As you may have read before, we’re really enjoying the new loyalty scheme launched by Cravendale . You simple collect codes from promotional #LoveCravendale 2 litre bottles and sign up online to swap them for fun activities for you, the children or the whole family.
I love that this scheme gives us the opportunity to try new things we haven’t experienced before. Our first activity was horse riding which the children loved and you can read all about here.
This week the scheme enabled us to try a climbing lesson and a family bowling session. Both were really great fun and have left us wanting more!
First up was a climbing lesson. The boys have both had the opportunity to try a climbing wall before a few times on various days out and they’ve always enjoyed it. I had taken them along to North Kesteven Climbing Wall expecting the same as everywhere else. I thought the children would be harnessed and helmeted and then sent up a high wall as far as they could go to then bounce down again held by the harness ropes. This was so, so different though and it’s left the boys begging to go back.
This really was a proper lesson, not just a climb up on your own session and thanks to the talents of instructor Gary, the children learnt an amazing amount in a two-hour slot.
To start with they went through a very thorough warm-up and talked about the importance of doing so and then they were kitted out with proper climbing shoes. Much to our surprise there was no harness, ropes or helmet. The children were to climb along a low wall rather than up a high wall. At first they registered disappointment but after they tried it you could see the glee on their faces and they were desperate for more. The joy of travelling low and long without harnesses meant that the children were in full control of every move they made and could feel the consequences of every move they made rather than being falsely held up and supported by ropes. There was lots of falling off but there was no danger to it as they were so low.
They were encouraged to really think about each move and how they used their stretch and centre of gravity. They learnt all about the “Climber’s Bubble” and measured out their own. This really helped them think about how to minimise the number of moves they made to cross a certain distance.
They both loved trying to improve their own score and I loved that it wasn’t a case of competing against each other but about trying to push themselves. Here’s a picture of Biscuit who was immensely proud of his scores. The first time he tried to cross a wall he got a DNF which is a Did Not Finish, the second attempt he managed to do using 23 moves. As you can see he quickly got his number of moves down to just 10. Gary’s teaching was fabulous (and as a teacher myself I am fussy.) He really got them thinking about what they were doing, how to problem solve and how to take their time and think about their moves. I was very impressed and the sense of achievement they got from seeing such an amazing improvement in such a short time was fantastic.
They also spent a little bit of time watching demonstrations from Gary and this really helped them understand, especially Crumb who is deaf and such a visual learner.
We have all come away from the session wanting more and it’s a sport that I think the boys could get an immense amount of satisfaction and self-development from. It is great for building strength, suppleness and stamina but also patience, consideration, thoughtfulness and responsibility. We’re definitely going to try to get to regular lessons in the future and I’m quite keen to have a go at an adult lesson too.
Next up was a family bowling session at Newark Super Bowl which was also great fun. This was a bit different to the others because I actually got to join in too, rather than watch from the sidelines. We’ve been bowling lots of times before as it’s such a great activity for the whole family to do together and perfect for rainy days when you want the children to let off a bit of steam but it’s too yukky to be outside for long.
We played two games and to be honest our scores were nothing to be proud of but we still had a great time. Oh am I winning here? Really? No I don’t suffer from competitive Mum syndrome! 😉
Little Crumb really enjoyed his bowling session and as you can see got so enthusiastic about any that he bowled over and literally jumped for joy!
Biscuit was far more professional about it and the only one amounst us to score a strike!
In the photos you might be able to see that the boys have also got a stop watch with them? They decided to take it with them to time how long the ball took to travel down the alley, so we sneaked in a bit of maths and science learning too which was fun.
Afterwards we treated ourselves to some very tasty but probably quite bad for you curly fries. (But it’s only once in a while so perhaps that’s OK?) We had great fun pretending to be different characters with various styles of moustache and glasses, as you do!
So have you signed up for the #LoveCravendale scheme yet? I think most people, especially if you’ve got children, get through loads of milk every week so it won’t take long to build up quite a stash of #LoveCravendale codes that can be redeemed for all sorts of activities, such as canoeing, karting or dancing; there are simply loads to choose from. I will certainly be saving mine to give the children more fun activities over the long summer holidays.To take part in the #LoveCravendale loyalty scheme pop along to http://www.lovecravendale.co.uk to register and look out for promotional packs next time you shop. I wonder what activity you’ll choose first?