Today at the family learning at the school we had 2 ladies in from Dove Cottage - the home of William Wordsworth. It was a fun morning and lots of hands on activities.
They started off by explaining who they were and where they from and asked if anyone had heard of it and the person who lived there, my boys put their hands up as we had talked about the people that lived there. They then made a timeline of how old we all were starting with the 5year olds right up to the parents, and they then removed a boy to be William and a girl to be his sister Dorothy and they moved them round the room and then had them stop and face the rest of line to show how far back in time they were - the room wasn't long enough to have them on the end.
After this it was dressing up time. They had a boy get up initially but he decided he wasn't wearing the outfit so my youngest son, Blake, said he would wear it - even with them tied to the smallest they would go they were still really big on him but he is tiny! Because clothes were so expensive back in the 17/1800's they were made bigger so they would last as you grew into them.
Here is my lil man getting dressed as William Wordsworth:
2. is his shirt and breeches (should be 3/4 length but full as he so small)
3. is his waistcoat
4. is his tail coat
5. is cravat
6. is his hat
They dressed 1 of the girls up as Dorothy with her peticoat, pocket, dress, sash, apron, bonnet and shawl this is a pic of them both, I have blurred her face as she is not my child, both look really good:
Then the rest of the children and 2 of the adults were dressed up as boys/girls from the era, they didn't have as much to wear as the richer people did. The following 2 pictures are of Blake and his girlfriend and Blake and his brother Kenzie.
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Once everyone had taken pictures and what ever the kids were told how people of the day would stand and how they would bow/curtsey and the males removed their hats etc. They then all took the outfits off.
The ladies then brought out a box of very old things from Dove Cottage and talked about what they were called and what they would have been used for. There was a Spurtle used for stiring porridge, a small but heavy iron, a muffin turner, a 2 pronged fork, a pair of small girls shoes and a shoe horn. The children went for their break which was indoor play as it was raining. When thy came back they had juice and cookies and were asked if they could remember the names of the items. The 2 ladies split them up into older and younger children - the older had to choose an item, draw around it and then write a poem about it BUT they were the object and they had to include how they would feel etc. The younger again choose an item and either drew round it or drew it by hand and they had to write words about what it was, looked like, was used for and its material.
The ladies then told a story linked to Williams poem about the butterfly and they had animal/bird puppets to use. after this the children had about 10minutes to make bird masks from paper and feathers and things. Blake made a robin, Kenzie made a brown bird.
It was a great morning and I am looking forward to actually going to Dove Cottage at somepoint, its about an hour and half drive from where we live.
