Oh dear...bad habits are forming and whole weeks are going by without this blog being updated...but first of all a great big HAPPY CHRISTMAS to all Very Young Friends, and their families, from not-quite-sunny Germany where I am writing this!
We had two quiet weeks at the beginning of December. On the 4th we ended up at my house, the weather being bad and the cafe being closed, making some rather wonderful snowmen out of small plastic drinks bottles. This, Ruth´s idea, worked very well even with the younger toddlers. We glued cotton wool all over the bottles, then all sorts of bits of paper, felt, sequins and glitter in the time-honoured fashion. They looked splendid and the kids got very absorbed.
On the 11th it was so cold and miserable that the few of us who did turn up just headed for the playground and tried to keep warm by throwing leaves at each other, but we didn´t hold out long!
But the 18th was another matter. We celebrated Christmas in grand style. First we searched through the woods for suitable trees to decorate, with plenty of branches within toddler reach. I had brought some baubles and tinsel which a kind lady from the Freecycle list no longer needed. All the children really enjoyed decorating the yew trees near the story tree. The story of the little fir tree who wanted to be beautiful and shiny like the other trees in the woods kept some children´s attention, although most were just dying to race up and down the hills (and did so). Then we practised some carols around our impromptu Christmas trees, so as to sing them more beautifully for the cafe staff later. We didn´t remove the decorations again till the children had headed off to the cafe with most of the parents, so they didn´t see their work destroyed! The cafe staff had prepared us some wonderful gingerbread men, and we decorated them with icing and sweeties and got sticky and sugary, before singing our carols as thanks. A jolly good time was had by all, as they used to say.
Monday 22 December 2008
Friday 28 November 2008
Those birds ought to be really happy now...
Not only do we make all sorts of food and feeders for them, but now we make beautiful houses for them too. Well, paint them, anyway. I brought along some my husband had manufactured from some old fenceposts, and the children set to with brushes and paint. They really got absorbed in their task, and seemed to enjoy working together on it, until the houses looked more like bird-hippie-communes than respectable dwellings. Once they have been varnished we will see about getting them nailed to a tree in the park somewhere.
The park cafe had all its Christmas decorations out, including a beautiful tree with baubles and bells. So we had a story about Tante, a little old German lady who made Christmas magic for all the children and animals of her village with her wonderful Christmas tree. A little premature but we are really getting into the Christmas spirit now!
The park cafe had all its Christmas decorations out, including a beautiful tree with baubles and bells. So we had a story about Tante, a little old German lady who made Christmas magic for all the children and animals of her village with her wonderful Christmas tree. A little premature but we are really getting into the Christmas spirit now!
Wednesday 26 November 2008
Log Bird Feeders Thursday 20 November 2008
As winter seems to be well and truly here, the Very Young Friends decided to help out our feathered friends and make some bird feeders. Phil had kindly drilled a number of large holes through lengths of log for us to fill with our yummy mixture, lard and bird seed! The children took it in turns to pour in bird seed and mix with the lard, this was quite hard work for both large and small hands. The mixture was then spooned into the holes and ready to hang from a tree, lets hope the birds enjoy their stylish feeder!
Friday 21 November 2008
November doings
Apologies for the bloggy silence since the beginning of the month. It's not that nothing has been happening!
On the 6th Nov we did some cooking in the cafe - but not for ourselves, for the birds! We chopped cheese, apple, bread and other titbits for their delectation and mixed them together in a huge bowl. Well, most of us did. My son Patrick concentrated on stuffing himself with cheese....ah well. The following rhyme accompanied our work:
Chop, chop, choppity chop
Chop off the bottom and chop off the top
All the rest goes into the pot
Chop, chop, choppity chop!
The following week, 13th Nov, everyone - including Patrick, and therefore me - was sick. So there was no meeting that week, for the first time since Christmas week - normally the Very Young Friends are very hardy!
This week, 20th Nov, Bryony was in charge, much to my delight. We made wonderful bird feeders from logs with holes drilled in them. I will leave this to her to recount!
On the 6th Nov we did some cooking in the cafe - but not for ourselves, for the birds! We chopped cheese, apple, bread and other titbits for their delectation and mixed them together in a huge bowl. Well, most of us did. My son Patrick concentrated on stuffing himself with cheese....ah well. The following rhyme accompanied our work:
Chop, chop, choppity chop
Chop off the bottom and chop off the top
All the rest goes into the pot
Chop, chop, choppity chop!
The following week, 13th Nov, everyone - including Patrick, and therefore me - was sick. So there was no meeting that week, for the first time since Christmas week - normally the Very Young Friends are very hardy!
This week, 20th Nov, Bryony was in charge, much to my delight. We made wonderful bird feeders from logs with holes drilled in them. I will leave this to her to recount!
Saturday 1 November 2008
Halloween fun in the playground
We had a proper Halloween party in the playground. Why the playground? Because it gets quite tiring, racing after toddlers to try and keep track of them in the woods, week after week, and the playground has a FENCE!!! So the children got busy gathering big sticks and small, and tying them together into broomsticks. I don't know how many would really fly, or even sweep up if it comes to it...
