Wednesday 16 May 2012

Celtic Harmony Camp

Last week we joined up with a local UK home schooling group to visit a early Britons Celtic camp to learn more about the life of the early Britons.

 Once there the children were greeted with a Celtic blessing and had their face painted to protect them while in the camp.

Outside the round house used by the early Britons
















Inside the round house and learning about the importance of fire and how cooking was done.


 Children learned to make simple rope the way the early Britons did.  Since our family are Viking re-enactors we found many of the activities similar to the way things were done in our period even tho it was several hundred years earlier.
 Carding sheep wool
 spinning wool into thread using a drop spindle
 Weaving on the wall of the round house.
Learning about the importance of spirals to the early Britons.  There are many beliefs regarding the spiral and it is seen everywhere and in everything they do.










Learning about the types of plants they used to make dyes.  Also plants that they eat.















One of the activities that we did that I thought was great was a trading bargaining activity.  Money was not very important to the early Britons, but food, clothing, tools, and the like were.  So the children were given several items and then asked to trade with the other children to see if they could make a good trade.  It was interesting to see what the children thought were valuable commodities back in those days.  Unfortunately this activity was done indoor during a down pour and all my pictures turned out too dark:( 
 Next, we were shown what Celtic money would have looked like and the kids were able to trade modern money for Celtic money and then go to the store (not my favorite activity)
 View of the money up close
 Out of all the things to purchase my two children chose a wooden bird whistle.  It wasn't long before I banned them from the round house to the tree outside in the pouring rain to continue their whistling.  This lovely toy has now been designated as a outside toy only at home:)!  My husband swears it won't be too long before it disappears altogether:).








At the end of the day we had story telling and old Celtic myths and legends along with music.   My daughter who loves myths recognized both of the stories told on this day.














We had a lovely day learning about the early Britons and were amazed how similar they were to the viking period of which we are more familiar.

I am linking this up to the Field trip hop--see button on my side bar.


9 comments:

  1. It sounds like you had a wonderful day. I think the Celtic money is really neat. Too bad they had to trade it away. How great to see the similarities between the Celts and Vikings.

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  2. What an amazing experience! I think my boys did a similar rope making at a living history day near us- I guess some things would be pretty universal, and rope making probably did not change much over the years. I wish we could join you on some of your fantastic adventures!

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  3. That is interesting that money wasn't valued much. It is kind of silly really, tools, food, cloth, etc. really are more valuable than bits of metal or pieces of paper, but our world has decided to value the paper and metal more. We'd have quite an uproar on our hands if people suddenly said, "Forget it, I don't think gold and silver are valuable, they're just shiny!" Could the kids keep the money? It would be cool just to have some Celtic money. Also, I take it that if the cops show up questioning me about the disappearance of an aforementioned bird whistle, I did not read this post and I know nothing!?!?

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    1. LOL, yes denied reading this should the police contact you. the kids have already misplaced one whistle, I swear I had nothing to do with it. My husband is keeping silent, however:)

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  4. I did buy 2 celtic coins in the shop to take home for us to look over more closely. However in those days the coins were real gold and silver I don't think my $2.00 coins are the real thing:)

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  5. Wish i was there to go on this field trip - looks so cool. I learnt alot from your post. I am in Australia

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  6. That looks like so much fun! I love the roundhouse.

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  7. Amazing field trip! Thank you for sharing and for all the pictures! I feel so inspired now : )

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  8. The stories you write about Vikings and the Britons are so interesting. Having grown up in the U.S., our history lessons were more about the Pilgrims and Native Americans. Thanks for expanding my horizons!

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