Living in England, you can never guarantee what the weather will be like. One day you can have gorgeous sunshine, and literally the next day; torrential rain. Therefore, I’ve come to making sure that we always have something stashed away for those rainy days to keep us both occupied.

Over the past few weeks we’ve been trialing a new monthly subscription box called Mud ‘n’ Bloom, which is aimed at nature and craft lovers. Within each box are seasonal activities and games, as well as seeds to plant along the way.

Each box is designed to follow EYFS, KS1 and KS2 national curriculum (aged 3 – 8) and are priced at £7.95 (including postage!). There’s also the option to buy them as gifts.

As part of our invitation we received July and August’s box to try out, and thanks to the ever-changing weather, the boxes really have lasted! Because there’s so much to do, we’ve decide to dip in every now and again – this means we’re encouraged to visit different places depending on whether the kit asks us to collect items like twigs, leaves or flowers.

July

Our first box arrived at the beginning of July and include the following;

• Instructions for growing vegetables – giant radish & lettuce (seeds, compost pellets are provided)
• A guide on creating Summer Vases (a sachet containing buttons and glue are included, as well as some washi tape!)
• Tips for making your own nature paint brushes (string included).
• A ‘What’s Going on in Nature This Month’ Fact Sheet.
• July’s Quiz.

Each card is of good quality and withstands spillage (which we tested out early on!) I really like how everything is labelled clearly and the fonts are all the same. It looks really professional. As mentioned, we didn’t want to do everything at once, so we started the box by planting the vegetables.

August

As soon as August arrived, our second box soon followed and landed on our doormat. This box included the following;

• Instructions for growing herbs – coriander, chives, and parsley (seeds, compost pellets are provided).
• A guide on creating butterfly petal pictures (Butterfly drawings and Glue included – you just need to collect the petals.)
• Tips for making your own twig picture frame (hemp rope, hanging hooks, and paper ribbon included – you just need to collect the twigs).
• A ‘What’s Going on in Nature This Month’ Fact Sheet, including what caterpillars to look out for,
• August’s Quiz.

We’re just getting started on our August box as we’ve only just been able to get out to find some twigs and petals. Plus, our veggies from last month have really shot up – much to T’s delight! His morning routine of watering the vegetables have kept him nice and busy. I can’t wait to start growing some herbs.

We’ll be sharing what we get up to over the next few weeks over on our instagram, so keep an eye out to see what T creates.

No need for a garden!

With both boxes, the instructions are really easy to follow and don’t require much, if any, added extras from yourself. The herbs and veggies for example can be planted in egg boxes or yoghurt pots, and the decorative vases can be made from any old jar. There is absolutely no need for tools or even a garden! There are also lots of hints and tips to make your creations even better.

Having everything supplied in the box meant that we weren’t suddenly stuck short, half way through an activity. We could just open the box and get on with it. Plus, because the cards are such good quality, I’ve put them to one side in our craft box ready to do all over again another time.

If you’re not sure whether to subscribe, you can always start by purchasing boxes from previous months for a one-off price. Looking online, you can go back as far as January! If you do decide to subscribe there is also a ‘sibling’ box for £11.95 which includes materials for two children!

We were invited to try out a one month Mud ‘n’ Bloom subscription in exchange for an honest review, however we’ve included both July & August as we thought  that it was fab. All thoughts, opinions, and imagery are our own.