Music Session (24th February 2014)

We started with a new game that Bibi taught us called Splat! One person is in the middle of a circle holding an imaginary splat gun. They spin around, point at someone and say 'Splat'. The person they are pointing at must duck. So far - so good... but... at the same time, the players on either side of them must point at each other and say "splat!". If the first person does not duck in time - they are out - and the last of the two on either side to say "splat!" is also out. If these two speak at the same time - they both stay in. Once a player is out they sit down in the circle. You still with me? Ok - when only two players remain, they stand back-to-back in the centre of the circle as in an old-fashioned duel.  As the two walk apart from each other the group leader says something like "orange, orange, orange, orange, orange, apple!" Then both players must turn and shoot, the quickest on the draw winning the game. (For good reasons - some people don't like shooting games - so you can play Splat! with imaginary custard pies instead…).

We followed Splat! with a free vote game and Octopus won.

Then we all sat in our circle and Lucy introduced Matt and Hamish. We told each other about our favourite instruments while eating apples, cheese and crackers. Matt liked bass trombone; Jago, Louis and Vidar also liked the trombone; Louis also liked maracas; Felix liked trumpet; Arthur liked rock guitar; Stan liked drums; Martha liked the violin; Catrin and Amanda liked the harp; Alison liked saxophone; Emily liked recorder; Bibi liked the voice; Bethan wasn't sure; Kate, Zena, Marie, Kira, Seren and Claire all liked the piano; Seren also liked ukulele and voice and Kate also liked the lute; Hamish liked the bouzouki; one Nick liked guitar and the other Nick liked the bongos!

Hamish passed around percussion instruments so everyone could have a go: maracas, reindeer bells, claves (Cuban pair of wooden sticks), ghungroo (Indian ankle bells) and many others including pots filled with chickpeas - one of which exploded while being shaken showering peas all over the floor! Stan, Hamish and Nick started a rhythm on drums and we all joined in until Matt split us first into two groups playing two contrasting rhythms and then into four groups to sing and play Campfire's Burning accompanied by the violin.

Then we made our own shakers:








We used plastic bottles and pots…












                               With plenty of rattlers inside.








Hamish and Matt played…

...and when anyone knew the song - they joined in.



It was like Woodcraft Woodstock.







When all the shakers were made and decorated we sang and played a few requests together...

...including a memorable We Will Rock You and Let It Be ending with an unusually musical Woodcraft Folk Song.

A very big thank you to all but especially the brilliant Matt and Hamish. What a talented bunch we are!

Session Leader: Lucy
Leaders: Kate, Amanda, Alison, Catrin
Helpers: Matt, Hamish, Marie, Nick, Claire

First Aid 2 (10th February 2014)

Tei started with our new game Dead Ants explaining it to all the people who were poorly last time. Then we had our second news circle this year with clementines and Hobnobs - and there were lots of things to tell...

Peter is going to Cornwall and so is Connie; Felix is going to a wedding in Lancaster; Ruby's going to stay in her cousins' new house; Nick is looking forward to Elfin hostel; Nicholas has got exams coming up; Seren got Star of the Week; Chris's boiler is not working; Tei said there is a lot of gossip in school this week about buying a rose for charity on Valentine's Day; Stan's going to the cinema to celebrate 3 family birthdays; Kira is going to see Peter Pan; Bethan said 'Hallo' to all of us; Marie had been Skyping friends and family in Canada and South America; Catrin has released the rabbits into the wild (of their garden); Nick pointed out this may not have been a great plan in light of Lucy's news: she is being extra careful with the chickens because their next door neighbour's hen was gotten by the fox; Millie said she had seen a fox cub in the road; Bibi said she'd seen a dog-like fox on the road to Nick's house and it was her birthday(!) so we all sang...

Then all those who missed First Aid last week went with Chris to bandage wounds and learn to save lives. 

The remaining group opted for something a bit more serious and played Pass the Squeeze - everyone held hands in a circle and took it in turns to pass a hand squeeze - sometimes changing direction and sometimes passing two squeezes in two directions at the same time. We graduated from this to Hula Hoop Hoopla. We began with one large hula hoop and had to pass it around the circle without letting go of each other's hands. Then we added in a smaller hoop and had to pass that in the opposite direction - and then a third even smaller one - until all three hoops had to loop inside each other - and the people inside all of them. The smallest people of all were best…

We sat down in a circle and Seren taught us how to play G'day Bruce. It's a bit fiddly to describe but the key thing is you have to go round the circle saying 'G'day Bruce', 'G'day Bruce', 'Say hallo to Bruce, Bruce' and if you go wrong you become a Sheila and if you go wrong again you become a Joey and if you go wrong again you're out. Everyone has to remember who is what. So you might end up having to say 'G'day Sheila', 'G'day Bruce,' 'Say hallo to Joey, Sheila'... and so on. All in an Australian accent.