We then made 'apple men' by sticking twigs and cloves into apples. Some of them were really lovely little characters.
Pumpkin cake and ginger tea warmed us up a bit, but as the sky started to darken we decided to hurry the rest of the party along a bit. So we had our story - starring all the apple men. A little pumpkin gnome was looking for friends to celebrate Halloween with. The pine cones weren't very enthusiastic, but the apple men, hiding under the autumn leaves, all wanted to join in! A few quick songs and then RACE HOME OUT OF THE WET!
We then made 'apple men' by sticking twigs and cloves into apples. Some of them were really lovely little characters.
Pumpkin cake and ginger tea warmed us up a bit, but as the sky started to darken we decided to hurry the rest of the party along a bit. So we had our story - starring all the apple men. A little pumpkin gnome was looking for friends to celebrate Halloween with. The pine cones weren't very enthusiastic, but the apple men, hiding under the autumn leaves, all wanted to join in! A few quick songs and then RACE HOME OUT OF THE WET!
Sunday 26 October 2008
Autumn creativity
The blog is a little out of date! The past two weeks have seen some impressive creative efforts by the Very Young Friends. Two weeks ago, on a radiantly sunny day, we gathered autumn leaves from the maple and sycamore trees at the bottom of the Rose Walk. The cold, dry weather had brought out some beautiful yellows and reds in them. Then we tied them into bunches, mobiles and the like - although I must confess it was quite difficult to contain our younger members and persuade them not to run away altogether. But even the littlest and wildest did concentrate on the story, in which Kigbo (the hand puppet) took a wander through the forest (all their leaf creations being held by them) and admired the different 'trees'.
Last week blustery weather sent us into the Park cafe, where Jill and the other wonderful staff are always so tolerant of our noise and mess, and supply us with tempting chocolate cake. We made 'gardens' on trays (chopped-up cereal boxes) using salty playdough as 'land', tinfoil for 'lakes', hedge clippings as 'trees', sticks as 'fences', conkers and pebbles and crabapples as various garden structures. The children really concentrated and produced some lovely gardens. We gathered up all our leftover clippings etc, and brought them to the Park compost heaps, where the children presented them to the Heaps as presents! Then storytime, as last week, featured a little gnome going for a walk through all their lovely gardens, looking for a friend to play with.
This week Bryony will be showing us how to make a bird feeder out of a log - looking forward to it!
Last week blustery weather sent us into the Park cafe, where Jill and the other wonderful staff are always so tolerant of our noise and mess, and supply us with tempting chocolate cake. We made 'gardens' on trays (chopped-up cereal boxes) using salty playdough as 'land', tinfoil for 'lakes', hedge clippings as 'trees', sticks as 'fences', conkers and pebbles and crabapples as various garden structures. The children really concentrated and produced some lovely gardens. We gathered up all our leftover clippings etc, and brought them to the Park compost heaps, where the children presented them to the Heaps as presents! Then storytime, as last week, featured a little gnome going for a walk through all their lovely gardens, looking for a friend to play with.
This week Bryony will be showing us how to make a bird feeder out of a log - looking forward to it!
Tuesday 14 October 2008
Following the Squirrel Food Trail...... 9 October 2008
This week the squirrels of West Bank Park asked the Very Young Friends for their help. The squirrels had collected food to store for winter but had piled it up and were having trouble finding it again. Luckily the squirrels had left some very big footprints for us to follow and a few clues along the way to help. The older children concentrated on following the footprints, looked out for the clues and collected the food in their bags (chestnuts, beech nuts, rose hips, pine cones etc), the younger ones enjoyed being led along the trail and picking up the food to put in their bags. The squirrels meanwhile had been busy writing thank you letters to the children and rewarding them with cake for their hard work (the squirrels in our park are very talented!).
Monday 6 October 2008
Autumn Celebration a great success!
This Sunday saw a rather impromptu 'Autumn Celebration' at the Park. The wood carver was finishing his carving (two Green Men - I think - near the New Lane entrance - nice and low down for little ones to look at!) A fantastic ceilidh band called NE66 set up, juggler too, refreshments were served, a naturalist offered a Tree Walk round the park's interesting collection of trees, storyteller (me) set up near the cafe, the weather was glorious....but at 1:30 hardly anyone was there! But little by little they trickled in, till by 2pm there was a really good crowd, some bopping near the band's gazebo, others listening to stories or queuing for tea and biscuits.
My two little ones had such a good time they didn't ask to go to the playground even once! They were too busy dancing and nicking the juggler's balls!
My two little ones had such a good time they didn't ask to go to the playground even once! They were too busy dancing and nicking the juggler's balls!
Do your shopping in West Bank Park!
This time of year is really when there is the most tempting array of colourful berries, crab-apples, nuts, acorns and conkers on display. So we went a-gathering them in the old-fashioned way. Each child had their own little basket (made out of old Shreddies boxes mostly) which they decorated themselves. Gathering was great, except that it has been a good year for mushrooms and the children were most interested in these - wouldn't it be great to know which ones were edible, then we wouldn't need to scare them away from them all! Once we had enough we headed for a bench in the woods and set up our shop. Rusty old weighing scales came into their own, as did egg-boxes (conkers make great shiny eggs), and of course the littler ones did their usual thing of tipping over boxes of produce, then racing off to run up and down hills/bash their heads on branches/get lost.
