Ingenious Engenuity

Friday August 12th was our trip to Enginuity in Ironbridge (near Telford). This is a brilliant hands on science and engineering experience for kids of all ages. You can learn about manufacturing, hydroelectric power, earthquakes, robots and tons more.

The real beauty of Enginuity though is that it is probably around 80% hands on. You can push, pull, touch and tug your way around the museum, all while learning something.

The Secret Bunker

Wednesday 10th saw us heading up to Nantwich to the secret bunker. We only found the signs as we were leaving. Not a huge museum, all dedicated to the Cold War and the what if scenario of Nuclear Holocaust.

It was an interesting visit with a chance to see what it would have been like to spend time in a bomb shelter.

On the way back we stopped off at the 1603 Battlefield site on the edge of Shrewsbury to stretch our legs.

It is a medieval siege weapon!

Well that was the answer - so what was the question?

The question was - what is a trebuchet? We had been asked this numerous times since it first appeared in our summer program. So here is what wikipedia has to say about it.

A trebuchet ( /ˈtrɛbəʃɛt/ treb-ə-shet or /ˌtrɛbjʊˈʃɛt/ treb-ew-shet;[1] French: trébuchet) is a siege engine that was employed in the Middle Ages. It is sometimes called a "counterweight trebuchet" or "counterpoise trebuchet" in order to distinguish it from an earlier weapon that has come to be called the "traction trebuchet", the original version with pulling men instead of a counterweight. Man-powered trebuchets appeared in the Greek world and China in about the 4th century BC.

The counterweight trebuchet appeared in both Christian and Muslim lands around the Mediterranean in the twelfth century. It could fling projectiles of up to three hundred and fifty pounds (140 kg) at high speeds into enemy fortifications. source

So we built a model one - and it worked, watch the video!

A long way for an Ice-Cream

Every summer holiday we take the kids in the Out of School club to the seaside and get an ice-cream. Some days it rains, some days the sun shines, this year the forecast was for cloudy weather (better than last years rain though). We drove through Snowdonia to Barmouth and every so often we kept seeing glimpses of blue sky.

The sun was out in Barmouth - play hide and seek, lunch on the sand dunes, paddle in the sea, ice-cream for everyone - except Paul because he isn't allowed anymore and head home for tea!

There was thunder in the valley!

Well not real thunder, just the sound of 12 pairs of young feet running up and down. Before lunch we went of up the trail to the waterfall - only to find barely a trickle. Then in the afternoon we went up another trail to the reservoir to launch our paper boats.The reservoir was still only a trickle so we

had fun rolling down the dam and stopped at one of the pools part way down to race our boats. Henry was the winner and poor Jess's boat unravelled and sank.

Wet and tired we headed back to Shrewsbury.

Here comes the animal man

On Thursday 28th July, Simon the Animal Man showed up at the nursery to wow us all with tons of wierd and wonderful animals. From snakes and scorpions to chinchillas and cockroaches we touched them all.

West Midlands Safari Park Trip

July 26th we took the out of school club to the West Midlands Safari Park in Bewdley. After a mini-bus tour through the safari park, we went into the zoo part of the park and saw seals, snakes, lemurs and meerkats. A busy day, but lots of fun for all.

Summer Fair 2011

This years summer fair was held on the 16th July. Luckily the rain held off and we had a great afternoon at the nursery.

How the Garden Grows

Our garden is blooming fantastic - we have beans, sunflowers, tomatoes, even an apple on the tree.