Nature based gift ideas for little explorers

Buying birthday gifts for children gives us all a challenge… so we wanted to share with you our favourite nature lover gift ideas for the miniature explorers in your life. We also fully support “experiences” rather than “things” as you can’t beat quality time spent together. But we think the joy when a child opens a gift is pretty magical and so we thought we’d share a range of our favourite gifting ideas which are also fantastic opportunities for projects and things to do together. These gifts are suitable for children from 2 years upwards and we’ll note if they are only aimed at a particular age-group.

Gift Ideas

Firstly we love this wooden insect house which is perfect for inquisitive children. Providing a safe haven for all sorts of bugs in your garden and a fun learning project to get children outdoors and monitoring who moves in! The hotel should attract pollinators, such as bumblebees, honeybees, butterflies, ladybirds and beetles! This one is from Garden Gifts and costs £16.99. This is great for children at any age, I even know a few adults who would enjoy this as a gift, younger children will need to be fully supported by an adult when monitoring comings and goings at the hotel.

After a quick web search you can find a range of different insect houses to choose from along with hedgehog houses and bird feeders which are all great gift options for little nature detectives. If you’re handy with a saw and hammer you could have a go at making your own insect or hedgehog house, this is something the children enjoy building at Little Forest Folk with the educator's support.

Next up are Mud and Bloom letterbox nature based boxes, a great option for gifting from afar. We highly rate Mud and Bloom and we’ve shared all about them previously in the Things we love section of the blog. The boxes are such an amazing gift idea for children and subscription based so the gift keeps on giving each month or for as long as you’d like to sign up for!

These boxes support children to connect with nature and are suitable for children aged 3 to 8 years. Each box contains four seasonal growing and craft activities along with instructions, nature news and games to teach children about the seasons, plants, insects, birds, soil and rainfall. The boxes cost £13.95 each for one child and £16.95 for two, you can purchase one box or opt for a monthly subscription for up to 6 months for £13.50 per box.

Heading up into space this Solar system craft kit is a great creative gift idea from Not on the high street for little artists come astronomers. This gorgeous gift comes packed in a little cardboard box with everything needed to create your very own solar system using engraved wooden shapes, watercolour pencils & lolly sticks, it also comes with eco glitter to add a little va-va-voom sparkly shimmer!

This kit costs £13.95 and is recommended for children aged 3 upwards.

Who doesn’t enjoy a game of bingo?! For a family fun game which is educational too we love these beautifully illustrated Bird Bingo and Bug Bingo games which would make a lovely gift.

The games feature 64 species of birds or bugs from around the world. Spot all kinds of different types, mark them off on your card and bingo! There are also options of Cat Bingo, Monkey Bingo, Ocean Bingo and more to choose from!

These we found available to buy online at Laurence King for £19.99 but they are also available from lots of online outlets.

We hope some of these recommendations might come in useful!

Enjoy your future gifting and exploring!