Spooks and Sparkles

As the clocks have changed and the nights are darker we're making the most of the seasonal changes.

The Pioneers went for a spooky week, playing vampire and zombie tag in the dark, they even had a treasure hunt in the dark.

The Elfins had a much brighter evening, making their own firework printing blocks.

They made some wonderful November skies

Inventing our own games, part 1

This term the pioneers started focusing on games. We play lots of games every week, from the very active ones with lots of running around to quieter thinking games which really get our minds working. After breaking down some of the games they already knew to see what makes them work so well it was time to get into groups and invent something new.

The new games have been tried, tweaked and tested again till they were ready to go.

Each group has made a short film, demonstrating their games. Here's the first one for you, introducing Animal Dodgeball.

Hopefully once the editing is completed we'll be able to share some more games with you too.

Youth Shelter

Back at the start of the year we wrote a letter to help the Friends of Jubilee Green with their fund-raising for a youth shelter.

The grant bid was successful and over the summer they have been working hard to get the shelter built, after some running repairs it's looking fantastic.

Have you been to see it yet?
http://www.friendsofjubileegreen.org.uk/welcome.aspx

Out and about

The end of September saw several of us heading down to Exeter to join with other groups form the South West for the annual fun day.

This year the Devon woodland played the part of Sherwood Forest for a Robin Hood themed event, while everyone worked to earn the four necessities of medieval life, Bread, Beer, Meat & Salt whilst dodging the Sheriff's band.

Everything from  balancing along a rope bridge while collecting your tokens to crossing Little Johns bridge. The Woodland Jousting was a particularly popular game, how many rings do you think you would be able to catch?

After an action packed day it was time to settle down and to set up our beds for the night, a hammock under the stars!

A camp-fire, hot chocolate and marshmallows finished the day off.

Pirates Ahoy

Every couple of terms we have a time where the children suggest ideas for activities they would enjoy, then we vote for the top favourites. This term the Elfins (6-9 year olds) chose pirates.

We found so many watery games like Captain's Coming, Sharks and Jaws that our games sessions had a very nautical feel.

Possibly the most fun was the craft time though, we started with treasure maps, of course each map needed an X to mark the spot but you defiantly needed a map to guide you through all the sea monsters, swamps, deadly caves and haunted towers.

Of course no map would quite work without the treasure, we used salt dough to create ours, and then metallic paint to give it a touch of sparkle.

What pirate would be seen without their parrot on their shoulder and what a colourful collection ours were.