At 18 months old Ethan discovered The Gruffalo. It started with the book, which led to even more books, toys, games, and even a chocolate Gruffalo. The Gruffalo was Ethan’s first obsession. At its height, we could easily read this book to him all day if we allowed it. My new party trick was to recite this book word for word. With all of Ethan’s obsessions, we do indulge them as it’s nice to have something to enjoy and connect with him. Last year I noticed that some of my Facebook friends were posting pictures of themselves with a Gruffalo. With the realisation my Dad knew where the Gruffalo was, we set off to find him. It was our turn to go Gruffalo Hunting at Thorndon Country Park.
Gruffalo Hunting In 2012
Armed with the map provided we started our search and easily found the mouse.
Next, it was time to find the main man himself, The Gruffalo. Ethan recognised him right away and ran around him in circles. As Ethan looked at the Gruffalo I recited the words from the book.
He has terrible tusks, and terrible claws, and terrible teeth in his terrible jaws.
He has knobbly knees, and turned-out toes,
and a poisonous wart at the end of his nose. His eyes are orange, his tongue is black, he has purple prickles all over his back.
Oh help! Oh no! It’s a gruffalo!
Finally, we set off to find the Gruffalo’s child. He was harder to find but we found him in the end…
We had a lovely afternoon in the park and as Darren was at work the day we visited he promised he would take us again.
Visiting The Gruffalo In 2013
Fast forward to this year and I had noticed, again from Facebook, that more of the characters had been added to the Gruffalo trail. It was time for us to visit again, this time with daddy.
This year the map cost 50p. They must have been printing so many for the visitors that want to go Gruffalo hunting.
As with last year, the mouse was the first character to find. Ethan had just woken up from being asleep. He wasn’t very happy to be Gruffalo hunting and wanted to go back to the car!
With the mouse found and Ethan happier we set off to find the fox. He was very good at hiding and it took us some time but we finally found his hiding spot.
With the fox checked off of the list we then had to find the owl. Thankfully he was easy to spot.
The snake was next and we spent most of our time with him as Ethan really interacted with him.
After Ethan had enough time with the snake it was time to find the Gruffalo’s child. He had been moved to a spot that was easier to find.
Lastly it was time to say hello to the main man himself…
…I love that Ethan is holding his hand in this photo, I didn’t even realise it until I looked back through the photos. A great capture for our photo album.
We had another lovely morning Gruffalo hunting. We visited the park early as it was a weekend, my advice to anyone wishing to visit at the weekend would be to go early as there are lots of people Gruffalo hunting.
Our recent to visit the Gruffalo at Thorndon Country Park was in the summer of 2018. This was part of a school project for Little E.
What a wonderfully magical place to visit! I can see how much fun Ethan had, and am amazed he’s smiling at the Gruffalo and not scared at all. That’s a great picture of him holding the Gruffalo’s hand as well – one for the album. Thanks for linking up to Country Kids.
Thank you. He takes everything in his stride, which I feel may be unusual for autism. He knows the gruffalo so well he may just think he is an old friend lol
That looks like such a fun place to visit. The Gruffalo is pretty popular in our house! Lovely photos!
Thank you, he really enjoyed it and we love that he engaged with the snake so much ;0)
i have seen a few people’s posts about this wonderful Gruffalo hunt and I want to go to take my boys. it just looks so magical and the wooden characters are so trye to life as per the books and shirt films. Ethan is in his element isnt he and i adore the photo of him holding the Gruffalo’s hand x
It is a lovely thing to do with the kids, Ethan loves the Gruffalo. I couldn’t believe he was holing his hand lol
What a wonderful park! It is so neat that they have added more characters since last year. Looks like you son really enjoyed it.
Its is a lovely place and so much better with the extra characters.
Ahhh fab… love this idea! Looks like you had a lovely time 🙂 x
It was great and even better that Ethan likes the Gruffalo!
It’s lovely how it has engaged him. Sounds like a great morning!
We love getting him out and about as he does engage with us so much ;0)
That looks fab – my boys adore the Gruffalo, they would love this!
If you are ever near it would be great for them to see ;0)