Countryside Live at Lee Valley Park 2019
ARENA
We have put together an exciting arena programme that includes: a display of indigenous birds of prey; sheep dogs, ferret racing and meet the beagles.You are free to watch any of the demonstrations throughout the day so make sure you catch your favourites.
ANIMALS IN TUITION
Creature Features
Focusing on senses and adaptations, this is your chance to meet some fascinating animals, with lots of interesting facts and information and even the opportunity to do some animal handling. Come and meet some snakes and invertebrates and some surprise visitors (with eight legs) that ou will not want to miss.
National Curriculum: Life processes and living things : habitats/senses/adaptations
This is a bookable activity. Age range – any. Group size up to 30. Approximate duration of activity – 30 minutes.
Visit their website: www.animalsintuition.co.uk
THE BAT SHOW
Going Batty
Meet some bats and see how tiny, furry and cute they are. Find out where they live and what they eat. They are completely harmless, and they are beneficial to the environment. And they are not blind; nor do they suck your blood. Bats use high-pitched sound to navigate and find their insect prey. Normally we can’t hear that sound, but we’ll have equipment that will let you hear it and let you into the secret world of bats. And there’ll be some for you to see.
This is a bookable activity. Age range – any. Group size up to 30. Approximate duration of activity – 30 minutes.
Visit a local group website: www.londonbats.org.uk
BEAGLES
Come along and meet the Stow or Radley College Beagles
The Association of Masters of Harriers & Beagles, the Organisation that regulates Beagle packs, recommends trail hunting as an alternative activity to live quarry hunting (pending repeal of the Hunting Act). It describes trail hunting as the hunting of an artificial scent and recommends that hunts use the scent of a hare. The Association states that “There is no reason why huntsman or followers should know in advance the route hounds will take when following a trail, thus closely matching hunting in its traditional form”.
The official website of DEFRA, the Government Ministry with responsibility for the countryside, states “Trail hunting is perfectly legal, as long as animal welfare and other laws are not broken in the process of obtaining the scent. Many hunts have adopted some form of trail hunting in place of live quarry hunting. The Government has said that it welcomes this, provided that the hunts are genuinely intending to stay within the law and not trying to use the practice as a subterfuge for engaging in illegal hunting activities.”
This is a drop-in activity for any age range.
BLACKSMITH
The Mobile Forge – Blacksmith demonstrations
A working demonstration and talks on iron working – see an old fashioned blacksmith at work.
This is a drop-in activity for any age range.
CANAL & RIVER TRUST
Water Safety and Canal Crane Technology
Water Safety – children will be challenged to spot all of the hazards on a giant waterside scene before learning what to do in emergency situations, with some practical demonstrations.
Canal Crane Technology – Pupils will get hands on, making canal crane models with real gear systems and hydraulic rams. Older children will experience how these systems are used to reduce the effort needed to move heavy loads.
This is a drop in activity. Age range – KS1 & KS2. Group size up to 30. Approximate duration of the activity variable.
Visit their website: www.canalrivertrust.org.uk/explorers
CITY OF LONDON – EPPING FOREST
Pre-historic Epping Forest (Looking at Stone through to Iron age)
Would you have survived in prehistoric England? A chance to understand how civilisation developed throughout the stone age to Iron age with our hands-on games and challenges:
- Prehistoric timeline puzzle
- Mystery bags – artefact handling
- Natural Cordage challenge
This is a bookable activity. Age range – KS2. Group size 30.Duration 25 mins.
Visit their website:
COUNTRYSIDE LEARNING – 6 activities
1.Corn Dolly Making
Come and see the demonstration of corn weaving and dolly making. Each child makes a countryman’s favour. These were worn by farm workers at country fairs to signify the type of work they did e.g. shepherd would have wool in his favour.
This is a bookable activity. Age range – 7 years upwards. Group size up to 30 – we can take two groups at a time so 60 per session. Approximate duration of activity 35 minutes.
2.Felt Making
The children will find out more about fleeces and wool and make a simple felt flower to take home.
