Playing Pooh Sticks to celebrate AA Milne’s Birthday
January 18th is AA Milne’s birthday – the wonderful man responsible for gifting the world with Winnie The Pooh!
It would be sacrilege not to honour the date, especially as a parent living in an area surrounded by woodland and enchanting historical bridges. January 18th presents us with the perfect excuse to play a good old friendly game of Pooh Sticks!
Living on the Surrey/Hampshire border means we have a lot of beautiful places on our doorstep, many of them wooded areas – just like The Hundred Acre Wood.
Luke was a bit stroppy and full of cold, he also had a nasty chesty cough, so we opted for somewhere very close by to us, the quiet village of Tilford, near Farnham in Surrey.
Tilford Bridge, Farnham, Surrey
One of the bridges here is a pedestrian bridge, built in the 13th century by the monks from Waverley Abbey and restored 11 years ago. It’s built over the river Wey and makes for the perfect place to have our Pooh Sticks game.
Playing Pooh Sticks
There were lots of sticks and twigs readily available near the bridge as Tilford woods is only a few yards away. Luke loved throwing the sticks into the water and running to the other side to watch them reappear. At first, he didn’t understand the concept of throwing them into the water on one side and watching them from the other, but he soon got the hang of it, after some encouragement from Grandpa.
The “usual” game got adapted pretty soon after Luke discovered he could throw multiple sticks in at once and watch them make a big splash (wow!) and then watch them all reappear at different times on the other side of the bridge.
There was a slight heart-attack moment where he crouched down to pick up a twig and lost his balance, nearly toppling through the barriers into the water below! But thankfully he regained his balance before I had to dive in after him!
Luke loved watching his Grandpa snap the twigs in half by standing on them or breaking them against his knee. Luke tried to copy this, when he realised he couldn’t do it, Grandpa became the chief twig-snapper! It’s a very important job!
Playing Pooh sticks for AA Milne’s birthday was the perfect way to celebrate. It was a great outdoor activity for Luke, (Luke aged 2) and wasn’t too taxing even though he was a bit poorly. He hated it when we had to leave, but it being January, it was still a little bit nippy.
We had a lovely day and I couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate the creator of Winnie The Pooh – with my kiddo and his Grandpa out near the woods playing Pooh Sticks and making big splashes!
Lukeosaurus And Me
Rachael is a 31 year old mum to 10 year old Luke and 5 year old Oscar. She lives in England and writes about family life, crafts, recipes, parenting wins(and fails), as well as travel, days out, fashion and living the frugal lifestyle.
26 Comments
Rachel
This is such a cute way to celebrate AA Milnes Birthday! xo
Lukeosaurus And Me
Thank you, it was lots of fun xx
vicky
We love playing pooh sticks with my 5 year old, Its something I did as a child and its a free activity too. looks like fun was had by all
Lukeosaurus And Me
Yes! Pooh sticks is a great activity. I used to play it too, I love that it’s still a game played xx
Kate
This is so sweet, we played pooh sticks this weekend too whilst on the Stick Man trail x
Lukeosaurus And Me
Ah that’s a great time to play a round of pooh sticks! Hope you all had fun xx
Adventures of Adam
Can’t beat a game of Pooh Sticks and wonderful time of year to do it too.
Lukeosaurus And Me
Pooh Sticks is a classic, you can’t go wrong. 😉 xx
Sarah Doyle - let them be small
awww, loved your FB poctures – such a great way to mark the day 🙂
#toddlerapprovedtuesday xx
Lukeosaurus And Me
Thank you 🙂 xx
Suz
Such a classic! Lovely read. Suz x
Lukeosaurus And Me
Thank you, my lovely 🙂 cx
Emma
How lovely and what a really fitting way to mark the day 🙂 #whatevertheweather
Lukeosaurus And Me
Thank you, it’s a lovely little village as well. A nice place to visit and go for a walk. xx
Coombe Mill - Fiona
Hard to beat some of the old fashioned outdoor games and evenbetter when you have a Grandpa to learn them with. Such lovely photos from your walk and how fitting to be playing Pooh sticks on A Milne’s birthday! Thank you so much for sharing your lovely outdoor adventure with me on #CountryKids .
Lukeosaurus And Me
Obviously we had to celebrate it! Grandpa is a country lad through and through so he was thrilled when I suggested the idea to him. Thanks so much for hosting. xx
Our Cherry Tree
I love a game of Pooh sticks! Thanks for sharing #ToddlerApprovedTuesday
Lukeosaurus And Me
Who doesn’t?! x
Lukeosaurus And Me
Who doesn’t?! x
becky
We tried playing pooh sticks in summer…it ended in tantrums from everyone claiming the winning stick was theres! Maybe we will try again this year! Thanks for sharing on #ToddlerApprovedtuesday
Lukeosaurus And Me
Hhaha, oh dear! Hopefully they’ll be better this year! 😉 x
Chloe
Awww so sweet. Happy birthday A.A.Milne. I love Winne the Pooh so much. And we love playing pooh sticks! It looks like you all had so much fun. I’m glad he didn’t fall in. Evie is so clumsy around water too, they do give you a fright sometimes don’t they! Thank you for sharing your adventure on #whatevertheweather x
Jenny Eaves
I love pooh sticks too! We often play whenever we are on a bridge, although it’s normally us adults who gave more fun than the kids. I’m always worrying about fences that have gaps at the bottom, I know that my two may accidentally fall through too, especially A!
Thanks so much for linking up to #Whatevertheweather 🙂 x
Claire
We don’t live far from Pooh Sticks but have never been – shocking! It’s inspired me for some half term activities. Great photos! x
Lukeosaurus And Me
It was a childhood staple for me! Luke does tend to throw with a lot of force and get a bit wobbly on his feet sometimes. Thank you, enjoy your game of pooh sticks and your half term!
Alan Moore
I know the Pooh bridge very well. Very close by is Hartfield, the old home of A A Milne. Just out of interest, his house sold for 1.8 million last year:) If only I had of known, I would have booked a free tour hehe