A Trip to the Castle

Last week we went to see the Roman Empire exhibition just before it moved on to another museum. The children had a really interesting time revisiting this historical subject and examining all the artifacts but unfortunately photography was forbidden in the exhibition itself so all photos are from the rest of the museum.

We collected the pamphlets above to remind us of some the things we had seen and for further investigations into the subject.

The children spent some time riding in the replica Iceni chariot in the Boudicca gallery and examining some of the treasures that have been dug up in and around our local area.

Had a go at building stone arches and traced the route of the stone used to build the castle from it's origins. My son had a go at firing the medieval siege engine whilst my daughter examined all the types of food eaten at the banquets held in the great hall.

I think we explored all the narrow stone corridors and what felt like the longest winding staircase ever. We love exploring our museums and try to go as often as possible. My daughter recently went on an art master class day held at the museum with our local home education group and we all went on a special RSPB open day, where the children got to dissect owl pellets for the first time and join in with many bird related activities.

We made butter...

   We have just had a hectic three weeks, with three birthdays and a wedding anniversary, we've been a little run off our feet. Things are now settling down a little though, and we have been enjoying the program escape in time. It is about life on a Victorian farm, and how modern families would cope with the work challenges.

    My son has been watching this program and at the moment there is a little spark of interest which I'm hoping will grow into a big research project. This is the way things usually work for him, it happened with the Romans, something sparked his interest then for a couple of months it was his big passion. We read every book we could find, did Internet research, watched documentaries, played games, made mosaics etc. At the end of this history session he had retained a lot of information and had a lot of fun.

     So at the moment I find myself trying to 'fan the flames' so to speak, hoping that our next history project will be about the Victorians. In the 'escape in time'  farm program one of the tasks was to make butter, so we thought we would give it a try ourselves. It is very simple all you need is a jar which you fill with cream to about a third full and shake it.... a lot!

      This works best if the cream has been at room temperature for an hour, it takes about 10 minutes to turn into butter, you then need to separate the butter from the buttermilk. The butter needs to be rinsed and squeezed to get rid of all the buttermilk and can be lightly salted if you choose to.

       The children loved making butter, especially the taste and we have now made it several times. I would highly recommend giving it a go... in the interest of education of course. If you would like a more detailed guide on making butter you can find one here.