This is a bookable activity. Age range any (FS may require adult help). Group size up to 30. Approximate duration of activity 30 minutes. We can take two groups at a time so 60 per session.
National Curriculum: Art, Design and Technology, Science (materials).
3.Sowing the seeds of growth
Children will learn what a seed requires to germinate and then once germinated what it needs to continue growing. Children will have the opportunity to make their own paper plant pot which they draw a face on. They will then plant some cress seeds in the pot, so the pot head will grow some hair within a couple of weeks.
This is a bookable activity. Age range – any. Group size up to 30. Approximate duration of the activity 30 minutes.
4.Tremendous Trees
Children will learn about the work of a forester and see the clothes and equipment that are needed to fell trees. Children will learn how to find out a tree’s age once it has been cut down, by counting the growth rings of previously prepared tree discs. They will also learn how to measure a tree to “guesstimate” its age with a calculator. Children will get a chance to make a paper helicopter that works in the same way as the seeds from the Sycamore tree.
This is a bookable activity. Age any – Group size up to 30. Approximate duration of activity 30 minutes
5. Dragonflies
Children will learn some facts about dragonflies and then get a chance to make their own dragon fly out of a wooden peg, pipe cleaners, felt tip pens and wiggly eyes.
This is a bookable activity. Age range – any. Group size up to 30. Approximate duration of the activity 30 minutes.
6. Fun Fungi
Learn about Fungi; their lifecycle and how they help plants. Fungi in our foods and medicines. Different shapes of Toadstool and why we don’t eat them. We will demonstrate how yeast is alive by showing the children a yeast balloon. Finally, the children will get a chance to make their own peg fungi.
This is a bookable activity. Age any – younger children may require adult assistance. Group size up to 30. Approximate duration of activity 30 minutes.
Visit their website: www.countrysidelearning.org
THE DRAPERS’ COMPANY AND CITY BARGE
Enjoy a trip in a traditional river barge as a passenger or as a crew member
We will bring along our 6-oared shallop – a traditional river barge – and welcome school groups to join us for a short trip on the river Lee. Up to 5 children can have a go at rowing at any one time, sitting alongside our experienced crew members. There will be a chance to swap over the children during the voyage so that everyone gets a chance to row if they’d like to. When not rowing, both children and their accompanying adults can enjoy a trip on the river with the sights, sounds and smells associated with being out on the water.
We will teach the basics of boat craft: Port and Starboard (red and green); starting and stopping the shallop; turning around as well as getting aboard and going ashore safely.
This is a bookable activity for KS2 children . Group size up to 10 children who MUST be accompanied by 2 adults. Approximate duration of activity 30 minutes.
Please meet at the Registration Tent 10 mins prior to your trip time, so that life jackets can be distributed and time made available to get down to the boat.
ECO-ACTIVE
’Love our Planet!’ – ecoACTIVE taster activities
Groups will join our ecoACTIVE team and get the chance to take part in the following activities:
- Eco-innovators judging and ‘How I am going to change the World’ – pupils will get the chance to find out about several young ‘Eco-innovators’, who have designed and made amazing products that are helping to protect the environment. Pupils will become judges and choose the designer that they feel has made the biggest impact. This activity will finish with pupils writing their own, ‘How I am going to change the World’ statements, and have their photos taken by their teachers in our Eco-Innovators selfie frame. (Please bring a school camera if you’d like to capture photos of your pupils during this activity)
- Plastic bottle bowling and waste prevention quiz – pupils will learn more about the impact that plastic is having on our planet and ways to reduce, reuse and recycle our waste, by taking part in this fun plastic bottle bowling game and quiz.
- Forest school taster activity: natural weaving – pupils will tie sticks together in a star or cross shape and weave recycled wool round the shape to create a decoration or mobile. Extra natural materials can be incorporated to personalise each one.
