Who are the VYFWBP?

We are a friendly community group, run by parents, who meet every Thursday morning in West Bank Park, York. Whatever the weather, school hols included, we spend a couple of hours in the woods and meadows of the Park, doing nature games and crafts, building or making things with materials we find, telling stories and singing songs.

We are open to all - with a contribution of £1 a family (to cover basic equipment) - so if you want to join us, see you on Thursday at 10am at the statue of Queen Victoria, at the top of the Rose Walk. (Bring something simple to share at snack time.)

For more information contact Elly at: westbankparkkids@gmail.com

Sunday 28 June 2009

Midsummer frolics

This being around the second anniversary of the Very Young Friends, we are starting to establish some traditions. So this midsummer, like last year, we went to a little grove of trees beside the grassy area of the park, which looks a bit like a campsite and has lots of hidey holes and logs to climb around. The children gathered sticks and pinecones for a midsummer 'fire', and built it up very nicely. A ring of pine cones around the outside to contain it. We positioned tea lights in it and lit them, then each child 'jumped' the fire with a bit of help: "Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack jumped over the candlestick" (acknowledgements to Dot Male for that idea!).

The sticks then served a different purpose, got tied together with colourful wool, flowers and other bits and bobs to make fairy webs, traps and suchlike.

We had a lovely singing session this week too. There is a very monotonous but sweet song: Zum-a-zum-a-zee, buzzy buzzy bee, Buzzing through the flowers, In the daylight hours, Zum-a-zum-a-zee..." which goes on forever and ever. All the children - even the usually shy ones - took pine cones to act as bees, and buzzed them around from flower to flower all around the little grove of trees. We sang about 10 rounds of that song and then thought it was safe to stop, when they shouted: "Keep singing!" And we had to keep going for what seemed like ages. They were in their own little world, being bees.

Sunday 21 June 2009

Working hard

Sometimes it's good to take advantage of things that are happening in the Park anyway. We heard that the Conservation Volunteers would be here this Thursday clearing and resurfacing part of the wildlife area. There is nothing little children love like watching those kind of jobs. So we went to spy on them, all 20 of them with their spades and rakes and hammers and wheelbarrows and (best of all) chainsaws. And when we'd had enough of that we went to do some chalking on the paths nearby.

It was lovely, apart from anything, to see the park so full of people - as well as us and the volunteers, there were a couple of school classes on a trip, lots of parents in the playground, council staff at work and so on.

Last week, we were also hard at work building a den in the woods. To be strictly truthful, the mums were more enthusiastic about the task than the children. But that is OK! They helped us drag big sticks over, and gave their criticisms, and pointed out when things were falling down. And, as usual, they ran away off over the root stumps and mounds by themselves.

Sunday 7 June 2009

ELDERFLOWERS

This year, like last, we set to making elderflower lemonade at the bench in front of the rockery, opposite which are some conveniently situated elder bushes. The smell is so tempting and the children's hunter-gatherer instincts come to the fore. You literally can't stop them looking for more to 'put in the basin'.

It is a good task for little children because there are several interesting stages which need lots of concentration and cooperation, and awaken all their senses:
- picking the flowerheads (about 30)
- removing the flowers from their stems
- squeeeeeeeeezing the lemons (about 4)
- adding some sugar (about 6-10 teaspoons)
- stirring in the hot water (about 2 litres)
- tapping on the pot lid to 'make the taste come out of the flowers' (not strictly necessary that one)
- having a story while waiting for it to cool down (thanks Laura for Hamda's surprise which everybody loved)
- lading the juice through a funnel into a jug
- drinking it!

This is a very approximate recipe which takes about an hour from picking to drinking. You can also make cordial (which will last a year or more) and champagne (2 weeks to turn alcoholic and drink it quick before it explodes) - look online for recipes.

The butterflies and the bees

Clare is clearly a dab hand with a hacksaw. She brought in lengths of drainpipe just right for solitary bee residences, and plenty of straws and canes to stuff them with. The children set to this task with glee. She also had them making butterfly feeders, using pieces of cotton wool dipped in sugar water to tempt them. We made a few spare to hang around the clearing in the park -let's see if they get colonised.

The worms in our plastic-jug wormery appear to be doing OK in their new home, although it is difficult to tell with worms (as Winnie the Pooh might have said). Bryony brought it in for inspection, and none of them tried to escape back to their old woodland home. The children were curious to see them. If, as planned, we do some planting this autumn in the wildlife area, it will be good to use the wormery's compost as a contribution to the bed.

Our beloved Queen Victoria

Our beloved Queen Victoria
We sometimes bow to her before we set off into the woods!