Next week Bryony will be in charge! I can't wait!
Next week Bryony will be in charge! I can't wait!
Monday 29 September 2008
Bringing in the sheaves!
This week we were playing with straw - this time it was not pinched from any nearby field, but legitimately bought in Acomb Pets (which I would recommend as a morning outing for a boisterous preschooler - watching the lizards being fed with live locusts will shut them up). The task: to make a corn dolly!
We started with the story of corn dollies: for centuries, people have worried as they cut down the last sheaf of their crops - leaving the fields desolate and lifeless - would nature help them again next year? It must have been very sad to look out on the stubbly, empty fields all winter. So they took that last sheaf and made it into a corn dolly to hang over their fireplace all through the winter.
Well, ours were a bit smaller. And held together with string. And for the younger members of the group, it was more practical and fun to stuff a piece of cloth with straw and draw the dolly's face on instead. And to be honest, the kids were in a running-around mood. So we took our dollies with us and headed for the Story Trees to risk life and limb climbing up and down the roots instead.
We started with the story of corn dollies: for centuries, people have worried as they cut down the last sheaf of their crops - leaving the fields desolate and lifeless - would nature help them again next year? It must have been very sad to look out on the stubbly, empty fields all winter. So they took that last sheaf and made it into a corn dolly to hang over their fireplace all through the winter.
Well, ours were a bit smaller. And held together with string. And for the younger members of the group, it was more practical and fun to stuff a piece of cloth with straw and draw the dolly's face on instead. And to be honest, the kids were in a running-around mood. So we took our dollies with us and headed for the Story Trees to risk life and limb climbing up and down the roots instead.
Sunday 21 September 2008
Newsflash: we have got our funding!
We (and the Friends of Rowntree Park, and Pine Trees Day Care Centre) have received some good news: we have been granted the £1500 we asked the council's Active Arts Team for to do Community Mapping projects in each of our parks! We will work with an artist to produce beautiful maps, containing all our individual knowledge of the parks, that will stay on display as a record and to guide new visitors to the parks. What is the next step? We have to choose an artist! Anyone interested in sharing their ideas about the project, or just hearing more about it, is invited to a planning meeting with the council officers involved on Monday 29th Sept at 10am in the park cafe.
Another bit of breaking news: every year the Friends of West Bank Park ask a wood-carver to carve a tree in the Park - in previous years it's been a Green Man, a nymph, a lion, a totem pole...this year they have asked him to carve something low-down that even toddlers will be able to reach. He will be doing it on Sunday 5th October, 10am-4pm approx, near the New Lane entrance to the Park. Events like a Tree Walk, some live music, storytelling and refreshments are planned for those who come to watch him carve. So keep the date free to pop by!
The past two weeks have been fairly low-key at Very Young Friends. On 11th Sept we gathered some windfall apples and went to the cafe to - rather cheekily - cook our own lunch! We made couscous salad with fruit and cheese, and ate it all up (or most of it anyway). The children managed the hot water very well. The following week, my dear husband Andreas met a few of you in the playground for some good traditional swings-and-slides action.
Hope to see you this week!
Another bit of breaking news: every year the Friends of West Bank Park ask a wood-carver to carve a tree in the Park - in previous years it's been a Green Man, a nymph, a lion, a totem pole...this year they have asked him to carve something low-down that even toddlers will be able to reach. He will be doing it on Sunday 5th October, 10am-4pm approx, near the New Lane entrance to the Park. Events like a Tree Walk, some live music, storytelling and refreshments are planned for those who come to watch him carve. So keep the date free to pop by!
The past two weeks have been fairly low-key at Very Young Friends. On 11th Sept we gathered some windfall apples and went to the cafe to - rather cheekily - cook our own lunch! We made couscous salad with fruit and cheese, and ate it all up (or most of it anyway). The children managed the hot water very well. The following week, my dear husband Andreas met a few of you in the playground for some good traditional swings-and-slides action.
Hope to see you this week!
Saturday 6 September 2008
Harvest time continues...
It hasn't been such a good year for blackberries, but the zealous Very Young Friends found an incredible number in the Park this week. The difficult part is deciding whether to eat them yourself, contribute them to the shared pot of blackberry yoghurt, or put them in the mashing pan to make dye. Even more difficult is keeping little hands out of the yoghurt pot! But it was very impressive how even the smallest children managed not to touch the hot dye pan, but instead helped to blow on it and cool it down, hands carefully tucked behind their backs.
It was nice to watch bits of fleece turn pinky-purple in the dye, and hang them up on the line. We followed it up with the story of Tom Badger collecting paints from the end of a rainbow, and using them to transform all the houses in his village. Our rendition of 'I Can Sing A Rainbow' afterwards was (I thought, anyway) actually quite moving!
On another note, we are making an application for funding from the council for an arts project in the Park, along with the Friends of Rowntree Park and the Pine Trees day care centre. It would be something everyone, of all ages, could get involved in - not just the making of it, but also the design. The idea is to make a 'community map' of the park that would show everyone's favourite corners of it, where people used to play as kids, what their private names for this clearing or that mound are....if you are interested get in touch with me (catherine.heinemeyer@barkmail.com). We should find out by the end of September whether we have the funding.
