Y6 in the woods
Week 2 for Year 6. The camp fire wasn’t lit today so the children were asked to collect skinny sticks and Birch bark andMatthew started a fire really quickly. We continued with the spears initially. Matthew showed us how to burn off the wispy bits on the spears and how to use the knife to create a smooth finish. This took some time but just before dinner we were ready to bind on the feathers. Gut was used as the binding, it can be pulled very tight and then it shrinks as it dries. After dinner it was covered in pitch(made from pine tree sap, charcoal and a bit of muck). This is heated until it becomes runny and is smoothed over the binding.
To finish off today, we started on fire lighting and we were shown how easy it is for areas to catch fire and how important it is to put them out properly.
Next time, we will continue with our atlatls. Nice to have a warm day in the woods for a change, even if the insects found us tasty!
