Weather: spring-like, slightly chilly, clean and crisp

We met in St Andrews Park and coloured bunny masks to prepare for our egg rolling and hunting.

We squeezed some orange juice with a lemon squeezer thingy and some of the largest oranges available in the greater Bristol area. Paula forgets knife, Lindsey, like every good bushcrafter has about her person a small but deadly Swiss army knife. Orange juicing goes down a treat.

Egg rolling goes quite well but some initial concerns (voiced with wails) about the sharing aspect (none of us could bring ourselves to buy nasty eggs or waste free range / organic eggs) so we’d boiled our oldest eggs but there weren’t quite enough. Sharing seems to go better once the smashing and exploding of the eggs begins and hilarity takes over.

Egg hunting goes far better with the gentle breeze wafting the sweet smell of fair trade chocolate to the small but perfectly adapted olfactory recepticals of our sniffer children. Eggs were gracefully handed to Paula and equally distributed in a remarkably order fashion. We sang our Seahorse song and then disbanded.

We eagerly await our first Seahorse baby, due on Friday, good luck Cath, Elena, Thalia and their Daddy.

Kite flying at its best - the kids’ like this one.

So with the best planning possible, Paula set off in her car for her Tatty Bumpkin shenanigans, leaving Nige in charge of kicking off events. Despite military-style planning, she forgot to leave him the key to the Quaker Meeting House but left all the kit-and-caboodle in the hall. Despite a million missed (by me) calls and messages, the gang headed off for the park on the most windy day of the year and flew kites and made merry.

We did manage to get a papier mache volcano erupting in the park (thanks Scott, Ezra and Maya for the model, bicarb, vinegar etc) and mess about with ‘telephone tubes’, garden hoses of approx 3m lengths with cardboard cones on them, used as primitive telephones (hey it is Science Week after all!).

Hats off (literally in that wind) to them all (and sorry also) for so gracefully embracing the great outdoors instead of the nice, warm, snug hall with hot tea and a roof and everything… But then that’s the woodcraft folk.

Not our volcano but gives you the gist (instructions in the Boys Annual 2008 and also the Dangerous Book for Boys too)…

To the tune of something about a bullfrog, need to check with Pete!

“We are the Sparkling Seahorses

With out hands linked together a circle with make

Ish - Ash - Osh - Peace!

Together in friendship, we’re the Woodcraft Folk”

thanks Pete for making this up!

It was sunny today so we played around for 10 minutes outside then had a short circle time asking each other whether we’ve ever put up a tent, slept in a tent or enjoyed said tent activity! Everyone had and did enjoy…

Tent erecting went well until Nige discovered he’d forgotten the tent pegs but it did provide a good opportunity to reinforce the old ‘preparation, preparation, preparation’ camping rule! No matter, it did work well and turned out to be quite a boys activity. We managed to get 12 children in the tent but when oxygen supplies ran low we shook them out and played some games.

We did some parachute games, a rolling game where you roll with a partner touching toes and try to maintain contact while you roll along the floor, also a hula hoop game (it has to pass round a circle of people holding hands without letting go). Oh and the usual floor sweeping using their backs by the boys!

We did the story of the Blue Coat again and sang our fab new Sparkling Seahorses song sitting round the ‘camp fire’. A great, if slightly chaotic session!

Some seahorses facts since we are called sparkling seahorses!

Seahorses gained international protection on May 15, 2004-What do South American Spider Monkeys, Ringtail Opossums and seahorses have in common? They all have prehensile tails.

-Seahorses are members of the Teleost suborder, or bony fish.

-Seahorses usually live in the tropics or along temperate coasts.

-The average height of a full-grown sea horse is 2-8 inches.
Seahorses also vary in color, including orange, red, yellows, grey, and greens.

-Seahorses can come in patterns like “zebra stripes” and spots.

-Seahorses change color to blend in with their surroundings.

-Seahorses feed on small living animals such as daphnia, cyclops, larvae of water insects, or mysids.

-Seahorses like to swim in pairs linked by their tales.

-Seahorses cannot curl their tails backwards.

-Seahorses belong to the vertabra group, meaning they have an interior skeleton.

-The small dorsal fins propel it through the water in an upright position, while it beats them back and forth, almost as fast as a humming bird flapping its wings.

-Seahorses usually mate under a full moon.

-The pectoral fins control turning and steering. When resting, the seahorse curls its tail around seaweed, to keep it from floating away…

-Seahorse natural predators are crabs, tuna, skates and rays.

-Seahorses are loyal and mate for life.

-During mating, the Seahorses utter musical sounds.

-The female deposits eggs into the male’s small pouch, and then leaves. Out of the entire animal kingdom, these are the only animals in which the male has babies!

-Twenty-five million seahorses a year are now being traded around the world - 64 percent more than in the mid-1990s - and environmentalists are increasingly concerned that the booming trade in seahorses is putting the creatures at risk.

