How to be a Gruffalo Spotter at Cannock Chase

We’re going on a bear hunt, we’re going to catch a big one, what a beautiful day. Well actually we went off on the Gruffalo Spotters Trail at Cannock Chase and what an adventure it was. We woke on Tuesday morning, bright and early to the most glorious of blue skies, the sun was shining and so we decided to pack a picnic and head off in to the woods. I don’t always share our days out, however on this occasion it very quickly became apparent that I needed to share this little adventure with you. We enjoyed a wonderful few hours stomping through the woods. My five year old described our day as awesome and so let me tell you why.

Firstly – why not? And secondly because it was so much fun. If you have completed the Gruffalo trail before then I would highly recommend that you join in just one more time. There is something quite magical about this app, its genius – I was so impressed and so was our five year old. He was quite literally jumping with excitement each time we found a new paw print. With the addition of the app and the excitement of the clues and activities from the pack there really is a whole new adventure to be had.

We picked up a Gruffalo Spotters activity pack from the café and started to plan our adventure. We LOVED the magnifying glass. Unlike previous visits to the trail George was so excited to work out the clues, we collected bits and bobs along the way and have a little brown bag full of food for the mouse and sticks for the snake. The trail starts just behind the GoApe area and almost immediately you are testing out your imaginative skills. My top tip would be to watch how the app works on the first spot together so that your little one knows exactly what is happening.

If you are wondering how the app works, it couldn’t be simper. Download The Gruffalo Spotter app and follow clues along the interactive trail, tracking down signs of the characters from The Gruffalo. Binoculars and clues will lead to five different footprint markers in the forest for each one of the characters from the book. When you spot the markers point your phone’s camera at them, using the app to bring the characters to life. The characters appear to blend in within the forest around you!

The length of the track is perfect, at only 1 mile it maintains their interest and leaves plenty of time for hunting fairies and playing on the adventure playground. And if you have a little explorer like we do you’ll be back at the beginning to start all over again in a flash. Our second hunt had us chuckling all the way around – my rather excited five year old made me stand next to the paw print whilst he took the photo’s, oh the laughter and oh my goodness did I feel like a wally, so much fun though.

Don’t forget…

1. Pennies for parking, you can park all day for £4.00 however you could quite easily complete the trail in 1-hour which is £1.50.
2. Pack a picnic – there are so many fantastic spots around the trail, adventure park and benches outside of the main café perfect for a little alfresco lunch
3. The Forestry Commission site recommends you download the app before arriving due to data signal in the forest
4. Take a spare battery pack for your phone or have it fully charged for when you arrive as using the app like most does drain your battery
5. Purchasing the pack (£3.00) isn’t essential but for us it added to the fun
6. Point the phone at the paw print and watch as the animation fills the screen together then step into the frame so your child knows where to stand
7. And lastly, this point is specifically for the Cannock Chase adventurers. The snake spot is a little tricky to bring to life but do persist as it is fantastic and definitely my favourite. Make sure you are low down, I was literally kneeling on the ground with the phone pointing up towards the spot. This was the only way I could get the spot to animate

I hope you have enjoyed reading about our little adventure. We really did have a super day out. We were not asked to write this post, it is purely out of fun and laughter that I am sharing our mummy and son day with you. It is safe to say that we are planning our next trip out and cannot wait to take Mr H along with us.

I have added this post to Collete’s #TriedTested over on her blog We’re Going On An Adventure.