All the best,
It was nice to watch bits of fleece turn pinky-purple in the dye, and hang them up on the line. We followed it up with the story of Tom Badger collecting paints from the end of a rainbow, and using them to transform all the houses in his village. Our rendition of 'I Can Sing A Rainbow' afterwards was (I thought, anyway) actually quite moving!
On another note, we are making an application for funding from the council for an arts project in the Park, along with the Friends of Rowntree Park and the Pine Trees day care centre. It would be something everyone, of all ages, could get involved in - not just the making of it, but also the design. The idea is to make a 'community map' of the park that would show everyone's favourite corners of it, where people used to play as kids, what their private names for this clearing or that mound are....if you are interested get in touch with me (catherine.heinemeyer@barkmail.com). We should find out by the end of September whether we have the funding.
All the best,
Thursday 28 August 2008
Summer goodbye
Well, it seems that summer has got bored of us and decided to leave early this year. So we made the best of it by having our 'harvest'. We threshed wheat (thank-you to the farmer who incompletely cut his field on the way to Bishopthorpe) on a picnic blanket, and shelled lots of peas from my allotment, only some of which had maggots in them! Then we ground them into flour, made them into soup, bashed them with sticks, rolled them down hills and generally investigated them thoroughly! Of course this was followed by the story of the Little Red Hen and her farming adventures, ending with some REAL cake.
Otherwise this summer, some of us went on a trip to the Murton Farming Museum and enjoyed - I hear, I wasn't there - more real cake as part of a story by Rosemary.
For next week, my thoughts are turning to blackberries....what do you think?
Otherwise this summer, some of us went on a trip to the Murton Farming Museum and enjoyed - I hear, I wasn't there - more real cake as part of a story by Rosemary.
For next week, my thoughts are turning to blackberries....what do you think?
Thursday 7 August 2008
Play Day: Wild Camp in the Woods!
We are absolutely delighted with our 'Play Day', jointly run with City of York Council (that is, with our Parks Officer Stephen Whittaker and his van-full of equipment and tools!) which took place on Wednesday 6th August. The theme set for Play Days around the country was "Give us a go!" or 'Risk in Play'. We are good at risk, much better than we are at safety in fact, and did indeed give it a go.
We had a 'wild camp', with shelter building, tipis, assault course, bow-and-arrow making, natural dyes and foraging for food. An incredible number of children turned up - perhaps 100, aged from 0 up to about 13. It was great seeing all the kids and their parents throwing themselves into all the low-tech, down-and-dirty activities. The only shame was having to take down the wonderful swings, rope ladders, shelters and tunnels afterwards.
Thanks to Phil and Bryony, Rosemary, and Stephen Whittaker for all their hard work and enthusiasm! And now have a look at the pictures!
We had a 'wild camp', with shelter building, tipis, assault course, bow-and-arrow making, natural dyes and foraging for food. An incredible number of children turned up - perhaps 100, aged from 0 up to about 13. It was great seeing all the kids and their parents throwing themselves into all the low-tech, down-and-dirty activities. The only shame was having to take down the wonderful swings, rope ladders, shelters and tunnels afterwards.
Thanks to Phil and Bryony, Rosemary, and Stephen Whittaker for all their hard work and enthusiasm! And now have a look at the pictures!
Friday 1 August 2008
What's inside this....?
At this time of year many plants are producing their berries, fruits and seeds and this week we had a look inside some of them to see what they are like. Sycamore 'helicopters' have a funny fluffy stuff in them, for example, and the 'bumpy bits' of blackberries have a lovely teardrop shape if you cut right inside them. It is hard work to pull pinecones right to bits but it can be done.
Then we made some little gathering pots out of air-drying clay, some of us imprinting them with berries and twigs, for future gathering expeditions - we are keeping an eye on those blackberries as they ripen!
NEXT WEEK, the day after our PLAY DAY on the 6th, there will be no group. The following week, the 14th, there will be a group - meet as usual at the bench - I won't be there but others will. Then, on the 21st, it will be our trip to Murton Park Farming Museum, for tractor and steam train rides, talking to their animals, and storytime in a Celtic village. Please write to me (catherine.heinemeyer@barkmail.com) if you are coming - I need to book the minibus!
Then we made some little gathering pots out of air-drying clay, some of us imprinting them with berries and twigs, for future gathering expeditions - we are keeping an eye on those blackberries as they ripen!
NEXT WEEK, the day after our PLAY DAY on the 6th, there will be no group. The following week, the 14th, there will be a group - meet as usual at the bench - I won't be there but others will. Then, on the 21st, it will be our trip to Murton Park Farming Museum, for tractor and steam train rides, talking to their animals, and storytime in a Celtic village. Please write to me (catherine.heinemeyer@barkmail.com) if you are coming - I need to book the minibus!
