We found a great local activity for the summer holidays!

On Wednesday we visited the « Le Jardin Sauvage » at Schilliger garden centre in Gland and we all really loved it!

Follow the signs on the floor to the first part of the experience which is the insect area. This was a really fun space for the children with games and challenges to complete, puzzles, things to read and lots of interesting exhibits to look at. Jude has recently been learning about insects at school and headed immediately for the puzzle where he had to identify and sort the insects from the non-insects. He got them all right before trying his hand at building his own model insect. Alba was interested in the area where you can hold up panels of coloured plastic in front of your eyes and experience the world through the eyes on a insect and Jean and I learned a thing or two we didn’t know before too.

Just next door there is the butterfly tent. We have visited this a few times over the last few years and it is always beautiful. This year we found it especially lovely with a water wheel, lots of gorgeous flowers and there was plenty of space to move around. Elio seemed quite interested in the butterflies which fluttered around him and Alba delighted us all with an invigorating verse or two of her favourite butterfly song 🙉. It’s a lovely way to spend some time with the children as you try to spot the butterflies hidden in the foliage and identify your favourites. This is always a hit with us all.

Next up, we followed the path round to the carnivorous plant area. Here there are lots of different kinds of interesting plants including the cobra plant, pitcher plants and plenty of Venus fly traps. Jude is fascinated by these at the moment so we got him one to look after at home. You can also see the axolotl in the fish department which is also known as the Mexican walking fish but is actually an amphibian. These creatures have the incredible ability to regenerate their limbs!

A nice way to end the visit is with a trip to the fantastic new terrace at the newly refurbished Cafe Agnès. It’s a lovely outdoor space where you can enjoy a drink in their garden oasis.

The exhibition is free and is running now until 29th August. I expect we’ll be going a few times before the summer is over!

We found a great local activity for the summer holidays!

On Wednesday we visited the « Jardin Sauvage » at Schilliger garden centre in Gland and we all really loved it!

Follow the signs on the floor to the first part of the experience which is the insect area. This was a really fun space for the children with games and challenges to complete, puzzles, things to read and lots of interesting exhibits to look at. Jude has recently been learning about insects at school and headed immediately for the puzzle where he had to identify and sort the insects from the non-insects. He got them all right before trying his hand at building his own model insect. Alba was interested in the area where you can hold up panels of coloured plastic in front of your eyes and experience the world through the eyes on a insect and Jean and I learned a thing or two we didn’t know before too.

We could easily have spent longer here as there is plenty to do, but we arrived quite close to the closing time and had to move along to see the rest of the exhibit.

Just next door there is the butterfly tent. We have visited this a few times over the last few years and it is always beautiful. This year we found it especially lovely with a water wheel, lots of gorgeous flowers and there was plenty of space to move around. Elio seemed quite interested in the butterflies which fluttered around him and Alba delighted us all with an invigorating verse or two of her favourite butterfly song 🙉. It’s a lovely way to spend some time with the children as you try to spot the butterflies hidden in the foliage and identify your favourites. This is always a hit with us all.

Next up, we followed the path round to the carnivorous plant area. Here there are lots of different kinds of interesting plants including the cobra plant, pitcher plants and plenty of Venus fly traps. Jude is fascinated by these at the moment so we got him one to look after at home. You can also see the axolotl in the fish department which is also known as the Mexican walking fish but is actually an amphibian. These creatures have the incredible ability to regenerate their limbs!

A nice way to end the visit is with a trip to the fantastic new terrace at the newly refurbished Cafe Agnès. It’s a lovely outdoor space where you can enjoy a drink in their garden oasis.

The exhibition is free and is running now until 29th August. I expect we’ll be going a few times before the summer is over!

Sent from my iPhone

The perfect spoon for children!

Amiami is a wonderful company which showcases great Swiss brands.  They very kindly asked us if we would like to try one of the special bamboo aeroplane spoons designed by Sibylle Stoeckli for children and we thought this might be the perfect way to get Elio more involved in feeding himself.

I often try the “aeroplane” technique to get him to open his mouth - you know when you swirl the spoon through the air making engine noises before a “beep beep” when you reach the mouth.  Well, this makes the whole thing much more realistic and it worked a treat! 

Alba and I decided to try it on Elio one lunchtime recently and he loved it!!!  We have tried many spoons for Elio and they usually end up on the floor when he loses grip but this one is a great size and weight for his little hands and the shape of it makes it really easy for him to hold!  It was a real joy to see our boy feeding himself and has encouraged us to hand over the spoon to him more often.

Another thing we love about this company is that they reinvest their profits into the production of new products.  

Another great Swiss initiative 💪🏻