We had a planning meeting and have planned a rough and moveable schedule:

1. 28^th Feb – T-shirts, boxes, name, identity
2. 4^th March – about our animal – Cath to tell us our Woodcraft names in French and maybe numbers – we’re going to put a tent up in the garden and maybe do some knots - World Book Day - story of Sky Food
   
3. 11^th March – National Science and Engineering Week- Volcano model / maps for treasure hunt
4. 18^th March – *** OUT AND ABOUT*** egg rolling on playing fields or St Andrews Park, choc egg hunt, St Patrick’s Day – Irish story, BBQ or toasted marshmallows over candle in jar! Rabbit masks to colour
5. 24^th March – make chocolate egg nests and choc tiffin with seeds – talk about seeds (show inside fruit and veg) and planting** CLOCKS FORWARD – lighter evenings
6. 1^st April – plant seeds, sprout or cress heads, nut tree rhyme, willow

summer term

1. 22^nd April – poo!: animal poos, books on, clay modelling of poo, make song about
2. 29^th April – who I am – salt dough or large pics of ourselves
   
3. 6^th May – bear hunt act out with sounds recorded and listen listen
4. 13^th May – *** OUT AND ABOUT*** – Boiling Wells or orchard or city farm? (someone to lead?) tracking, footprints, foraging?
5. 20^th May - Vegetarian Week, Herb the Vegetarian Dragon story
   

half term

1. 3^rd June – butterfly facepaint, paintings, hungry caterpillar story – hand drill insect logs
2. 10^th June
3. 17^th June – comic strip?
4. 24^th June – space?
5. 1^st July - *** OUT AND ABOUT*** – Boiling Wells or orchard or city farm? (someone to lead?) tracking, footprints, foraging?
6. 8^th July
7. 15^th July *** OUT AND ABOUT***
8. 22^nd July – no group or *** OUT AND ABOUT*** – Boiling Wells or orchard or city farm? (someone to lead?) tracking, footprints, foraging?

Woodcraft Folk District Dates

• Sat April 26^th - Merrymoot - all groups acrossBristol

Bristol Merrymoot and Ceilidh

May Park School, Coombe Road, Eastville, Bristol, BS5 6LE

Groups to prepare a “performance” of up to 10 minutes - could be skit, play, dance, song, anything

Provisional format as previously..

Timetable: 3pm Doors open

3.30pm Games

4.15pm Performance preparation

4.30pm Merry moot (squash to be served)

5.30pm Finish with songs

6.00pm Ploughmans supper (and Raffle?)

7pm Ceilidh.

9pm Final Circle

10pm Doors Close

 

sat 29^th March – SWAN – South West Area Network meeting – for groups in SW, I will go for a bit of it with the boys but probably not all, contact me for more info

sun 30^th March Watercatch farm – Woodies have a Scout Hut type affair on a farm near Bakewell with a fire pit outside and woodland – notice to Woodies groups that there will be Woodies folk there from 1pm. Trails and activities in the woods. Campfire. Help with hut maintenance and clearing. – NOTE this date is subject to change as the SWAN day is immediately before it

Sun 8th June – another Watercatch day scheduled

 

Other interesting dates where we could meet or FYI

• Weds 27^th Feb, Folk Tales at the Scout Hut, also Weds 26^th March & Weds 30^th April – folk music and storytelling evening, all welcome

16^th March 10am-4pm – Volcanoes

Volcanic Activity! Is actually on: Saturday 8 & Sunday 9 March, 10am-4pm, Saturday 16 & Sunday 16 March, 10am-4pm but was going to say that the group could meet on Sunday 16^th March in the morning say from 10.30am?

National Science and Engineering Week 2008

National Science and Engineering Week (formerly National Science Week) is an opportunity for people of all ages, areas and organisations to take part in science, engineering and technology activities. Events will take place across the country between 7-16 March.

This year, Bristol’s City Museum & Art Gallery will be running two weekends of themed family activities to celebrate the explosive world of Volcanoes and the legacy of Professor George Walker (1926-2005), one of Britain’s greatest field geologists and one of the World’s leading volcanologists of the 20th Century.

Discover the explosive world of volcanoes. An action packed day with craft and hands-on activities and displays dedicated to these natural forces. While you are at the event check out our permanent galleries dedicated to scientific discovery from rocks and minerals to bugs and butterflies! Click here to be inspired!

Activities will include: hands-on activities and experiments, erupting volcano model, educational displays, volcanic rocks and minerals, opportunities to try out equipment used to monitor volcanoes

 

16^th March, 2pm, family is £4, Cube Kid’s Nanoplex presents: (we went to something similar there recently and it was fab!
KIDS GIG with KID CARPET & GO DUTCH! Sunday 16th/ 2pm/ 2 youth + carers; £4 general admission at the Cube Cinema
Youth and their families are invited to this high-energy gig that get you out of your seats and rocking out! KID’S CARPET makes, in his own words, ‘Kiddy Disco Punk’ using samplers, casio keyboards, and various sellotape
bound second hand toys like Fisher-Price guitars, and tamagotchi innards.

