Campfire cooking

As we drove out to the site the rain on the windscreen was suggesting that perhaps today was not the ideal day for spending round a campfire. However a bit of rain wasn't about to put us off, knowing that the woods should give us some good cover if needed.

As it turned out it the rain didn't stay long and we had a great day, den building, playing on the rope swing and whittling a variety of spreading knives, toasting forks and spoons.

Of course all that hard work made for hungry children, so some campfire cooking was definitely needed. The bread twists made great hot dog buns with toasted marshmallows for pudding. Yum.

A Knotty evening

This week we decided to practice our knots, it was great to see how many of the children who made knotted bracelets at camp remembered the technique and were able to show some of the younger children what they needed to do.

Look at all the little knotty people we made, perfect for hanging on the outside of a rucksack at the next camp to identify them.

Spring camp 2015

Our preparations started a few weeks before the camp, making a few things to take along with us to show others a bit about our group. We already have a wonderful banner which our Pioneers made some time ago and which has come along to several events with us but with so many new members it was time for something new.

This year we opted for a totem pole, with each person decorating thier own section to add to the finished pole. It made a great feature in the marquee.

The Pioneers were once again busy baking 140 servings of cake!. The chocolate marble cake looked amazing when it was done.

The weather this year meant we spent plenty of time in the marquee working on crafts. There was something for everyone with the knotted bracelets and tissue paper lanterns proving particularly popular.

The Sunday afternoon wide game is always a firm favourite, this years theme was bees. The aim of the game being to collect nectar and take it back to your hive, pollinating flowers along the way. There were various activity stations set up in the woods to earn extra nectar, whether it was by performing a waggle dance to show your partner where the pollen was hidden, or following the smell trail to get to the nectar. Some like the fire lighting were less bee themed but no less fun.

It was a tired and muddy but happy group who went home on Monday

Off to camp

Time has flown this term, and we haven't got round to showing off the wonderful creations the children have been making. We've been busy getting ready for this weekend's Spring Camp.

The Pioneers enjoyed making the cakes last year, and the whole camp enjoyed eating them so we thought we'd have another go this year.  Mmmmmm.

I think we've covered the really vital equipment for keeping the adults going through the weekend.

Now just the last few bits to load up before we set off and get the site ready for the children arriving tomorrow.

Growing already

Wow, look at how much hair in just a week

Spring is on the way

Spring shoots are popping up everywhere, so this week the children all made their own spring grass heads.

Now we'll just need to keep them watered and on a sunny windowsill and wait till they are ready for their first hair cuts.

Get up and Glow

Packing for this weeks outdoor evening covered all eventualities. The first aid kit thankfully stayed tucked up in my bag needed, but the hot chocoltae was much appreciated in the cold.

It was the sort of evening when you need to keep active to stay warm, but we had lots of games to play. Starting with a balloon race. Each team passed a balloon over the hear of the first player, under the legs of the second and so on down the line. When the final player in line took the balloon they had to run to the front of the line to restart. It was a great warm up, made all the more fun by putting glowsticks inside the balloons so we could see them better in the dark.

The glowing balloons lent themselves well to some other games we'd more often play with balls too.

We ended the evening with a few rounds of untig, everyone had  just 10 seconds to find a hiding place before the untigger set off to find people. Some of the best hiding places we found by those who could manage to stay very still in the shadows.