Wednesday 30 July 2008
Dinosaur Trail, 24 July 2008
This week West Bank Park had some prehistoric visitors. They went into the woods, laid eggs, but forgot where! Luckily the Very Young Friends of West Bank Park were on hand to help. We all followed giant dinosaur footprints into the woods and collected eight different coloured eggs. The children (and adults!) enjoyed following the trail, searching the undergrowth when they saw a picture of a dinosaur, looking for the different colours and counting the eggs they collected. The dinosaurs were very grateful and rewarded us all with a certificate and cake. We await news of any hatchings!
After our snack we were full of energy and Rosemary taught us a French song with actions, 'Savez-vous planter les choux?' (Do you know how to plant cabbage?) and much fun was had trying to plant them with our hands, feet, nose and elbows!
After our snack we were full of energy and Rosemary taught us a French song with actions, 'Savez-vous planter les choux?' (Do you know how to plant cabbage?) and much fun was had trying to plant them with our hands, feet, nose and elbows!
Monday 14 July 2008
Busy washerwomen (and men)
This week we set up a little laundry right in the middle of the woods. The children got to work with a pile of rags (sorry, beautiful clothes!), a basin, and some soap. Each piece had then to be thoroughly wrung out and hung up on the washing lines we suspended between trees. It was a pretty sight to see them so busy, and closer examination revealed:
* 3- and 4-year-olds really conscientiously scrubbing, wringing and pegging away
* 2-year-olds trying their level best to copy them, particularly working on their pegging technique (it is not at all easy you know!)
* 1-year-olds mixing mud in the water, stirring it with big sticks, and then deciding it was time to go and race up and down some tree mounds instead.
Then we all learnt a German song, 'Die Fleissige Waschfrauen' (the busy washerwomen) with actions - some excellent pronunciation.
If anyone has any pictures of the session, please do post them up.
* 3- and 4-year-olds really conscientiously scrubbing, wringing and pegging away
* 2-year-olds trying their level best to copy them, particularly working on their pegging technique (it is not at all easy you know!)
* 1-year-olds mixing mud in the water, stirring it with big sticks, and then deciding it was time to go and race up and down some tree mounds instead.
Then we all learnt a German song, 'Die Fleissige Waschfrauen' (the busy washerwomen) with actions - some excellent pronunciation.
If anyone has any pictures of the session, please do post them up.
Monday 7 July 2008
We are very fragrant this week...
Last Thursday we had a brilliant time comparing all the roses in the Rose Walk and choosing the fallen petals from the ones we liked best, to make perfume (hands up who spent large swathes of their childhood making jars of this stuff and wondering why it went rancid in a few days). The children could hardly be torn away from the collecting job and we had vast quantities of petals to stir up in our bowl. Good thing too: one of the gardeners informed us that 'real' rose perfume uses 9000 petals per drop...
Stirring, sieving, and generally mashing the perfume was just as popular. Meanwhile other children were making more unusual fragrances from other herbs: sage, mint, lemon balm, blackcurrant leaves. Chopping and 'pestling and mortaring' these was hard work but entered into with gusto.
4-year-old Izzy had noticed a wonderful hidey-hole for storytime in the rose garden, so she led us there with the jingly bells, and we had the story of the traveller who taught the cross old woman how to make soup out of a nail. Song time was a bit cramped in there but it did not cramp our style!
Stirring, sieving, and generally mashing the perfume was just as popular. Meanwhile other children were making more unusual fragrances from other herbs: sage, mint, lemon balm, blackcurrant leaves. Chopping and 'pestling and mortaring' these was hard work but entered into with gusto.
4-year-old Izzy had noticed a wonderful hidey-hole for storytime in the rose garden, so she led us there with the jingly bells, and we had the story of the traveller who taught the cross old woman how to make soup out of a nail. Song time was a bit cramped in there but it did not cramp our style!
Monday 30 June 2008
What we have been doing this spring and summer
Greetings everyone,
Below is part (2) of the rundown of our activities this year: March-June 2008. And then we will be up-to-date! Thanks to Bryony for the lovely photos of Iona planting bulbs and going on a Dick Whittington expedition, and for her suggestion sent by email for a future activity (a nature trail).
SPRING
06.03 World Book Day: a Gruffalo Walk through the woods with adults playing parts and children puppeteering (adults very enthusiastic, children more interested in racing around)
13.03 Bulb planting with our excellent Parks Officer Stephen Whittaker - in the woods this time - English bluebells, snowdrops and anenomes.
20.03 EASTER: decorating boiled eggs (children) and blown-out eggshells (adults) with coloured tape and felt pens, to make an Easter branch for the Park cafe; meanwhile Easter bunny was hiding chocolate eggs around the cafe for the children to find. Rosemary told 'The Ugly Duckling' with pictures of goslings and cygnets.
27.03 Playground brainstorming: met in the small children's playground and drew ideas for playground improvements on a large map - children took over and decorated the map their own way! Then a birthday story about Isobel (aged 4) and cake!
03.04 'Tracks and Trails': made trails using stones, cones, twine etc. then children followed each others' trails. Meanwhile visiting origamist Luke Segaran showing children how to make birds. Story about Granny and Max going on a night walk and leaving themselves a trail of shiny pebbles to find the way back home.
