Monday 20 July 2015

Woodland Crafts at Ringsfield Hall

  Today we had a fantastic day outside in the woods near Beccles.






We started the day finding our name pendants on a tree in the garden:


This is what they looked like...



We had a competition to see how long we could keep petals on our faces!


We nibbled at a few plants which we could safely eat including daisies growing on the lawn, and nasturtiums. The adults there checked we were eating the right plants before we ate them.


We sat and listened to the wind in the trees and the birds singing and drew pictures to show what we were sensing.




We looked at some special trees...


and made our way to the canopy in the woods.



Then we were shown how to make a fire with dry grass, thistle seeds and special charcoal cloth. 




While the fire was getting hot the children made dens in the woods.







 






We had our lunch and explored the grounds of the Hall. We shared our lunch with a visitor!







 






This house is made of hay bales!


 

We found a willow maze!


We went back to the woods and tried making tea from nettles, dock leaves and ground ivy, pictured below:








Another group tried making cordage from raffia:

 






Afterwards we were shown how to make damper, which is made from flour, water and a pinch of sugar.


We all had a go at making some...




By this time the fire was lovely and hot and we cooked the damper on willow sticks. Some people chose to have jam on their damper when it was cooked.



 



 









 

Once we had finished the children played a blindfold game to see if they could find their dens without looking...

 



At the end of our time in the woods we heard some stories around the campfire. 


We had a really fantastic day and the children were brilliant. Please can we go again Mrs Andrew!

A big thank you to Mrs Neve and Mrs Aitken who volunteered to come along and help us, and to Mrs Baker, one of our Governors, who came with us to share our morning at the centre.