Friday 31 August 2012

Running towards adventure





the adventurers gather
 A week of activity! In our Exploring with Stories project, we had planned a lively week to coincide with National Family Week - then that was cancelled but our events went ahead anyway!

In the last few days, we've had swarms of people out looking for Faeries, Trolls and Goblins in Padley Gorge near Hathersage. That was such a magical and perilous time that photos will follow later when we have determined that they are safe from spells and that to look at them will not risk enchantment and having all of you turned into frogs (not necessarily a bad thing, I hasten to say, but we have to observe some proprieties)
weaving baskets
Dragon Girl tells her tale

Wednesday was flooded. The woods where we hoped to go Into the Woods were waterfalls, and rivulets and our heroic artists dripped within minutes. Visitors had more sense and stayed at home. We surrendered the day to the rain and its thunder
cooperation is needed
when building dens

soft, damp moss for pillows 
But to-day people gathered to Run Away to Adventure and in Grinlow Woods we heard the tale of the dragon who, after killing the crabs, chased the girls who had been looking in rockpools off the beach  and into the woods where they built a den that was so well-hidden no dragon could see it.

Then there were the family who were on a holiday sailing down the Nile when their boat was overturned and abandoned by search parties, they made a camp on the banks of the river. Braving crocodiles and hippos, they caught fish in the river and made friends with local people

a shelter with all modern conveniences

The stories span on, watchtowers on the heights, the nutriritonal value of toasted biscuits, a branch polished smooth and pale that looked suspiciously like a giant's thigh-bone, baskets to collect fruit in, the best ways of cooking rabbits (especially oens made of moss and bark!), wet clay lamps to light the dark, wild nights, the relative merits of logs and bracken as bedding…….
and on the banks of the Nile...


Books we used
Places we went to for ideas in planning these sessions
Into the Woods:
TH White, The Sword in the Stone
East, Maddern & Marks, The Spirit of the Forest
Julia Donaldson, The Gruffalo
Jane Gifford, The Wisdom of Trees
JRR Tolkien, Lord of the Rings
toasting biscuits?

Run Away To Adventure
BB, Brendon Chase
JRR Tolkien, The Hobbit
Michael Morpurgo, Kensuke's Kingdom
Ray Mears, Essential Bushcraft
Scott O'Dell, Island of the Blue Dolphins
Swiss Family Robinson
Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe

the watchers on the hill


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