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Following on from the success of the Stickman, The Gruffalo and The Gruffalo’s Child trails, the hugely popular children’s picture book Superworm returns to Forestry England’s woods and forests in January 2022 with a brand-new family activity trail.
Launching on 5 January 2022*, the new Superworm trails follow the premiere of the animated special from Magic Light Pictures, which aired on BBC One on Christmas Day. *Some trails will launch a little later, check your local forest.
You can take part in a self-led Superworm activity trails in forests across England. For more information click here.
“Superworm is super-long. Superworm is super-strong. Watch him wiggle! See him squirm! Hip, hip, hooray for SUPERWORM!”
The trail has been designed to have elements that are suitable for children aged 3-6 and other elements that will appeal to 6-8 year olds.
When mine were 4,4,and 5 they were the perfect age for this and we visited first time round in 2015.
So on an overcast August bank holiday in Bishop Auckland we made our way to Hamsterley Forest, with wellies and waterproofs just in case.
Grandma bought the activity sheet from the visitors centre for £3.50 and a copy of the book and off we set!
First it was over the bridge with an opportunity to play Pooh Sticks. Since our glamping trip to the Forest of Bowland the girls can’t pass a rive and a bridge without throwing some sticks in.
Then it was onto the little activity park, with rolling logs and monkey bars to climb on.
The Superworm signs and activity leaflet combined gave you little activities to do at every sign. For me I think the Superworm trail missed the characters in the trees like the Gruffalo had, and given how little these must cost I don’t know why the didn’t do this. Instead the Gruffalo ones are still up. That didn’t seem to bother the kids too much, but maybe something for the Forestry team to think about for the next one.
As ever in the forest the kids had great fun building dens and this time they ‘fished’ for leaves with the string provided in the activity bag.
As we got half way round the trail, and towards the large adventure playground, it was 12.00 and time for lunch. So we stopped for a very British picnic; by which I mean we started to eat our picnic lunch and then it started to rain! The light rain didn’t stop play though and the kids finished their lunch and played around on the playground for quite a while.
We started to finish the trail but rain then did stop play as the slightly annoying thing about the end of the Superworm trail at Hamsterley is that the second part of it just doubles back on itself, so as you walk out you know you just have to walk back the same way. If you have small children or less time, it works really well just to stop at activity No5, play on the playground, eat a picnic and head back.
We had hoped to stop for coffee and cake in the visitors centre cafe before we went home, but as it was a very wet bank holiday it was far too full. We did take the opportunity to buy good cake though to eat once home.
At just £4 per car to park at Hamsterley, the Superworm Trail is very good value particularly for a day out at August Bank holiday.
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Great thanks for sharing this! Will go and check it out now! Jess 🙂 x
Ah thats a really cute idea, x
Tweeted this. I’d never heard of this book before. It sounds adorable, and the worm trail could be really fun!
Fab we love julia donaldson books! have shared x
Ooooh! We loved the Gruffalo after you recommended it so will keep an eye out for this one!
Ooh thanks for sharing, my eldest is Superworm obsessed at the moment so would be perfect. We keep meaning to do a Gruffalo trail but the cold weather is putting me off 🙁
Great prize 🙂 My kid’s are mad about Julia Donaldson, but not read this book yet!
Oh this looks awesome – I’ll check it out! 🙂 #sundaystars
I’m actually stomping in mid tantrum flow right now!! I want to go to ALL of those trails! Wish I lived near a forest!!!! Xxx
We have just been getting into Superworm! It’s a big hit so this is something we’d like to do if there’s one near us. Thanks for sharing. Shame about the rain #whatevertheweather
Fantastic! The Forestry Commission really do cater well to children, don’t they. We went on a Gruffalo Trail when we were visiting the mainland last summer (I’ve still yet to blog it!!) which the kids loved. They’d like this superworm trail too, I’m sure.
I soooo need to take my little munchkins on this trail x
We have two superworm trails near us, one at Bolderwood and one at Moors Valley and they are fab! Really good way of the kids learning and not realising.
We missed the Gruffalo trail last year but they had left up some figures when we did Superworm in February, so we got a quick taste. Having now done Room on the Broom in Yorkshire, I agree it’s lovely to find things hidden in the trees, but at 2 1/2, Superworm was a great way to get my daughter out into the woods. #whatevertheweather
Looks like fun! We have a Superworm trail near us in Wendover Woods – we loved it! #whatevertheweather
I love the look of these trails! There never seems to be any up here, but will have to keep an eye out as they do look fun. A shame that it loops back on itself, but at least you had lots of fun on the trail and playing at the park. We often eat and play in the rain at the park too, it has to be done, there’s never enough good weather anyway! 🙂 x
Thanks for linking up to #Whatevertheweather 🙂 x
That is a great idea for a bank holiday. Plenty of space and not too crowded! Looks like you had a great day (even with a bit of rain!) #whatevertheweather
This sounds like a great activity. We did the gruffalo’s child one last year. This year we will be near the one’s in the Lake District in October so we might have to visit one of them.
My boy loves walking in the forest and he would pretend that it was the deep dark wood where the Gruffalo lives. I think he will also enjoy this one too as he also likes the playground alot. 🙂 #Whatevertheweather
I love these trails they are great for the children, mine aren’t usually big on walking just for the sake of a walk so doing something like this really encourages them Thanks for linking up to #kidscorner x
I love Julia Donaldson. I’d love to do these trails. I wish they were nearer. Silly summer rain seems to have been about so much more this year hasn’t it? i’m glad it didn’t deter you from staying outside and having fun and that you still managed to get cake in the end! I’m going to google if there are any Gruffalo trails etc near me! I’m sure I’ve heard of them down here before. Thank you so much for linking to #whatevertheweather x
Still haven’t got around to this! Thanks for sharing in #KidsCorner x