Last of all we played Wink Murder. Vidar was the detective and went outside for a moment. Catrin chose Peter as the murderer and told everyone. It was pointed out that this was not traditional because no-one would catch his eye if they knew he was the murderer. However, because lots of people like doing big dramatic death scenes we decided it was ok. Vidar came back and - sure enough - lots of people happily bit the dust in a variety of gurgling falls. Vidar guessed Emily and Marie - so Peter got away with it! At which point the First Aiders joined us.

We took nominations for our favourite games and voted. Dead Ants, Octopus, The Forest Game, Tongue Murder and Crocodile were all nominated with a landslide victory for Dead Ants in the vote. So we played that and sang The Woodcraft Song to close.


Session Leaders: Lucy, Chris
Leaders: Alison, Catrin
Helpers: Tei, Marie, Nicholas

First Aid 1 (3rd February 2014)

We started in the playground then came in to play a new game called Wibble Wobble. (Brace yourself - this could be a long one...)

Wibble Wobble
Everyone starts off as a wibble wobble - wibbling their arms around and weaving about the room saying 'Wibble Wobble' until they bump into another one - at which point they play Rock, Paper, Scissors - whoever wins becomes a knight and has to charge around the room pretending to ride a horse and making clip clop noises - knights must find other knights - the remaining wibble wobbles must look for each other - then they all play Rock, Paper, Scissors again. When a knight beats another knight the loser becomes a wibble wobble, the winner becomes a king or queen and must walk grandly around with their hands straight up on either side of their head as a crown. (Is it just me - or are these games getting more and more complicated?) Anyway just to make it more interesting Jago suggested we go one step further so that kings and queens who beat other kings and queens can become Emperors and walk around with their arms wide like a sunburst... We did and, amazingly enough, it worked. We wibble wobbled, clip clopped, processed and paraded merrily until time for the news circle.

News
It was our first news circle since before Christmas and we had grapes and Jammy dodgers: Vidar felt he had been at school all the time, including weekends(!); Connie and Millie are going to Cornwall; Tei was looking forward to go karting at the weekend; Jago was looking forward to his Jammy Dodger; Catrin was worried their rabbits kept trying to chew their way out of the run; Peter had been fishing and caught a big fish; Kira had spent time with friends; Chris had been skiing for the weekend; Seren said she was hoping to go to Thailand; Alison had seen leafcutter ants; Emily had seen a murmuration of starlings and Stan had had a Yorkshire pudding the size of a teatray for lunch.

First Aid
Then Chris took over and taught the Elfins some basic First Aid. She had been badly injured and needed help patching herself up. So the Elfins had to find out what was wrong with her and then they went through considering all the contents of her First Aid box till eventually they worked out what bandages she needed. They had a go at bandaging each other (though some of the time had to be spent drawing wounds onto their arms with felt tips). Then, dramatically, Chris had a relapse, collapsed on the floor and had to be put into the recovery position. Not long after, all the Elfins knew how to do the position and were busy rolling each other around on the way to a safe recovery.

Dead Ants
We ended with another new game: Dead Ants. Everyone is an ant apart from 1 or 2 pest controllers. The object of the game is for all the ants to get from one side of the room to the ant hill on the other side. If they're caught by the controllers they have to lie down dead on the floor with their feet in the air. The other ants must come to rescue them but they can only be carried away to the ant hill by 4 ants - 1 on each arm and leg. When ants are holding the leg or arm of a dead ant they can't be caught by the pest controllers! Stan raced around like a mad thing but in the end solidarity won the day and all the ants were carried home.

We signed off with a big thank you to Chris and the Woodcraft Folk Song.


Session Leaders: Catrin, Chris
Leaders: Alison
Helpers: Lili, Tei, Marie

Chinese New Year (27th January 2014)

We started early in the hall playing a game called Dragons' Tails. Everyone split into two teams - each team formed a chain conga-style and the last Elfin in each had a scarf tucked into their waistband as a tail. Then both dragon heads had to try to steal the tail from the other dragon. Harder than it sounds.