National Curriculum – Science: Living things and their habitats
Pupils should be taught to: recognise that environments can change and that this can sometimes pose dangers to living things
Design and Technology: Evaluate
Pupils should be taught to: investigate and analyse a range of existing products; understand how key events and individuals in design and technology have helped shape the world
Art and Design:
Pupils should be taught: to improve their mastery of art and design techniques, including drawing, painting and sculpture with a range of materials
Citizenship: Preparing to play an active role as citizens
Pupils should be taught: that resources can be allocated in different ways and that these economic choices affect individuals, communities and the sustainability of the environment.
This is a bookable activity. Age range – 7+. Group size up to 30. Approximate duration of the activity 30 minutes.
Visit their website: www.ecoactive.org.uk
ENVIRONMENT AGENCY
Hook-a-Duck Flood education game, Mystery Pollution Identification game & Flood Kit Assembly game
The Environment Agency stall with have three stations and will split the groups into three with each group going to one of the stations for ten minutes before swapping over twice so everyone gets a turn at each station.
Hook-a-Duck education game: A small paddling pool filled with water has a number of ducks floating with hooks attached to their heads and a number painted on them. Before we start we ask the children (via thumbs up or down) whether they would play/walk in flood water if they saw it. The children are then given a pole with a loop attached to the end and will attempt to pick up the ducks via the hook. They read off the number and we bring out a laminated card with the associated number. Each numbered card has images of different hazard found in flood water and we show the children these hazards and why they are dangerous. After the game we then ask the children (via thumbs up or down) whether they would still like to play in flood water.
Flood Kit Assembly game: The aim of this game is to get the children to think about what items would want to take with them in a flood emergency and get them to prioritise things they will need to take over things they may want to take with them. One by the one the children will take a card with an item displayed on it and show the group. The group will then discuss if they would choose to put the item in their flood kit and why. The facilitator will explore the reasoning of the children and ask them for any relevant personal experience.
The Mystery Pollution game: A number of clear bottles filled with a range of substances will be lined up on the table in front of the children who will be asked to guess what is in each one. Each substance is a real pollutant which has been found contaminating rivers and water courses and can cause harm to wildlife and people. This will impress on the children how sensitive some ecosystems are and why we should not pollute them or throw rubbish into them.
This is a bookable activity. Age range – KS2. Group size up to 30. Approximate duration of the activity 30 minutes.
Visit their website: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/environment-agency
ENVIRONMENTAL EXPLORERS
Owls in the Countryside
Introduction talk about the different types of owls in the British countryside, what they eat and how they hunt for their food. Then with their helpers (from schools) pupils can get hands on investigating the contents of owl pellets to see what they’ve been eating.
PLEASE NOTE THAT TEACHERS AND ADULT HELPERS ARE REQUIRED TO HELP WITH THIS ACTIVITY
This is a bookable activity. Age range – 7+. Group size up to 30. Approximate duration of the activity 30 minutes.
FALCONRY
There will be an all day static display of birds of prey, together with flying demonstrations as part of the arena programme from Xtreme Falconry. During the day he will be able to answer questions and talk to children about the birds and their role in the countryside.
This is a drop-in activity for any age range.
FELLABELL MINIATURE HORSE
Come along and meet Tom a Fellabella Miniature Horse. The Fellabella is one of the smallest breeds of horse in the world, seldom taller than 8 hands (32 inches, 81cm) in height at the withers. A member of staff from T Cribbs & Sons will be on hand to talk to you about animal husbandry and looking after and maintaining a horse.
FERRETWORLD ROADSHOW
1) A History of ferrets from Romans through to Modern Day with Q and A Sheets
2) A description of hunting with ferrets combined with student participation “finding the ferret” using a metal detector in a grid to demonstrate problem solving
3) The children race the ferret in 2 teams down large pipes.
This is a bookable activity for ages 5+ . Group size up to 30. Approximate duration of activity 30 minutes.
