Alex Gregory - Dadventures - Amazing Outdoor Adventures for Daring Dads and Fearless Kids

Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Dedication Note Key to Icons Introduction After-school adventures 30-minute activities Two-hour missions Half-day experiences Take a break Full-day adventures Overnight expeditions Pushing away from land Afterword Acknowledgements Index of activities About the Author About the Publisher

HarperCollins Publishers

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First published by HarperCollins Publishers 2018

FIRST EDITION

© Alex Gregory 2018

Illustrations © Alex Gregory, unless otherwise stated

Cover design by Sim Greenaway © HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2018

Cover illustration © Eiko Ojala 2018

A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library

Alex Gregory asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

While every effort has been made to trace the owners of copyright material reproduced herein and secure permissions, the publishers would like to apologise for any omissions and will be pleased to incorporate missing acknowledgements in any future edition of this book. All efforts have been made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this book as of the date of publication. These activities should be approached with caution and children should always be supervised by a responsible adult. If you follow any of the activities in this book you do so at your own risk, and the publisher and the author disclaim all responsibility for any harm that occurs as a result of undertaking the activities suggested in this book.

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Source ISBN: 9780008283704

Ebook Edition © May 2018 ISBN: 9780008283711

Version: 2018-04-27

To my parents and grandparents, who showed me the value of being outdoors.

For my children, Jasper, Daisy and Jesse. Here’s to making many more happy memories together under the big blue sky.

Cover

Title Page Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Dedication Note Key to Icons Introduction After-school adventures 30-minute activities Two-hour missions Half-day experiences Take a break Full-day adventures Overnight expeditions Pushing away from land Afterword Acknowledgements Index of activities About the Author About the Publisher

Copyright

Dedication

Note

Key to Icons

Introduction

After-school adventures

30-minute activities

Two-hour missions

Half-day experiences

Take a break

Full-day adventures

Overnight expeditions

Pushing away from land

Afterword

Acknowledgements

Index of activities

About the Author

About the Publisher

In descriptions of the activities in this book I’ve generally assumed that you have one child of a particular age. You might, of course, have a number of children of a varying range of ages. Each activity can easily be tailored to fit the needs of multiple children of any age.

Best in dry conditions

Can be done in bad weather

Best during the day

Can be done at night

Simple, no preparation needed

For the more adventurous

Can be done in the garden/close to home

Involves wildlife

Gadgets required

Involves water

‘You can’t keep a toad under your bed, it wouldn’t be happy! Toads like living in the garden!’

A toad, by Jasper.

These could so easily have been my mum’s words echoing around our house as a seven-year-old me tried to smuggle a creature into my room. But in reality this was a snatch of conversation I heard in the upstairs of our home as my partner Emily tried to persuade our son Jasper to put the toad he’d brought into his bedroom, back outside into the front garden. Frogs and toads seem to be plentiful in the small garden of our rented cottage, and they’ve provided us with some exciting evening adventures. A few years ago, in our last house, it was hedgehogs – and before that, well, there’s always something to do outdoors …

There are five of us in the house – two adults and three children – but a whole host of other creatures seem to have joined our menagerie along the way. Emily is the one who keeps us all going. She feeds us all, looks after us and stops our lives from grinding to a screeching halt.