10.04 Making flags and Dick-Whittington-style travelling bundles with sticks and cloth, filling bundles with treasures (eg. pretty leaves, mandarin oranges) and going on an 'adventure' into the laurel bushes to eat them; looking for frogspawn in the wildlife garden (sadly all eaten by magpies!)
17.04 Ladybirds: colouring pictures of them, and dashing out between rain showers to find some real ones. Hanging up birdfeeder balls.
24.04 Pouring rain meant not too much happened this week...
01.05 RHYME TIME RAMBLE with Anneliese Emmans Dean (finally!!) A ramble through the woods with Anneliese's magic rhyme basket - we said an ode to Queen Victoria, 'wriggly wormed into the woods', had rhymes for the earthworms and spiders we found, and ended up at the Story Trees where we each had to make an offering of a very special feather, pinecone or leaf so the Trees would allow us to have a story there! Luckily they did - it was called 'Bim the Bird' and we loved it! See Anneliese's blog and lovely photos of the Rhyme Time Ramble at http://thebigbuzz.wordpress.com/2008/05/01/rhyme-time-ramble/
08.05 Making May Crowns from entwined willow twigs and fresh flowers - luckily the gardeners were removing some late primroses and polyanthus from the flowerbeds, so we helped ourselves to those and looked like kings and queens!
15.05 Making an obstacle course - not a tremendous success but the kids had a good time racing around the Story Trees!
22.05 Making perfume in a basin of water using what we could find: lemon balm, pine needles, blackcurrant leaves, and a bit of grass and soil....each child took some home in a mini-jam jar.
29.05 Painting on large unfolded cardboard boxes, the result used as scenery in the lunchtime performance of 'Compost - the Mini-Musical' by older children on a half-term holiday activity, which many VYFWBP parents and children stayed to watch.
SUMMER 08:
05.06 Making binoculars (using card and sellotape) and going birdwatching, using a picture guide Laura had made of the most common birds. Children enjoyed looking at pondskaters and spiders in the wildlife area too. Went to see the woodpecker nest where the babies were starting to poke their heads out to see how far they would soon need to fly down. We told a surprisingly successful story relay-style all together, about the woodpeckers and their busy parents.
12.06 Making elderflower lemonade, using hot water, lots of elderflowers, sugar and lemons - children enjoyed picking flowers off and squeezing lemons. Waiting a while during storytime, then straining and drinking the juice - most delicious!
19.06 MIDSUMMER PARTY under the pines and birches: decorating candles with coloured wax, then a picnic - with the candles lit for a few minutes, despite the wind!
26.06 Indian Day: made a teepee using long branches which fell during the stormy weather, propped against a tree stump and covered with cloths (pegged and stringed together!) Also headbands with feathers, and an Indian story ('Little Bear and Silver Star') and songs.
Well there we are! We have had a busy few months...
Below is part (2) of the rundown of our activities this year: March-June 2008. And then we will be up-to-date! Thanks to Bryony for the lovely photos of Iona planting bulbs and going on a Dick Whittington expedition, and for her suggestion sent by email for a future activity (a nature trail).
SPRING
06.03 World Book Day: a Gruffalo Walk through the woods with adults playing parts and children puppeteering (adults very enthusiastic, children more interested in racing around)
13.03 Bulb planting with our excellent Parks Officer Stephen Whittaker - in the woods this time - English bluebells, snowdrops and anenomes.
20.03 EASTER: decorating boiled eggs (children) and blown-out eggshells (adults) with coloured tape and felt pens, to make an Easter branch for the Park cafe; meanwhile Easter bunny was hiding chocolate eggs around the cafe for the children to find. Rosemary told 'The Ugly Duckling' with pictures of goslings and cygnets.
27.03 Playground brainstorming: met in the small children's playground and drew ideas for playground improvements on a large map - children took over and decorated the map their own way! Then a birthday story about Isobel (aged 4) and cake!
03.04 'Tracks and Trails': made trails using stones, cones, twine etc. then children followed each others' trails. Meanwhile visiting origamist Luke Segaran showing children how to make birds. Story about Granny and Max going on a night walk and leaving themselves a trail of shiny pebbles to find the way back home.
10.04 Making flags and Dick-Whittington-style travelling bundles with sticks and cloth, filling bundles with treasures (eg. pretty leaves, mandarin oranges) and going on an 'adventure' into the laurel bushes to eat them; looking for frogspawn in the wildlife garden (sadly all eaten by magpies!)
17.04 Ladybirds: colouring pictures of them, and dashing out between rain showers to find some real ones. Hanging up birdfeeder balls.
24.04 Pouring rain meant not too much happened this week...
01.05 RHYME TIME RAMBLE with Anneliese Emmans Dean (finally!!) A ramble through the woods with Anneliese's magic rhyme basket - we said an ode to Queen Victoria, 'wriggly wormed into the woods', had rhymes for the earthworms and spiders we found, and ended up at the Story Trees where we each had to make an offering of a very special feather, pinecone or leaf so the Trees would allow us to have a story there! Luckily they did - it was called 'Bim the Bird' and we loved it! See Anneliese's blog and lovely photos of the Rhyme Time Ramble at http://thebigbuzz.wordpress.com/2008/05/01/rhyme-time-ramble/
08.05 Making May Crowns from entwined willow twigs and fresh flowers - luckily the gardeners were removing some late primroses and polyanthus from the flowerbeds, so we helped ourselves to those and looked like kings and queens!
