Tots' Hedgerow Harvest
By Sue Curnock
Nature Tots Officer
I had a wonderful morning yesterday picking blackberries with our Nature Tots group to make delicious smoothies and natural paints, this is how the children made their morning snack:
Hedgerow Harvest Smoothie recipe
- First we washed the berries, peeled and carefully chopped up some ripe bananas
- Then we mashed the berries, added some water and sieved them (we saved the goo for making natural paints later on)
- We mashed the bananas to a pulp and added the blackberry juice, some more water and a teaspoon of brown sugar
Everyone, including the parents, had a try and we all agreed it was yummy.
Then we set about sawing wooden ‘bashers’ to make our own willow paintbrushes, and the Tots created some very attractive ‘blackberry paint’ flags to take home with them. We talked about all the animals which also enjoy blackberries in the wild; from foxes to bank voles and birds, which leave little clues as to what they have been eating - have you spotted any ‘pink poo’ on the ground yet this autumn?
Next we will be planting acorns and later on making apple and blackberry crumble over the campfire, why not come along and join us?
Booking is open now for our September Nature Tots groups across Sussex
Blackberry Bunting © Katie Parker