Woods to Waves

Its been a busy few weeks in the woods around the city this summer, thank you to everyone that joined us! We have been enjoying playing some games gone by; nature games from the past explained in Flora Britannica stories by Richard Maybe. Here are just a few of our favourites:

Mud Yacks

Choose one live ash shoot to be your whipping pole (about as long as from your foot to your knee), take a small ball of clay (ping pong ball size or smaller) to attach to the end of the pole. The challenge is to see who can catapult it the furthest or even with -the most accuracy.

Elder shooters

Choose a thick piece of elder about 5cm long and hollow out the middle soft pith using a nail and hammer or tent peg. The game is to find a seed like cleavers or a tree bud like ash that will fit in the tube and can be shot at people effectively o blown along the ground as a race.

Flacks

Make a circle completely filled with a common small flat flower like a daisy. Sit in a circle around the flowers armed with a bigger flower like a dandelion or an acorn. Everybody takes it in turns to throw the dandelion at the daisy’s and see how many they can hit. Whichever daisy’s you hit, you get to keep. The winner is the person with the most daisy’s at the end when the circle has gone.

Plantain conkers

Using plantain on a long stem as a substitute for a conker. Each person recites the below poem before the game begins:

Ma faither and your faither

Were sitting supping brose (porridge)

Ma faither said your faither

Ah’ll hit off your nose