15.05 Making an obstacle course - not a tremendous success but the kids had a good time racing around the Story Trees!
22.05 Making perfume in a basin of water using what we could find: lemon balm, pine needles, blackcurrant leaves, and a bit of grass and soil....each child took some home in a mini-jam jar.
29.05 Painting on large unfolded cardboard boxes, the result used as scenery in the lunchtime performance of 'Compost - the Mini-Musical' by older children on a half-term holiday activity, which many VYFWBP parents and children stayed to watch.
SUMMER 08:
05.06 Making binoculars (using card and sellotape) and going birdwatching, using a picture guide Laura had made of the most common birds. Children enjoyed looking at pondskaters and spiders in the wildlife area too. Went to see the woodpecker nest where the babies were starting to poke their heads out to see how far they would soon need to fly down. We told a surprisingly successful story relay-style all together, about the woodpeckers and their busy parents.
12.06 Making elderflower lemonade, using hot water, lots of elderflowers, sugar and lemons - children enjoyed picking flowers off and squeezing lemons. Waiting a while during storytime, then straining and drinking the juice - most delicious!
19.06 MIDSUMMER PARTY under the pines and birches: decorating candles with coloured wax, then a picnic - with the candles lit for a few minutes, despite the wind!
26.06 Indian Day: made a teepee using long branches which fell during the stormy weather, propped against a tree stump and covered with cloths (pegged and stringed together!) Also headbands with feathers, and an Indian story ('Little Bear and Silver Star') and songs.
Well there we are! We have had a busy few months...
Sunday 29 June 2008
A rundown of our doings, July 07-June 08
Here, in the briefest fashion, is a list of our main activities during our first full year.
SUMMER 07:
26.07 Making musical instruments by filling tins with cones, seeds etc
23.08 Picking BLACKBERRIES! Making blackberry yoghurt, dying wool with blackberry juice to make purple cardboard sheep - yes, indeed!
AUTUMN 07:
06.09 Making collages of fresh green leaves on huge sheets of cardboard; acting out 'The Gruffalo' with puppets
13.09 Going fishing: making rods with sticks, string and pine cone 'bait' (worked); making boats with corks, cocktail sticks and blutack (didn't work!)
20.09 Playing 'greengrocers', selling crabapples, rosehips, damsons, hawthorn berries, beech nuts, conkers etc, and weighing them out carefully!
27.09 Pretending to be squirrels: hiding nuts and hunting for them
4.10 Making a den with sheets, twine and clothes pegs between two trees, playing house inside it, decorating it with garlands of berries etc.
11.10 Painting pinecones and twigs with both artificial paints and our own manufactured ones (crushed rowanberries using pestle and mortar - nice orange colour!)
18.10 Making hidey-holes for hedgehogs - heaps of autumn leaves - and baiting them with lumps of cheese; making hidey-holes for children using cardboard boxes stuffed with leaves
25.10 Half-term party; making heaps of autumn leaves, carving pumpkins
1.11 Bulb planting with Parks Officer under the pine trees; planting holly berries and ash trees in trays to take home
8.11 Making leaf butterflies, using twigs, autumn leaves, coloured blutack, pine needles (as feelers) and stringing them up as mobiles
15.11 Making bird feeders by covering pine cones with peanut butter and sticking on pumpkin seeds, hanging them up on bushes
22.11 Making pictures with evergreen leaves (and discovering that the squirrels got the bird feeders!!!)
29.11 Making binoculars from toilet rolls, string and sellotape, and going birdwatching in the wildlife area and clearing
WINTER 07/08:
6.11 Making Christmas decorations in (and for) the Park cafe: pinecones covered with glitter and strung up on ribbons
13.12 Gathering evergreenery and making Advent Wands and a wreath for the cafe with them
20.12 CHRISTMAS PARTY - decorating delicious homemade gingerbread men in the cafe, then decorating a tree in the woods, and singing Christmas carols for the cafe staff
03.01 Building a snowman!
10.01 Making a garden on a tray using salt playdough, leaves, stones, sticks, grass etc, and adding animals to act out a story
17.01 Splashing in puddles, then making our own 'puddle collages' using wool and crayons on paper
24.01 Tracks and prints: making animal and dinosaur prints in playdough, then looking for real ones in the woods
31.01 Planned 'Rhyme Time Ramble' with poet Anneliese Emmans Dean cancelled because Park closed due to high winds - retreated to Cath's house for a cup of tea!!
07.02 Looking for worms and creepy crawlies in woods, collecting them in a bucket for better inspection, then made 'worms' in the time-honoured fashion using eggboxes
14.02 Joint Valentine's event with Very Young Friends of ROWNTREE Park - a visit to the university campus, feeding ducks, making heart pictures
21.02 Making 'Go-Grow' hand puppets to celebrate the first spring flowers - checking on our bulbs which were coming up nicely
28.02 Making a bird's nest big enough for all the children to sit in, from branches, moss and grass!
Whew! I think I will stop here and continue with spring in another post!!!
