Celtic Harmony - 24th April 2023
On a very chilly Monday, 24th April, years 3 and 4 visited Celtic Harmony in Brickenden to learn more about the way of life in the Stone Age through to the Iron Age eras.
Splitting into 2 groups, the children learned how Stone Age people used flint for everyday tools and weapons. The weapons were for hunting food, as they rarely fell out with their neighbours and war was unheard of. Instead of napping flint, they used a small tablet of soap to replace the flint and a lolly stick to replace the round hand stone which our ancestors used to shape the flint.
Next, we moved on to making some bread. First, the children ground some flour from wheat using a quern stone. This is basically two very large round stones placed on top of each other. The top stone has a hole in the top, through which the wheat is passed. The top stone is turned by hand and the wheat is then ground between the two stones. Sometimes it can take more than one go, to grind the wheat into a fine enough powder. This is then mixed with water to make the dough – a very messy experience!
We then moved on to the Iron Age and learned how to make a coil pot. The pots of the time were bulbous at the bottom, with a lip at the top, so they could be hung over a fire for cooking. Later, beakers were from bronze, introduced by the Beaker people, immigrants from other parts of Europe and named after the pots they made. These had a flatter bottom, were smaller and used for mixing things and carrying liquids. The were decorated with lots of small dots or other patterns.
Finally, we ended the day with a magic story about a warrior who had upset the druids and been turned into a frog. He broke the spell, only when he was accepted into a family’s home. As the story was being told, the fire magically changed to have blue and green flames!
The children thoroughly enjoyed the day and their learning will be a platform for our current topic Horrible Histories.