National Curriculum: History, Food Chains, Physical Exercise
Visit their website: http://www.ferretworld.co.uk
FIELD STUDIES COUNCIL
A magnified world
Can you spot a species? A practical plant and invertebrate identification activity encouraging visitors to become aware of their surroundings and the natural world. Including:
- Feely boxes for identification through touch
- Samples of leaves to identify
- Invertebrate models and diagrams for identification
- Magnifying glasses, microscopes and ID charts
National Curriculum: Working scientifically and living things and their habitats strands
This is a bookable activity. Age range KS2. Group size up to 30. Approximate duration of activity 25 minutes.
Visit their website: www.field-studies-council.org
FROGLIFE
Tails of Amphibian Discovery (T.O.A.D)
The activity will look into the UK’s native amphibian species, and what makes them so special. The class will be taught how to identify the different species that they might find where they live and how we, as humans, can help those species. We will also explore the habitats that these animals need, and what these consist of. The activity will finish with a short craft activity where each child will get the chance to take home their own frog mask.
This is a bookable activity. Age range Y2-Y5. Group size up to 30. Approximate duration of activity 30 minutes.
Visit their website: www.froglife.org
FULLERS SHIRE HORSES
Come and meet the horses. See the horses at work and have a ride in their dray.
This is a drop-in activity for any age range.
HEN CORNER
Hen Corner – Urban Smallholding
Introduction to Urban Smallholding and the food that can be produced in a London back garden.
Discovering the joys and responsibilities of keeping chickens.
Opportunity for each child to stroke a chicken.
Stickers & postcards given out to each class visiting.
This is a bookable activity. Age range – Any. Group size up to 30. Approximate duration of activity 20 minutes.
Visit their website: www.HenCorner.com
LEAF EDUCATION – (formerly FACE)
The Science of Apples
September is the season for apples in the UK, so what better way to celebrate the harvest by developing your students Working Scientifically skills using these wonderful fruit. LEAF Education enables quality learning experiences based around food, farming and the countryside which are explicitly linked to the National Curriculum. In this session your students will conduct experiments in groups to discover the various characteristics of different kinds of apples. And yes, this will include some taste testing – thanks to our collaborators from The Marsden Fruit Show Society!
This is a bookable activity. Age range – KS2. Group size up to 30. Approximate duration of activity 30 minutes.
Visit their website: www.education.leafuk.org
LEE VALLEY PARK FARMS – ANIMALS
Come and meet a few of the Lee Valley Park Farms animals including our llama and pygmy goats. There’s also the opportunity to have a stroke and hold of some of our smaller pets including the rabbits, guinea pigs and tortoise.
This is a drop-in activity for any age range.
Visit their website: www.leevalleypark.org.uk
LEE VALLEY PARK YOUTH AND SCHOOLS – Minibeast Hunting
The session is 30 minutes in duration and is led by Lee Valley Regional Park staff and volunteers on land adjacent to the event site. The activities will be adapted depending on the age or ability of the group.
Tent based activities
The Lee Valley Park Youth and Schools tent provides further information on the range of educational activities available across the Park. It also provides children with an insight into the hidden world of the countryside including becoming a mini beast detective. Discover why minibeasts need plants and get creative making your very own bee or butterfly feeder. Challenge your students with our minibeasts quiz and add a Lee Valley promise leaf to our environmental pledge tree.
The Nature Trail mini-beast hunt is pre-booked and bookable on the day if there are spaces. The tent based activity is a drop-in activity. Both for any age range.
Visit their website: www.visitleevalley.org.uk/education
LONDON WILDLIFE TRUST
Snack attack, raindrops game and camouflage worms**
Snack Attack
This activity helps the group to understand that the more structurally complicated the environment, the more animals can survive in it. This game introduces the children to animals they will find in habitats and to the importance of safe habitats in order for survival.
Each child is given a label, which gives the name of a different plant-eating animal found in a mini-beast hunt. Give four children labels naming predatory mini-beasts, for example centipede, ground beetle, harvestman and wolf spider.
Place plastic leaves in the centre of the play area with 10 hula-hoops placed in a large circle around it.
