It's always great when out-of-school clubs can make the most of the summer term by going outside and enjoying sports and outdoor games and activities.
Hopefully days of sun will drift by and contented children will play happily. However, even sporty children do not want to play sport all the time, and need other outdoor choices and activities.
'Earth magic' is an ideal theme for good weather, allowing children to explore and utilise materials which are easily obtained from the natural environment.
GETTING STARTED
For a week or two beforehand, take the children on a collecting spree to surrounding fields, parks and woods.
Items which will be useful include:
* Twigs, large sticks and bark
* Grasses
* Teasel heads
* Corn
* Conkers
* Pine cones
* Feathers
* Pebbles, shells and driftwood
* Fruits and vegetables
* Herbs and spices
* Leaves, flowers and seeds
Different items are available at various times through the year and it is fun to have a collecting spree at least once each season so the children can enjoy using a variety of natural resources.
Collecting materials is part of the excitement of the 'earth magic' theme.
Encourage children to bring in items they have collected on family outings.
They will enjoy showing these and relating where they found them.
Other items which will be useful are:
* Old sheets and bedspreads
* String
* Cocktail sticks
* Plasticine
* Pegs
LET'S GO!
Once the bounty has been collected you can start using it all.
In miniature Twigs, sticks and bark can be tied or glued together to make small items of dolls' furniture or play-park items like see-saws and swings. Clay or Plasticine make good bases for these.
Camp grounds Lashing together large sticks by winding rope in a figure of eight around them is a method used to make a variety of camping items like racks, hooks and pot holders. A tripod made by lashing three sticks together at one end, with some fabric thrown over it, becomes a tent. Two tripods with a long stick placed in the fork at either end and covers hung along it, makes a camp wall or den.
Children will start to create all kinds of weird and wonderful objects by using this method, and it really adds to the fun of camp building. A session in a local park or woodlands will allow them to enjoy the back-to-nature feeling, and utilise the trees and bushes around them. Make sure children do not break branches or do any damage and they will learn to respect the countryside while enjoying it.
Children will weave games of hide and seek, manhunt, mystery and adventure around the environment they have created, so a long session - a morning or afternoon at playscheme - is ideal.
Daisy chains We tend to think of making daisy chains as an old-fashioned activity that would bore today's techno kids, but to a child who has never made one before, it is magic. They love racing to make the longest and draping each other with the results.
Bug hunting The best way for children to collect bugs is to hold a plain piece of white paper or card under a bush or tree while somebody shakes it, or to slide it through long grass. This will ensure they pick up a variety of insects to inspect, with the help of a bug catcher or magnifying glass.
Encourage children to return the insects to their environment after studying them.
Basic 'corn' dollies These are formed by tying a bundle of grass at different intervals to make the 'head' and 'body', then separating the last half into two 'legs'. A smaller swathe of grass tied at both ends can be poked through the upper body to make arms.
Animals Teasel heads, pine cones, acorns and conkers can be used to make a range of animals. Stick cocktail sticks in to link a body to a head, use twigs or leaves for legs and tails, and a dab of paint or clay for eyes.
Teasel mice can be made from teasel flower heads which are soft spiny oval shapes. A small teasel is put on to a larger one and dressed in scraps of material for a dress and a bonnet, with tiny circles of black felt for the eyes and little cardboard feet.
Natural dyes Colour is fun to experiment with. Bracken and heather make shades of yellow; leaves make shades of green, beige and yellow; blackberries make blue and dandelion roots make purple or lilac. With supervision, simmer the natural item in water for an hour or two. Then use the liquid to dye pieces of fabric - white muslin or cotton is best.
A simpler way to use natural dyes is for children to use a pestle and mortar to pound and squeeze juice out of leaves, seeds, fruits and spices and then to use the dyes to paint pictures. Cotton wool buds are better than brushes for this.
Lavender Our out of school club is within the grounds of a college that has lavender bushes everywhere. When they are in flower, we ask permission to collect the flower heads and make lavender bags, bundles and herb pillows.
Rosemary and thyme bushes may also be available. If you have your own garden, small herb bushes can be bought and encouraged to grow, ready for harvesting.
Pressing flowers and leaves This is an old-fashioned art which has recently made a comeback on greetings cards. There are no instant results with this, but if you can get hold of some ready-pressed leaves and flowers for the children to make pictures from, or at least bring in a couple of demonstration greetings cards, it will help. Collecting and pressing leaves and flowers could then become a regular activity ensuring your club has a continuous supply.
Most types of leaves press well and cow parsley, also known as whitebeard or old maid's lace, presses beautifully. Forget-me-nots, buttercups, daisies and clover also press well, as do ferns and small leaves. Make sure children know that they should not pick flowers or leaves without checking with a playworker first.
Flowers and leaves should be laid as flat as possible between blotting paper or the white sides of scrap paper and placed between the pages of heavy books or between sheets of card underneath heavy files or boxes.
Feathers These are often found on bounty hunts and children can race them by blowing or waving leaves at them. They could also make quill pens and use natural dyes as ink. Alternatively they could fill in the outline of a bird with real feathers to make a stunning picture.
Boats Sticks can be used to make boats, with leaves for sails. They can then be floated on puddles.
Miniature gardens Grow plants from seeds or vegetable tops and make gardens in trays.
Deborah Sharpe runs out-of-school clubs for Sussex Downs College in Eastbourne
Footprints
Making plaster casts of animal and bird footprints is an activity that will prove extremely popular all year round.
You will need:
* 4cm-thick bands of card made into tubes
* Bottles of water
* Plaster powder
* Mixing containers
What to do:
1 Push a card tube into the soil around an animal print.
2 Mix plaster powder with water and tip the mixture into the tube, filling it half-way up.
3 The plaster print should be dry and ready to lift in 15-20 minutes.
