Heave ho...don't let go

Today our 5/6 group have been learning how to tie some simple knots. Some of the students were able to fall back on their prior knowledge of knot tying from their sailing residential in April.

Rope Spaghetti - We didn't cheat honest!!!

    

Woodland Percussion with Michael

We began the session with a reminder of how to use ropes safely. Next we had a game of rope spaghetti. To play, lengths of rope are tangled together. There should be enough ropes so that each player can have one end of a rope. Each person picks up a rope end. The aim of the game is to untangle the ropes without letting go of your end of the rope (no hand swapping allowed either). I am not entirely sure, the rules were completed adhered to, but the children had great fun completing the challenge nonetheless!

Rocking Our New Waterproofs

The first knot we attempted, was a Forest School essential - the reef knot. The children who mastered the knot quickly, went on to help those who kept finding themselves clasping the infamous granny knot. 

Sophie and Chelsea's Rope and Leaf Collage

Once we were all happy that we had tied a knot that would hold, we created a giant circle ready for the reef knot trust game. Thankfully, all our knots held tight and no-one ended up on their bottoms!

The next knot we experimented with was a clove hitch. The children then had time to experiment with different ways of using their ropes and knots. Uses for the ropes and knots included tug-o-war games, picture frames, bow and arrows and collages. The sticks used to practice the clove hitches on also doubled up as rather excellent drumsticks.

Tara's Bow and Arrow

Heave ho

Don' let go!