GO DUTCH! are a young Bristol-based trio whose catchy lyrics, creative guitar riffs and vibrant drum beats make them an up & coming sensation. They’re also skillfully balancing their burgeoning musical career with studying for their GCSE’s. Great for all ages, but particularly enjoyable for 9 years and up. www.myspace.com/kidcarpet www.myspace.com/godutchmusic

• March, April and May – Mr Brown’s Pig doing animal puppet shows at the Zoo every weekend
• S

  16^th March 10am-4pm – Volcanoes

  Volcanic Activity! Is actually on: Saturday 8 & Sunday 9 March, 10am-4pm, Saturday 16 & Sunday 16 March, 10am-4pm but was going to say that the group could meet on Sunday 16^th March in the morning say from 10.30am?

  National Science and Engineering Week 2008

  National Science and Engineering Week (formerly National Science Week) is an opportunity for people of all ages, areas and organisations to take part in science, engineering and technology activities. Events will take place across the country between 7-16 March.

  
  This year, Bristol’s City Museum & Art Gallery will be running two weekends of themed family activities to celebrate the explosive world of Volcanoes and the legacy of Professor George Walker (1926-2005), one of Britain’s greatest field geologists and one of the World’s leading volcanologists of the 20th Century.

  Discover the explosive world of volcanoes. An action packed day with craft and hands-on activities and displays dedicated to these natural forces. While you are at the event check out our permanent galleries dedicated to scientific discovery from rocks and minerals to bugs and butterflies! Click here to be inspired!

  Activities will include: hands-on activities and experiments, erupting volcano model, educational displays, volcanic rocks and minerals, opportunities to try out equipment used to monitor volcanoes

  16^th March, 2pm, family is £4, Cube Kid’s Nanoplex presents: (we went to something similar there recently and it was fab!
  KIDS GIG with KID CARPET & GO DUTCH! Sunday 16th/ 2pm/ 2 youth + carers; £4 general admission at the Cube Cinema
  Youth and their families are invited to this high-energy gig that get you out of your seats and rocking out! KID’S CARPET makes, in his own words, ‘Kiddy Disco Punk’ using samplers, casio keyboards, and various sellotape
  bound second hand toys like Fisher-Price guitars, and tamagotchi innards.

  GO DUTCH! are a young Bristol-based trio whose catchy lyrics, creative guitar riffs and vibrant drum beats make them an up & coming sensation. They’re also skillfully balancing their burgeoning musical career with studying for their GCSE’s. Great for all ages, but particularly enjoyable for 9 years and up.

  www.myspace.com/kidcarpet www.myspace.com/godutchmusic aturday 3^rd May Jack in the Green morris dancers etc 4pm on Horfield Common

• Mon 5^th May – Redland May Fair
• 7^th & 8^th June – Festival of Nature
• 26^th July – Trowbridge Pump Festival – whole weekend but day tickets available
• 26^th July – Boogie for Brizzle at the Zoo

• 29th-31^st August - Ragged Hedge Fair – on Abbey Home Farm organic farm with woods to explore and lots of nice stuff for kids – very small and friendly festival

• 8^th September - Doors Open Day
• 19^th Sept - International Talk Like a Pirate Day – involved in possible children’s pirate shenanigans for this but also adult pirate pandomonium at the legendary Llandoger Trow around this date

We gave out the died T-shirts today which looked great and stuck pictures of animals, plants and Power Rangers (?!) on our shoe boxes (which we’ll use to bring things in from home and take stuff home we make).

We came up with our name - Sparkling Seahorses and a song- will type the words for next time and even a tune (thanks Pete!).

 

This week we sat outside in the garden at the Quaker Meeting House - hoorah for early spring! After a short circle time there was a lot of running around by the boys and some tying done by the girls for our tie die T-shirts (we are dying our shirts orange and purple and then will write and draw on them). I sewed buttons on mine in an attempt to look like Apple Blossom (my chosen Woodcraft name, I’m aspiring to be a Misty Mountain and probably more like a Twittering Sparrow so compromised with this one).

We may have hit on our name - Chipmunks (Chattering Chipmunks, Chocolate Chipmunks or similar)!

While we tied and ran about we all came up with Woodcraft names - Sleeping Tiger, Spotty Cheetah, Little Blackbird, Snowflake Star, Dusky Dolphin, Snow Leopard, Polar Bear, Basking Lizard… We’re going to put this together into a mandala at some point by drawing the animals within a circle and I may try to put it on silk for a flag sometime so it’s our group emblem thingy!

We played some parachute games (On the Beach and Sharks) and then listened to the story of the Boy and the Hunter (a story about a boy who grows up with bears).

Gung Hey Fat Choi! Happy year of the Rat

We did a dragon dance to Chinese New year music today in Woodcraft and made Chinese paper lanterns, ate spring rolls and read the story of the Chinese zodiac.

This is the year of the Rat (Chinese:鼠) who was welcomed in ancient times as a protector and bringer of material prosperity. It is the first of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. Rat is associated with aggression, wealth, charm, and order, yet also associated with death, war, the occult, pestilence, and atrocities. The Year of the Rat is associated with the earthly branch symbol 子.

(the first picture, the dragon head is home made, the lion head was bought from Tehos shop!)