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Although there’s something of a holiday / celebration at the end of this month to enjoy first (!), I’m already thinking about next year, planning projects, drawing dreams and envisaging adventures, not least of all here on Playing by the book (do let me know if there’s something you’d particularly love to see here in 2015).

This forward and full-of-hope looking at the future, with plans for play and learning, is also found in the latest offering (in English) for fans of two of my very favourite book characters: Findus, Food and Fun – Seasonal crafts and nature activities is a calendar of craftiness from my long term Swedish sweethearts, Findus and Pettson, or rather from their creator, Sven Nordqvist, assisted by Eva-Lena Larsson, Kennert Daniels and translator Nathan Large.

Findus is a cheeky, cheerful cat on the ramshackle farm owned by grumpy but loveable Pettson. Stories of their life together are full of mishaps, mysterious little creatures called muckles, kindness and compassion. The illustrations are scrumptious, drawn with delicious humour and attention to detail. I don’t think there is another series of books which I’ve dedicated so much time to on Playing by the book. Perhaps that alone tells you how wonderful I think these books are and how much I want to press them into the palms of everyone and anyone who stumbles upon my blog.

This latest book isn’t a story book, but rather a compilation of crafts and activities very much in the spirit of Findus and Pettson, with lots of outdoor exploration, tinkering, making, pottering, discovering and being resourceful. The crafts are themed by calendar month and richly illustrated with Findus, Pettson, chickens and muckles getting involved and trying out the projects at hand. The choice of crafts is wide ranging and includes the unusual; from propagating succulents, to using ants to dye bluebells, to making your own weather station to weaving a rug, there’s a mixture play and exploration driven by interacting with the natural world and/or being inspired by the farmstead on which Findus and Pettson live.

An interior detail from Findus, Food and Fun.

I suspect many readers will come to this wonderful book because they are already solid fans of Nordqvist’s lovely world where problems are solved with kindness. cooperation and respect. However, if you’ve not met Findus and Pettson before there’s still an enormous amount to enjoy in this book; the crafts are quirky, sometimes a little bit crazy, and ideal for anyone who wants to encourage natural play and exploration.

The first project my girls chose to try was making necklaces out of dried beans; first you have to soak them overnight and then you can thread them onto thread (as the book advises, dental floss is good because it is extra smooth and slidey). One packet of mixed dried beans meant for soup were sorted into bowls and left to soak:

Next morning the girls were intrigued to see how the beans had changed, and were soon up and running with threading them into necklaces.

Compare this with the photo above!

With lots of opportunities for learning about science, plant life and even maths (via patterns on the necklaces), this project – like so many in the book – could be used for more structured learning, as well being simply an enjoyable experience. These lovely chains of beads could be used as alternative Christmas decorations too – perhaps alongside popcorn strings.

Whilst making our necklaces we listened to:

Findus, Food and Fun: Seasonal crafts and nature activities is so packed with activities I won’t suggest any more here, other than to also point you to another craft book from the same publisher, Making Woodland Crafts by Patrick Harrison, a trainer of Forest School leaders. Many of the activities in this book are ones I can imagine Findus, Pettson and kids and families who love the outdoors relishing.

What nature crafts have you enjoyed recently? When did you last take a book outdoors to read under (or up) a tree?

Don’t forget to leave me a comment if you’ve any ideas / suggestions about how you’d like Playing by the book to develop in 2015

Disclosure: I received a free review copy of Findus, Food and Fun: Seasonal crafts and nature activities from the publisher.

Photo: laffy4k

Autumn has arrived with a vengeance in our part of the world. Jumping in puddles is fun, but we’ve had a few days where venturing outside has been the last thing we wanted to do.

Still, when you’re stuck indoors it can be extra cozy and extra inviting for an additional story or two on the sofa. And so it was we picked up Wendel’s Workshop by Chris Riddell from our most recent library pile.

Wendel is an inventor. He’s creative and cute but he doesn’t cut it when it comes to tidying up, so he hits on the solution of creating a robot to keep his workshop in order. The prototype, Clunk, doesn’t work very well; clothes get folded into knots and teacups are cleared up into the sock drawer. Before long, this first robot is consigned to the scrap heap.

Photo: smpl.co.uk

Wendelbot is the inventor’s second attempt at a machine to help him keep the workshop clean. Unfortunately the Wendelbot seems to suffer from some cross wiring and his idea of tidying up is yet more destructive. Even Wendel himself is seen as something which needs tidying up and after being captured by his creation, Wendel is thrown out as rubbish.

Clunk and Wendel hear the continued sounds of destruction in the workshop. They join forces and use what is around them – piles of previously discarded junk – to create a new army of robots with which to face the Wendelbot. When the two sides eventually meet there are scenes of chaos as the Wendelbot persists in tidying whilst Wendel, Clunk and their entourage attempt to un-tidy at the same rate. This frenzied activity causes the Wendelbot to overheat and explode, creating the biggest mess yet.

Faced with a huge amount of tidying up Wendel realises that things don’t need to be tidied to perfection – things can be “good enough”.

Not everything worked perfectly… but Wendel didn’t mind. He just smiled, patch this, mended that and made adjustments here and there.

But there was one thing he didn’t do…

Wendel NEVER threw anything on the scrapheap again.

A modern take on “make do and mend”, Riddell tells a story that we all need to hear and heed. The message could be preachy, but instead is full of humour and good will. The illustrations are deliciously detailed, down to the last screw.

As someone who herself practises the “good enough” method when it comes to tidying up (with a husband who’d prefer something a little more… shall we say rigorous in its approach) this book had huge appeal to me. M and J loved the idea of inventing and thought the robots were great fun. We’ve giggled a-plenty on the sofa with this book in our