SUMMER 07:
26.07 Making musical instruments by filling tins with cones, seeds etc
23.08 Picking BLACKBERRIES! Making blackberry yoghurt, dying wool with blackberry juice to make purple cardboard sheep - yes, indeed!
AUTUMN 07:
06.09 Making collages of fresh green leaves on huge sheets of cardboard; acting out 'The Gruffalo' with puppets
13.09 Going fishing: making rods with sticks, string and pine cone 'bait' (worked); making boats with corks, cocktail sticks and blutack (didn't work!)
20.09 Playing 'greengrocers', selling crabapples, rosehips, damsons, hawthorn berries, beech nuts, conkers etc, and weighing them out carefully!
27.09 Pretending to be squirrels: hiding nuts and hunting for them
4.10 Making a den with sheets, twine and clothes pegs between two trees, playing house inside it, decorating it with garlands of berries etc.
11.10 Painting pinecones and twigs with both artificial paints and our own manufactured ones (crushed rowanberries using pestle and mortar - nice orange colour!)
18.10 Making hidey-holes for hedgehogs - heaps of autumn leaves - and baiting them with lumps of cheese; making hidey-holes for children using cardboard boxes stuffed with leaves
25.10 Half-term party; making heaps of autumn leaves, carving pumpkins
1.11 Bulb planting with Parks Officer under the pine trees; planting holly berries and ash trees in trays to take home
8.11 Making leaf butterflies, using twigs, autumn leaves, coloured blutack, pine needles (as feelers) and stringing them up as mobiles
15.11 Making bird feeders by covering pine cones with peanut butter and sticking on pumpkin seeds, hanging them up on bushes
22.11 Making pictures with evergreen leaves (and discovering that the squirrels got the bird feeders!!!)
29.11 Making binoculars from toilet rolls, string and sellotape, and going birdwatching in the wildlife area and clearing
WINTER 07/08:
6.11 Making Christmas decorations in (and for) the Park cafe: pinecones covered with glitter and strung up on ribbons
13.12 Gathering evergreenery and making Advent Wands and a wreath for the cafe with them
20.12 CHRISTMAS PARTY - decorating delicious homemade gingerbread men in the cafe, then decorating a tree in the woods, and singing Christmas carols for the cafe staff
03.01 Building a snowman!
10.01 Making a garden on a tray using salt playdough, leaves, stones, sticks, grass etc, and adding animals to act out a story
17.01 Splashing in puddles, then making our own 'puddle collages' using wool and crayons on paper
24.01 Tracks and prints: making animal and dinosaur prints in playdough, then looking for real ones in the woods
31.01 Planned 'Rhyme Time Ramble' with poet Anneliese Emmans Dean cancelled because Park closed due to high winds - retreated to Cath's house for a cup of tea!!
07.02 Looking for worms and creepy crawlies in woods, collecting them in a bucket for better inspection, then made 'worms' in the time-honoured fashion using eggboxes
14.02 Joint Valentine's event with Very Young Friends of ROWNTREE Park - a visit to the university campus, feeding ducks, making heart pictures
21.02 Making 'Go-Grow' hand puppets to celebrate the first spring flowers - checking on our bulbs which were coming up nicely
28.02 Making a bird's nest big enough for all the children to sit in, from branches, moss and grass!
Whew! I think I will stop here and continue with spring in another post!!!
Saturday 28 June 2008
Welcome to the Very Young Friends of West Bank Park's BLOG!
The Very Young Friends have been meeting at the same well-loved (and much abused) statue of Queen Victoria, every Thursday morning, for a whole year now. We have trekked off to different parts of West Bank Park's woods and meadows and got up to all sorts of things we wouldn't want our work colleagues to see us doing, like building nests big enough for five kids to sit in, or playing shops using crabapples and alder cones as currency.
It is time we had our own blog. It will be a way of reminding us of the things we do together as parents and children in the Park, both the activities our kids took part in really enthusiastically and those we were much more enthusiastic about ourselves (because both are important!) It might also be interesting to other parent and toddler groups, nursery schools or childminders who want to do more outdoors.
Please, fellow VYFWBPs, feel free to contribute to this blog whenever you like. For the next while I will keep myself busy posting my notes from the past year - up till now I have just written a paragraph about each session in a large, black, very scrappy 2003 diary. It would be great if you (or anyone else with good ideas) wrote in with your suggestions for other activities we could try.
I am looking forward to blogging!
It is time we had our own blog. It will be a way of reminding us of the things we do together as parents and children in the Park, both the activities our kids took part in really enthusiastically and those we were much more enthusiastic about ourselves (because both are important!) It might also be interesting to other parent and toddler groups, nursery schools or childminders who want to do more outdoors.
Please, fellow VYFWBPs, feel free to contribute to this blog whenever you like. For the next while I will keep myself busy posting my notes from the past year - up till now I have just written a paragraph about each session in a large, black, very scrappy 2003 diary. It would be great if you (or anyone else with good ideas) wrote in with your suggestions for other activities we could try.
I am looking forward to blogging!
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Our beloved Queen Victoria
We sometimes bow to her before we set off into the woods!