The object of the game is for the carnivorous animals to catch as many herbivores as they can. Once caught the herbivores stand out of the game. The herbivores are safe from the carnivores as long as they stand in a hoop, but they have to leave the ring to get a leaf to ‘eat’. They survive the game if they manage to get a leaf and return to a hoop uncaught.
Let the game run for ten minutes and then stop it and see how many herbivores have been caught, how many managed to get leaves and how many got back to a hoop with a leaf and how many did not manage to get a leaf. Take five rings away and play the game again. This game should demonstrate that when there are fewer rings for children to stand in there are fewer opportunities for them to get away from predators. The same fact relates to natural habitats, for example the more logs to hide under the more mini-beasts exist in the area.
Raindrops Game
- Children are seeds, and spread out as if blown by wind
- Once given the signal to stop, their feet are ‘planted’ and cannot move
- Children are showered with laminate raindrops which they must catch without moving their feet
- Ask children to hold up the number of raindrops they caught, some will have more than others
- This highlights how plants have little control over where they eventually grow and that water capture is dependent on position
Camouflage worms
- Place ‘worms’ (twenty lots of six different coloured strings) around vegetation.
- Explain to children that the colourful worms have escaped and are using the colours provided by plants to hide.
- Give children five minutes to collect worms and bring put them in separate pots for each colour.
- See how the brightly coloured worms are easier to find, but the green and brown ones have used blended into the plants and are harder to locate
- Discuss examples of animals using camouflage (laminate sheet)
National Curriculum – KS1 and 2 outdoor activities directly linked to the science curriculum focusing on Habitats, Moving and Growing and Animal Characteristics (Adaptation). All LWT lessons are created to open up opportunities for children to learn outside the classroom.
This is a bookable activity. Age range any. Group size up to 30. Approximate duration of activity 30 minutes.
Visit their websites:
www.wildlondon.org.uk
www.walthamstowwetlands.org.uk
www.woodberrywetlands.org.uk
MOVE N SMOOTH
Health Workshop – Smoothie Bikes
Our workshops provide interactive session and information on nutrition, exercise, and hydration and conclude with each pupil having the opportunity to pedal a healthy, fresh fruit smoothie on our amazing human powered Smoothie-Bikes.
This is a bookable activity. Age range Y1 upwards. Group size up to 35. Approximate duration of activity 35 minutes.
Visit their website www.smoothiebikehire.com
THE NATIONAL TRUST – RAINHAM HALL
Create Some Wild Art
Join us on the Rainham Hall, National Trust stall. Tick off number 18 on the National Trust’s ‘50 things to do before you’re 11 ¾’ list and ‘Create Some Wild Art’.
This is a bookable activity for 5-11 year olds. Group size up to 30. Approximate duration of activity 30 minutes.
Visit their website: www.nationaltrust.org.uk/rainham-hall
RACING TO SCHOOL
Weighing In
Pupils will get an insight into life of a jockey and see what goes on behind the scenes in the Weighing Room. They will see a practical application of the maths they learn in the classroom.
This is a bookable activity for 7+ year olds. Group size up to 30. Approximate duration of activity 25 minutes.
National Curriculum– Functional Maths.
Visit their website: www.racingtoschool.co.uk
THE ROYAL PARKS
From Pollinators to Poo
Join Mission: Invertebrate and The Royal Parks to discover the wonderful world of invertebrates. They are incredibly important and make up 96% of all known animals. We vertebrates wouldn’t last long without them! In these interactive sessions, learn how the beautiful bugs and beasties on your doorstep help plants to make seeds and recycle waste.
This is a bookable activity for KS2. Group size up to 30. Approximate duration of activity 30 minutes.
Visit their website: www.RoyalParks.org.uk
RSPB
Habitat Explorer
Working scientifically your pupils will map and score the venue grounds for nature – identifying habitats that already exist and using the data to effectively contribute to a biodiversity action plan
Our engaging, age-appropriate, curriculum-linked sessions, all contribute towards RSPB’s Wild Challenge Award, Eco-Schools Programme and John Muir Awards. Our trained educators bring resources and specialist equipment, adding value to the workshop.
