Since I got myself a proper camera and started taking a million pictures with it every time we went out, the small boy has been taking an interest too. Each time we’re out he asks if he can take some pictures and it’s something that I’d like to encourage in him.

I’m very cautious because a camera is an expensive piece of kit and in my experience small children often drop or throw things when they get bored, so I’ll hold the camera wherever he points it and I’ll hold it steady while he presses “the big button”, but really the photographs are his.

In January we visited Lyme Park and while we were waiting for Daddy to get some tea and cake we were talking about the camera because I’d been using it a lot that day. He wanted a go, so he took these two pictures. I think the tea-cup is a pretty good picture for a four year old. I’m not sure what the second picture is, I think he wanted to take some pictures of the hills like Mummy had been doing.

Over February half term we went to North Devon and Cornwall for a week. We did an awful lot of exploring and one day we drove down to Padstow for a look around.

I was messing about taking pictures of the harbour and we stopped for a sit down and a drink. I had my camera slung round my neck and he asked if he could take some “pikk-tures” and I couldn’t refuse his little face.

He was actually trying to take a nice picture of the bin (I have no idea why) but I think the way he’s captured the people walking past is brilliant. I love this picture, there’s so much going on, even in a quiet corner of a busy place, and the sky that day was incredible. Well done Ben!

I’ve made a point of keeping some of the pictures he’s taken, I think doing photography with kids is one of those essential creative life skills that they’ll need going forward. It shouldn’t be all about selfies and pictures of your dinner.

Photography with kids is a great way of seeing and understanding what they see and want to capture in their world and seeing how they view their surroundings. Periodically I’ll be taking part in the “Through my Child’s Eyes” linky (see badge below) and showing off what the small boy has been snapping this week.

Visiting the Didsbury Bug Hotel

One of my favourite places to go for one of my regular walks is Fletcher Moss Botanical Gardens in Didsbury, not least because I can pop into the cafe for a pot of tea and a big wedge of cake while I’m out. This week whilst I was walking through the park I spied this, the Didsbury Bug Hotel.

The sign reads…

Find twigs, pine cones, leaves or bark around the park and add it to our bug hotel to look after all our mini beasts!

I thought this was a fantastic idea to encourage kids and families to do a little bit for nature and to learn more about the insects we have in the UK.

Apparently the average garden is home to over 2,000 different species of insects, some of these bugs are essential for helping to control the pests which eat our flowers, fruit and vegetables, some like bumblebees pollinate our plants who are in decline, so by building the Didsbury Bug Hotel we can contribute to their conservation.

I was incredibly excited to see the hotel pop up and I couldn’t wait to take the small boy out to see it at the weekend. Sadly by the time weekend had come around and we’d got to the park, the Didsbury Bug Hotel was gone. Vandals (for want of a better word) had burnt it down and I felt incredibly angry about that.

At home in our own garden I’m trying to create a space which encourages wildlife to thrive. Planting flowers which bees and butterflies love and we’ve got some bird feeders up for the local bird life. I think we’ll have to create out own little Didsbury Bug Hotel, it might not be as big as the one in Fletcher Moss, but it’s a small thing that we can do together to help our local insect population.