January 20th, 2017

Salty Sam’s Fun Blog for Children

Number 101

Nursery Rhymes

 

 Hello Everyone

 

 

A lot of children know nursery rhymes. They are probably the first songs that you learn and very often you recite or sing them at school – Bill and Bob certainly do.

 

But what you might not know is that they are very often telling us about things that happened in history.

 

For example:

 

Mary, Mary quite contrary

How does your garden grow?

With silver bells and cockle shells

And pretty maids all in a row

 

A lot of people think this rhyme refers to Queen Mary l who tried to bring England back to being a Catholic country after it had been changed into a Protestant one by her father, Henry Vlll. The bells and the cockle shells are symbols of the church.

 

Little Jack Horner sat in a corner

Eating his Christmas pie,

He put in his thumb and pulled out a plumb

And said, “What a good boy am l!”

 

Little Jack Horner was a messenger taking some documents to Henry Vlll. The documents were deeds (official papers showing possession) to some property. They were hidden in a pie so that thieves couldn’t see them as he went on his journey. lt is said that Jack Horner took one document for the best property; a manor house (the plumb), for himself.

 

Baa, baa, black sheep,

Have you any wool?

Yes sir, yes sir,

Three bags full:

One for the master and one for the dame

and one for the little boy who lives down the lane.

 

This song is thought to be a complaint about heavy taxation on wool. Black wool was probably extra valuable because it didn’t need to be dyed before it was made into dark clothing.

 

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall,

All the king’s horses

and all the king’s men

Couldn’t put Humpty together again

 

This one is a bit of a riddle and many people have put forward theories as to what is means.

 

Was Humpty Dumpty Richard lll defeated at Bosworth Field 1485?

 

Or was it the name of a cannon in Colchester used by Cavaliers to shoot at Roundheads? The cannon fell when a wall supporting it collapsed in battle. The Cavaliers (in the king’s army) were not able to lift it up again.

 

Or was it the nickname given to one of the Royalists named one-eyed Thompson who was sitting in the church called St Mary’s at the Walls during the long Siege of Colchester in 1648?

 

Or was it just a rhyme invented to warn people against getting drunk and falling over in case they injured themselves?

 

Ring-a-ring o’ roses

A pocket full of posies

A-tishoo! A-tishoo!

We all fall down

 

A lot of people associate this rhyme with the Black Death. Historians may disagree but the lines do fit in with the disease. A rosy-red rash appeared on the skin, posies of herbs that people carried to try to ward off infection, the sneezing and coughing as the final symptoms before people fell down dead.

 

When you know these stories about nursery rhymes it makes them more interesting, doesn’t it?

 

What is your favourite nursery rhyme?

 

See you soon.

 

 

Bye bye everyone – don’t forget to subscribe to my blog!

Love and kisses

 

Salty Sam

www.christina-sinclair.com

 

 

 

Bill and Bob’s Joke of the Week

 

Bill: What do you call a sheep in a bikini?

 

Bob: l don’t know. What do you call a sheep in a bikini?

 

Bill: Bra-bra black sheep!

 

 

Salty Sam © Christina Sinclair 2015

Unauthorized use and/or duplication of material from this blog without express and written permission from this blog’s author and owner is strictly prohibited.

Links may be used to www.christina-sinclair.com

 

Picture Gallery

 

Henry VIII 

 

Mary I 

 

Cockle shells

 

Jack Horner’s Mells Manor 

 

A black sheep 

 

Before the Industrial Revolution the wool trade created a lot of wealth

 
Humpty Dumpty is usually thought of as an egg 

 

The Black Death first came to England in 1347 but there were other outbreaks later through history 

 

A 17^th century fuming pot

People filled them with substances such as sulphur and Frankincense to try and ward off the Black Death 

 

The infection was spread by fleas living on black rats and probably between people too

but people of the time didn’t know this –

they thought disease was produced by bad air

 

 

     THE SALTY SAM NEWS DESK

 

Hello again. This week Bill, Bob and Henry have been working hard to bring you another of their home-made word puzzles.

 

 Henry

 

All the answers are famous children’s book characters. Do you know who they are?

 

1. T_a_     o_     T_a_     H_l_
2. M_r_     P_p_i_s
3. J_m_m_     P_d_l_     D_c_
4. H_r_y     _o_t_r
5. P_t_r     _a_
6. W_n_i_   t_e     _o_h
7. P_d_i_g_o_     B_a_
8. N_d_y
9. T_e     _o_b_e_
10. O_d     _e_r

 

 

 

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Recipe Spot

 
Being able to cook eggs is a really useful thing to be able to do – (but don’t use a cooker without permission).

Eggs cook very quickly so you must get yourself organized before you start cooking.

Have everything you need to hand for cooking and prepare your plate, egg cups and other food like bread and butter before you cook your eggs.

