What better way to get children off their phones watching and sharing animals doing the silliest things on social media by introducing them to the great outdoors, and even better, using their skilful eyes to spot some of Britain’s rarest and most beautiful wildlife.
Skelwith Fold Caravan Park in Ambleside has decided to celebrate its successful reintroduction of red squirrels by challenging youngsters to find six toy squirrels hidden in the grounds.
The furry family will be concealed in trees around the 130-acre park, so children must look skywards rather than down at their screens to locate the beautiful creatures.
Six stuffed squirrel sightings, confirmed by snaps on their smart-phones or tablets, will earn sharp-eyed children their own fluffy friend to take home.
What a great way to detach children from their beloved mobile screens and take a peek at something other than skateboarding cats for a change.
Park director Henry Wild’s secret squirrel quest has a clever agenda – for he hopes it will help re-focus young attention from Tweets to real-life twitters.
Henry cites the number one problem parents face on holiday in the park is persuading their children to swap their little screens for the wider world.
If Skelwith Fold’s plan works, youngsters will soon be discovering the rich array of birdlife on the park, from finches and buntings to siskins, redstarts, woodpeckers and nuthatches.
Henry says: “We hope that mums and dads will also tag along, and point out some of the many bird species we have at Skelwith with the help of an identification chart we’ll supply.”
Skelwith Fold Park has gained a David Bellamy Conservation Gold Award for encouraging holidaymakers to get involved with the natural world.
And the park has also won much praise for other initiatives including a note of congratulations from the Prince of Wales for the successful efforts to reintroduce red squirrels.
The team at CaravanTimes believes the squirrel sighting activities at Skelwith Fold will have no problem being a hoot with the kids.