Then in our circle Amanda and Claire handed around prawn crackers, sesame cakes and coconut biscuits and introduced us to Chinese New Year which this year is on Friday, January 31st. Amanda said that both she and Kira were born in China so Chinese New Year is very important for them. She told us about the lunar calendar and the years being named after animals in 12 year cycles. She read 'The Great Race' which tells the story of how the order of the animals was decided by The Jade Emperor.

She explained that people born in each year are influenced by the character of the animal and that this year was the Year of the Horse - cheerful, hard-working and independent. She explained that dragons bring good luck and that at New Year giant dragons with people inside perform a dance where the dragon chases the pearl of wisdom. And....that we were going to perform one today!

And so began the Story of the Dragoncraft Folk

We broke up into groups - one started work on the head…

...one on the tail and the body scales….

...and one built a rhythm with drums, tins, cardboard boxes, tambourines and other shakers…

Elfins moved between music making and dragon making. Then 7 climbed into the finished dragon…

When parents arrived we took it in turns to do a loud - raucous - wild - dance - 

- the dragon moved at surprising speed chasing the pearl and looked wonderful.

As everyone was leaving Amanda gave out traditional red money envelopes (with 10p inside) for good fortune, a fortune cookie and a card dial for finding out what animal year you are born in.

It was a very happy Woodcraft Chinese New Year.

Session Lead: Amanda
Leaders: Lucy, Kate, Alison, Catrin
Helpers: Claire, Marie, Tei

*UPDATE*

The Dragon Rides Again: Wolvercote Primary School borrowed the dragon for their Year 2 Key Stage 1 assembly. Kira, Bethan and others got to be dragon people one more time.

Snow globe 2: Global Warming (20th January 2014)

We ran about outside before coming in to play Octopus. Seren won the first round and Zena was the only fish to make it through on the second.

Not quite all run out, we sat down and thought about melting ice caps - recapping on last week. Then we talked about crazy weather (melting ice, flooding, freezing...) and how it affects people as well as animals. The Elfins told each other about their own experience of extreme weather and about The Maldives as one dramatic example of the impact of climate change.

Then we split into four teams (each with a dice and a bowl of ice cubes) to play the Icecube Game. Each player had to throw the dice and then try to melt an ice cube:

1 - Hold for 10 seconds
2 - Blow on it for 10 seconds
3 - Stand on it for 10 seconds
4 - Lick it 10 times!
5 - Rub it between your hands for 10 seconds
6 - Sprinkle salt on it

Salt and rubbing worked best - though standing on it was most fun.

One final challenge - each Elfin put a cube in their mouth to see who could melt it first without crunching! Nick won. We got together in the circle to talk about the results.

Then it was time to finish off the snowglobes. Unfortunately a couple of the clay penguins and polar bears had not come through the baking process well :( and will need more work. However, most of them looked great. We added water, glycerin and glitter to the jars and stuck the lids on with epoxy resin with the clay figures attached. Tomorrow evening, we'll find out if we really have snowfall when the globes are turned upside down. Fingers crossed.

Ended with a spirited rendition of the Woodcraft Song.

Ruby's snowglobe

Session Leads: Alison, Catrin
Leaders: Lucy
Helper: Marie

*UPDATE*

Marie's snowglobe

It's a bit difficult to show them 'in action' but here are a few…

The epoxy resin made some watertight - but not others…

Will now try some bathroom sealant to make doubly sure...

Emily's snowglobe

Snow Globes 1: Global Warming (13th January 2013)

Had fun in the playground then came in and played the Shrinking Icecaps game. All the Elfins were polar bears living on large ice floes made out of sheets of newspaper. When the music began the polar bears had to jump from ice floe to ice floe. When it stopped they all had to get onto one - but each time the music stopped a sheet of newspaper was removed! All the bears had to help each other stay on the dwindling sheets of ice...

Apart from the shrinking ice caps the main complication was that Catrin had forgotten to provide music - so instead had to sing The Wild Rover at the top of her voice for accompaniment!

In the circle we ate Iced Gems and talked about polar bears and penguins and their habitats. We talked about what a climate was and the idea of climate change. We used a globe to point out the North and South Poles and learnt the difference between the Arctic and Antarctic.

Each Elfin had brought a jam jar to make a snow globe. 

We made black and white models of penguins and polar bears out of clay just small enough to fit inside the different jars. 

Snow creatures by Kira, Zena, Seren and Vidar

Everyone's polar creations

Catrin took them home to bake ready to finish off next week.

We sang the Woodcraft Folk Song - twice! 


Session Lead: Catrin
Leaders: Alison, Kate, Amanda, Lucy
Helper: Tei, Marie