 

To scramble eggs:-

 

1. Break as many eggs as you want into a bowl
2. Add a pinch of salt and a pinch of pepper (if you like a lot of pepper on your eggs sprinkle it on afterwards because mixed in with the eggs it makes them go a horrible grey colour)
3. Add a tiny splash of milk
4. Beat the eggs with a fork or whisk
5. Put a tiny knob of butter into a small saucepan
6. Add the eggs and keep stirring the mixture over a low heat
7. Just before the eggs look cooked take them off the heat and serve
8. The eggs will continue to cook on the plate so it is important to not let them overcook otherwise they will go dry and you want them to be lovely and gooey
9. Add some grated cheese into the egg mixture before cooking if you like cheesy scrambled eggs

 

 
To boil eggs:

 

1. Get your bread and butter and egg cups ready on a plate first
2. Prick the tip and base of an egg with a large pin
3. Use eggs that are at room temperature
4. Place your egg carefully into boiling water (you can lower them in on a spoon or use some cooking tongs)
5. Take it out again after 3-3½ minutes for a soft-boiled egg and serve straight away
6. Or about 8-9 minutes for a hard-boiled egg and put your egg into cold water to stop a black ring forming around the yolk – then take them out to peel as soon as they are cool enough to handle
7. Use an egg timer if you think you will forget about them!
8. You can boil a few eggs together – the timing will be the same no matter how many eggs you have in your pan

 

 

 

 

 

BLOW MY FOGHORN!!! 

 

 PLUS

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lt’s the Weekend! 

 
HOW TO MAKE MY WOOLLY JUMPER

Bullions are like ‘long French knots’. They give a sort of 3D effect to embroidery and are especially nice to use when embroidering flowers.

 

 

This design is for a sheep and looks good because the texture of the bullions look like a fleece. You don’t have to copy the design exactly, you can work any way you like within the shape of the body of the sheep.

Practise first on a spare piece of fabric.

 

 
MY WOOLLY JUMPER

 

BACK AND FRONT (KNIT TWO)

Using 3½mm knitting needles and green dk yarn cast on 52 stitches

 

K3 (p2 k2) repeat last 4 stitches until last 5 stitches p2, k3

P3 (k2 p2) repeat last 4 stitches until last 5 stitches k2, p3

 

Repeat last 2 rows 3 times

 

Change to 4mm knitting needles

Knit 50 rows of stocking stitch

Cast off 10 sts at the beginning of the next 2 rows

 

Change to 3½mm knitting needles 

K3 (p2 k2) repeat last 4 stitches until last 5 stitches p2, k3

P3 (k2 p2) repeat last 4 stitches until last 5 stitches k2, p3

 

Repeat the last 2 rows 3 times

Cast off rib-wise

 

SLEEVES (KNIT TWO)

Using 3½mm knitting needles and green dk yarn cast on 40 stitches

 

K3 (p2 k2) repeat last 4 stitches until last 3 stitches k3

P3 (k2 p2) repeat last 4 stitches until last 3 stitches p3

Repeat the last 2 rows 3 times

 

Change to 4mm knitting needles

Knit 30 rows of stocking stitch

Cast off loosely

 
TO MAKE UP

Embroider a gate onto the centre front of the jumper using white dk yarn and then the sheep above it.

 

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Using a knitter’s yarn needle sew the outline of the sheep first and then fill in with bullion knots by winding the yarn five times around the needle.

The tail is a bullion knot and the eyes and nose are made with French knots using black thread.

When you have finished the design on the front piece, you can put the jumper together.

(Using the green yarn) sew up the right shoulder seam but the left only 1cm up from the shoulder side (not neck side) with right sides facing.

Then fold the sleeves in half lengthways in order to find the centre. Match this centre up to the shoulder seam and sew across the top of the sleeves. Then sew under sleeve and side seams.

Using sewing thread, sew a snap fastener to the outside corners of the collar – this will then turn over to hide the snap fastener.

 

  

 
TIP

Draw the shape of the sheep onto a piece of fabric or article of your own clothing and then fill in the shape with bullions and satin stitch. Or make your own woolly jumper by embroidering some sheep along the bottom of a jumper to fit your size – don’t forget to make one black!

If you want to have a string of sheep along the bottom of your own jumper, then make the shape of a sheep’s body with paper before you transfer it onto the jumper in yarn so that the sheep are all the same size.

You can print out a sheep picture, put it under some fabric and trace it using a fabric pen (the kind with fading ink) or a pencil (embroider over the lines) if you think you can’t draw it yourself. You can adjust the size of the picture on a photocopier.

 

A picture of me in my woolly jumper

 
Please note that the material on this blog is for personal use and for use in classrooms only.

It is a copyright infringement and, therefore, illegal under international law to sell items made with these patterns.

Use of the toys and projects is at your own risk.

©Christina Sinclair Designs 2015 

 

Answers to the News Desk Quiz 

1. Toad of Toad Hall
2. Mary Poppins
3. Jemima Puddle Duck
4. Harry Potter
5. Peter Pan
6. Winnie the Pooh
7. Paddington Bear
8. Noddy
9. The Wombles
10. Old Bear

 

 

Old Bear and Friends – Jane Hissey

 

 

For an Embroidery Stitches Chart

Check out Blog Post 3

 Bullions