This is a bookable activity. Age range: 5 – 11 Group size 30. Duration 30 mins
Visit their website: www.rspb.org.uk/rainham
SHEEPDOGS AND GEESE
David Seamark is a sheep and arable farmer running a flock of 550 breeding ewes. As part of the arena programme, the display will demonstrate his skill in working up to five dogs with geese in a way that they would work 200-300 sheep back home on the farm. You will see the true partnership of dog and man together with the great ability and trust that each has for one another when working in the practical environment.
This is a drop-in activity for any age range.
THE SHEEP SHOW
Come and meet Nobby the Norfolk Horn, Belinda the Blue-faced Leicester and many more breeds of sheep in the highly entertaining and educational Sheep Show. There will also be a sheep shearing demonstration.
This 30 minute show will be performed 3 times a day at:
10.15am – 10.45am
11.30am – 12.00pm
1.30pm – 2.00pm
Visit their website: www.thesheepshow.co.uk
ST CLEMENT VETERINARY CLINICS
Come along and have a go at being a vet. We have animal x-rays and a toy dog with a fixator. A model cow to assess objects in jelly and a model sheep to lamb.
This is a bookable activity for any age range. Duration 30 mins.
Visit their website: www.stclementvets.co.uk
SUN JESTER – 2 separate stands
Sun Jester 1 – Fire & Light
An introduction to the use and techniques of making fire from heating, cooking and lighting prior to the introduction of matches and electricity. Make a simple beeswax candle to take away.
This is a bookable activity. Age range – any Group size up to 30. Approximate duration of activities 20 minutes.
Sun Jester 2 is offering a choice of 2 activities:
(A)Funky Vikings** for KS2
Construct your own simple template based on a Viking design and use it to make a woollen braid like a friendship band. A proven addictive activity for all ages and genders!
This is a bookable activity. Age range 7+. Group size up to 30. Approximate duration of activities 25 minutes.
(B) Optical Illusion** – for any age
Trick your eyes with an easy to make Victorian toy. See an empty field….then like magic, a horse appears!
PLEASE NOTE THAT TEACHERS AND ADULT HELPERS MAY BE REQUIRED TO HELP WITH THE KNOT TYING ASPECT OF THIS ACTIVITY
This is a bookable activity. Age range – any. Group size up to 30. Approximate duration of activities 25 minutes.
Visit their website: http://www.sunjester.co.uk
TERRIER RACING TO FOLLOW
TREEWRIGHT
Bodger– Pole Lathe Turning and Green Woodwork Demonstration
Through the bodging process of splitting, chopping, shaving and turning,we will be transforming logs into useful wooden items. A full range of our products will be an interactive display for all.
This is a drop-in activity for any age range.
Visit their website: www.treewright.co.uk/
WILLOWPOOL DESIGNS
Willow Weaving
Join expert willow weavers Steve and Simone and enjoy the wonders of willow!
Children will have an opportunity to weave a willow fish. They will be supplied with a willow fish “frame” and will be shown how to create a “weaver” fish using basic weaving techniques. This experience will enable all participants to learn how flexible and enjoyable weaving can be! As this is only a taster session the aim of this short workshop is to allow children to have a genuine hands-on-experience. Children will take away the skills to finish their fish at home or at school and be encouraged to use other natural or weaveable materials.
materials.
This is a bookable activity. Age range – 7+. Group size up to 30. Approximate duration of activity 15 minutes.
Visit their website:www.willowpooldesigns.co.uk
WILLOW WEAVING WITH UNDERWOODSMAN LTD
Willow Star
Weave a willow star with willow rods using traditional techniques. While weaving, find out about willow and basket making, and the background to this ancient craft.
This is a bookable activity. Age range – 7+. Group size up to 30. Approximate duration of activity 30 minutes.
Visit their website:www.underwoodsman.co.uk
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