Back to Winter, but with Easter Fun

Well, we knew it was too good to last - Winter came back to us with a vengance this week. We had plans for Thursday to have the Bilborough Children's Centre visit to enjoy some Easter related activities, and we'd been hoping for some sun, but it wasn't to be. We still managed the fun though, and to get across lots of great environmental messages with our "Cycle - Recycle" theme. We also had some practical planting, thanks to Chris, who helped everyone plant their own peas and mark out their row so they can come back and pick them.

Chris gives a pea planting demonstration

Another activity which was much enjoyed was making plantable Easter cards, using an egg-shaped template and glue to stick poppy seeds to the card. We hope there will be lots of poppies in Bilborough this year! Thanks to Matt for running the activity and making some really cool cards.

Poppy seed Easter card making

Knowing how little people enjoy it, we also had a digging area, and also a place to make clay eggs full of wildflower seeds to throw into a patch of bare earth to make a little wildlife-friendly flower area.

Ingredients for pancakes and healthy sandwiches

And, since it's Windmill, we have to have some food cooking! Rosy and Phil made some super-healthy sandwich spread with cheese, onions and carrot, and also some of our famous apple pancakes, once we'd worked out that they work in Metric, whilst Tracey, being ancient, had written out the recipes in Pounds and Ounces! I think it's fair to say that a lot of apple was smuggled into willing mouths, and the food seemed to disappear as soon as it was made.

Making apple pancakes - one of your 5-a-day!

Ray helped the session go with a swing by entertaining us on his guitar. Notice that he had worked out what the temperature was going to be!

Ray adds a bit of entertainment with his guitar

Tracey meanwhile was making paper in the polytunnel. She had done a deal with the lovely people from Pulp-friction, who brought their smoothie bike and their spare blender cup to make the paper pulp by pedaling to make the blender work. That meant that the paper was really re-cycled!

Having fun with paper making

Tracey was able to show everyone how to make paper themselves, so most people got to take away a sheet of their own, and Pulp Friction have borrowed the kit so they can become experts themselves. For anyone trying it on a cold day like this - make sure you put a bit of warm water in the vat!

Paper making workshop

We've heard that the families from Bilborough really enjoyed it and have had a good time planting their cards and seed-eggs, as well as trying out some of the recipes. We're looking forward to inviting them back when the weather is warmer!