‘The Stick Man lives in the family tree, with his stick lady love and his stick children three..’
Has anyone else’s little one become a bit obsessed with The Stick Man, another brilliant creation from Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler? Leo got the book for Christmas and he loves it. Obviously, he has also watched the BBC animated adaptation of it about a hundred times since Christmas day.
You can imagine how excited I was when I stumbled across a Stick Man Trail in a forest not too far from us while I was browsing online for fun walks to do in Hampshire. The trail has been running in Moors Valley Country Park since the beginning of December and yesterday we all got our wellies on, jumped in the car and set off to have some fun with The Stick Man.
As soon as we parked up we headed to the visitor information desk to grab a Stick Man activity pack for Leo. The pack was £3 and included a list of things to find along the trail, a sheet and crayon to make a bark rubbing, a sheet of games to play as well as two pipe cleaners to help you build your very own stick man. Oli and I both attempted making one for Leo, he seemed to fair pretty well considering Leo kept dropping him and chucking him in to puddles. If we went again I wouldn’t bother buying the activity pack as Leo is a bit too young to understand the games and activities, we only used the pipe cleaners!
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| This boy is never happier than when he is in a puddle. |
The trail is very clearly sign posted and there are lots of little information boards to find and read along the way. Each board has a different illustration from The Stick Man book on it and interesting facts about woodland wildlife and habitats. Each board also featured an idea for a stick related game, these included pooh sticks, building a stick house and seeing who could throw their stick the furthest. Leo couldn’t really be bothered with the games, he was having too much fun splashing in puddles and attempting to shove his poor stick man into ‘caves’.
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| Leo and his ‘map’. |
‘;;
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| Checking we were going the right way. |
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| One of the information boards. |
Along the trail there are pictures to find hidden in the woods of some of the characters from The Stick Man story. Leo got excited every time we spotted them, he was particularly happy when I pointed out the picture of The Stick Man, Leo waved his very own stick man at him while saying ‘hello stick man’ repeatedly – my boy is so cute.
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| The dog was our first discovery, spotted by me – yay! |
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| It’s the Stick Lady Love! |
The Stick Man trail is less than a mile long but it took us over an hour, Leo is a little explorer and it is always hard to get him to walk in the right direction. As we were nearing the end of the trail Leo was growing very concerned that we were yet to find the family tree, he was worried The Stick Man would never get home to his family. Fear not, we eventually found the final board saying we had arrived at the family tree, hooray! The tree looked very similar to something out of
The Blair Witch Project, with all the creepy, twiggy little men hanging off it. Leo was so happy (and relieved) we had got The Stick Man home and he let Oli tie him to the tree with all of the others – this is where Stick Man’s legs snapped off but at least he was back at the family tree, luckily Leo didn’t notice..oops!
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| The Family Tree. |
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| We did it! |
Once we finished The Stick Man Trail we went to the on site cafe and had a big yummy lunch followed by some cake, we deserved it after all that walking. After food, Leo wanted to do the trail again so we went and had another little walk. We missed out most of the trail the second time around as it was pretty freezing by this point and we were all tired. Oli found a stick for Leo that looked exactly like the one from the book, we thought Leo would like to take this one home but he instead chose to shove it in a pipe in the ground, he has ‘gone on venture’ apparently!
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| Obligatory family day out selfie. |
We all had a lovely day exploring The Stick Man Trail at Moors Valley Country Park. If you have a little one who loves the story of The Stick Man then I am sure they will find this trail really fun and exciting. The trails can be found at several Forestry Commission woods and forests, you can find your nearest one here.
Have you been on a Stick Man trail or something similar? Do you think your little one would enjoy something like this? Leo had a great day and kept saying that he had lots of fun, he loves a walk in the woods and I think seeing one of his favourite story characters there made it even more exciting.
Aww, we love Stick Man too! There's a trail near us that I keep meaning to try – this has persuaded me to get a move on and do it. Thank you! #fartglitter
It is a lovely story isn't it? You should definitely go if you have one close by, it's so fun xx
What a lovely idea. We loved the book and animation too. Wish we lived close enough to do the trail.
Thanks for linking up to #fartglitter x
The Stick Man trail is a great way for little ones to enjoy family time out int he woods, the Forestry Commission have done so much the last couple of years to encourage us out and the Stick Man Trail is wonderful. I love the look of your muddy little man clearly having so much fun. do join me for Country Kids, it is all about outdoor fun like this. Poppig by from #TwinklyTuesday
This looks like great family fun! The activity pack was a great deal at £3! The sign posts look really well done. Getting some fresh air & fun at the same time is great! #abitofeverything x
I haven't come across this one before – will have to check it out! #abitofeverything
Aww it's a shame there isn't one by you. Maybe you make a mini trail in your garden?Thanks for hosting xx
Yes, they definitely encouraged us to get out on a cold January day!Oh thanks, I will come link up next week if we manage any outdoor fun this weekend xx
The signs were really good, looked exactly like the pages from the book. I totally agree, hooray to fun and the great outdoors xx
Yes, you definitely should. We had a great time xx
Sounds great! We have one near us and we have done it a few times and the boys love it. Looks like you had a blast #twinklytuesday xx
I haven't heard of this but my little boy would love it!! Will need to find the nearest one to me #twinklytuesday
We love StickMan and watched it loads of times over Christmas too! We are going to check out the Alice Holt Forest Trail! Moors Valley looks good though! #TwinklyTuesday #Whatevertheweather xx
There is a Stick Man trail by us but they have had to close it because of a combination of the bad weather and too many people using it. Based on what you have said I am looking forward to it opening so we can give it a try. #whatevertheweather
Looked like you all had a marvellous time! I have not heard of the story but the trail is a clever idea to get kids interested. But my kid would probably be interested in jumping into puddles, thanks to Peppa. Thanks for sharing with #abitofeverything
This looks fun, my children would really enjoy this especially if it's muddy. I didn't know this was a thing so I will have to look it up #whatevertheweather
It was so fun. Glad to hear you and the boys enjoyed it too. I think we'll definitely go again xx
Hopefully there is one close to you. It's a great way to spend a couple hours outdoors xx
Ohh I'm not sure where Alice Holt is. Hope you have fun 🙂 xx
Hope it reopens soon so you can go. Sure you'll have a great time xx
I had never heard of it before either. Hope you find one near you, it is definitely muddy xx
Peppa pig has a lot to answer for doesn't she?!Leo spends most of his time on a puddle xx
These trails always sound so good. I wish we had some closer to us. We absolutely love the Stick Man and all Julia Donaldson books! It sounds like Leo had a fab time. Haha poor stick man at the end though! Evie is just the same as him, she's not happy until she's in a puddle! I think trails like this that are related to something they know are fab! It's good to see them recognising things and getting excited to find more. It looks like you had a fun family adventure. Thank you so much for linking your adventures to #whatevertheweather xx
I love the look of these trails, I know my boys would love them, but can't find any near us to visit. Stick man is my two year olds favourite Julia Donaldson book, he would be incredibly excited to find all the characters too. Although I have to admit that the family tree does look rather creepy with the stick men all hanging from it!
Thanks so much for linking up to #Whatevertheweather 🙂 x