoration. The seed head tiles would be such perfect & unique Christmas decorations and the acorn figures are so cute! Great job Flora, everything has turned out so well! That’s a really cool fact about chlorophyll and the colours of the leaves, I’m so going to try and impress people with my new found seasonal knowledge, he he. I love that Mud and Bloom encourage creativity and it is educational at the same time (I admit though, I just had to google what a perennial is, ha ha). Lovely post, I’m looking forward to see what’s in the November box too <3 xx
Bexa, thank you so much for your beautiful comment, I love that you enjoyed this review, wow! And what you’ve said is exactly why I love these Mud and Bloom boxes so much, they are brilliant value for money too. Don’t worry about the perennial, haha, I’m amazed Flora knows TBH 🙂 Thank you so much again xxx
Kinda don’t want Flora to grow up because I love reading these and seeing what you’re making this month! The bowl looks amazing! I’m loving the autumnal theme this month. I have this little image of her gardening with you in my head and it’s soooo cute. Great post! x
Sophie
http://www.glowsteady.co.uk
Kinda don’t want Flora to grow up either but probably for different reasons, haha! The leaf bowl looks gorgeous, it’s really easy to do and something we want to try again soon 🙂 xx
what an absolutely lovely box!! i think it so amazing that both you and your daughter get to do these activities together without technology involved and i love that you share them with us! I think your leaf bowl is absolutely devine and is actually something i’d buy in stores lol! thanks for sharing this with us xx
mich / simplymich.com
Aw, thank you so much! We love these boxes, they’re so much fun to do and the artwork we end up with is lovely 🙂 xx
Wow – what a great range of things! Great activity that isn’t screen time too!
They are, and yes, great to get away from the iPad!
Great review..so love these boxes!
Thank you 🙂
This looks like an amazing service my little one would LOVE!! Is this available in the United States?
I’m not sure if she ships to the US but I think she’s started shipping to Europe – probably best to email her and ask! 🙂
This looks like such a fun box for the fall! Although the leaf bowl is fragile, it is such a cute decoration for this time of year! All of the crafts you made turned out so well! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
melissakacar.blogspot.com
They’re the perfect Autumn activities, aren’t they? We’re so pleased with how our leaf bowl turned out, can’t wait to do another one now! x
This looks like a really great little box to get kids creating things, I think your leaf bowl turned out really well! It looks like something you would have as a centrepiece. The box is a really great idea for kids and I think my sister would probably love it, Great Review x
Thank you – the leaf bowl is on our dining table at the moment, I’m hoping the glue will preserve it for a little while! x
Oh wow this looks so good my daughter would love it
They are brilliant boxes, so much fun!
These seem like a great box, and happy to see that you’re enjoying each box.
Jennifer
We really are, we always look forward to them 🙂
i love crafting and making holiday decorations for my home,
thank you for sharing
love always
Karen
You’re welcome, I’m glad you enjoyed it! x
This box is the absolute cutest! All the activities look so cute and fun! I’m really liking the whole theme and the colours ahah
Thank you so much, we had a lot of fun with this! 🙂
I can’t quite get over the value of this box, it’s so affordable and an amazing idea + treat for kids. Even better that it doesn’t include the technology like you say, it’s such a shame seeing kids with phones and iPads 24/7 from such a young age. Flora must have a blast with these boxes each month, I imagine you get just as much fun out of them as she does! :’) x x
Ellis
They are SUCH good value, I honestly don’t know how she manages to cram so much in for so little. And yes, you’re right, I get every bit as much fun out of them as Flora, haha, win win! xx