The list was compiled last year by the washing powder company Persil to encourage children to experience different types of play without the worry of getting dirty. According to Persil, one third of children avoid certain forms of fun because they are too concerned about getting grubby.
 
A plug for washing powder it may be, but I do think the list stands on its own merits as an excellent childhood checklist. My eight-year-old daughter and I pinned it up on the fridge and tick off the activities as she does them. She started off on a pretty good footing, having completed 26 of the 33 things listed, and now we've just got three to go: camping out in the garden (yes, but only if I sit up in the kitchen keeping watch all night with an intravenous drip of coffee attached to one hand and a baseball bat to the other); making and flying a kite (well, she's flown plenty of kites, but make one? I'm sure there'll be instructions in my Blue Peter annual circa 1976); and collecting frogspawn (this one might have to be tippexed out when she's not looking. Frogspawn belongs in ponds, not jam jars on windowsills, and then there are our two cats…).   
 
Anyway, why not get your kids to take the challenge this summer and work their way through the list (although making snow angels - No. 16 - will  have to wait). Ooh, and take a look at point 32 - you might even get breakfast in bed.
 
  1. Roll on your side down a grassy bank
  2. Make a mud pie
  3. Make your own modelling dough mixture
  4. Collect frogspawn
  5. Make perfume from flower petals
  6. Grow cress on a windowsill
  7. Make a papier mâché mask
  8. Build a sandcastle
  9. Climb a tree
  10. Make a den in the garden
  11. Make a painting using your hands and feet
  12. Organise your own teddy bears' picnic
  13. Have your face painted
  14. Play with a friend in the sand
  15. Make some bread
  16. Make snow angels
  17. Create a clay sculpture
  18. Take part in a scavenger hunt
  19. Camp out in the garden
  20. Bake a cake
  21. Feed a farm animal
  22. Pick some strawberries
  23. Play pooh sticks
  24. Recognise five different bird species
  25. Find some worms
  26. Ride a bike through a muddy puddle
  27. Make and fly a kite
  28. Plant a tree
  29. Build a nest out of grass and twigs
  30. Find ten different leaves in the park
  31. Grow vegetables
  32. Make breakfast in bed for your parents
  33. Make a mini assault course in your garden