Salty Sam’s Fun Blog for Children
Number 512
The Willow Den
Hello Everyone
Well, he has done it again, Mr Grump, the caretaker at the Rocky Bay Primary School, has done something really awesome for the children there.
He has built a willow den for them on the grass at the back of the playground.
Building a den like this out of living willow can be so much cheaper than buying some forms of play equipment suitable for outside spaces.
l made two benches to go inside using my woodworking skills. lt did not take long because they were very simple benches made out of three planks each.
l helped him plant the willow rods too. We used 70 3m long living willow rods.
They say that hybrid varieties tend to be more disease resistant so we made sure to get some of those from the supplier. They knew what we were talking about.
First we mapped out a circle on the ground. This is easy to do by tying two ends of string to two sticks. One stick was pushed into the centre of the circle and the other stick was scraped along the ground to make a mark.
You can also tie a can of spray paint to the outer end of the string or a washing up liquid bottle full of sand. But we thought our scratch mark was more environmentally-friendly and was certainly enough for our needs. The ground was quite soft and the scratch mark was easy enough to see.
A willow den should be planted from mid-winter to early spring so any day when the weather will let you get outside and the ground is not too hard or wet will do.
By planting ours now, we hope that it will be established and well-rooted by next summer.
We dug away some of the grass because it will compete with our willow rods and trees never need competition from grass, especially when they are young.
Then we put the benches into position. We would not be able to manoeuvre them in after the den had been constructed.
We cut the bottom end of the rods diagonally in order to help us push the end of the willow rods into the soft ground more easily.
We decided where we wanted the door to go and worked from the side of the doorway to the back of the den. We put two rods each side of the entrance to make sure it had sturdy sides.
The rods were pushed in about 20-25cm apart and at least 15cm deep. They have to be very secure in the ground.
When we had a circle of rods we bent the tops over to make a dome shape with them. Rods on opposite sides were tied together. We used a green gardening string called twine to tie the tops together.
At this point we were really pleased that there were two people working together. lt would not have been so easy to do this job on your own.
Then we pushed a few more rods around the base at an angle so they were lying across the upright rods at an angle. This created a bit of a trellis effect in a lattice pattern and we could see how when we tied these extra rods in, the structure was becoming much more stable.
Lastly, we put some bark chippings inside just to keep the grass down for now. After all, Mr Grump won’t be able to drive his mower inside through the doorway!
Then Mr Grump roped off the whole area with a notice tied to the rope telling the children not to go near the dome.
The willow rods will need time to root and leaves will grow next summer making the den into a shady little nook to hide in.
We thought about putting some lavender bushes around the outside to make it look even more attractive but decided that some children might be frightened of the bees they would attract so we left the den as it was.
When we stepped back to admire our work, we were very proud of our achievement.
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Thank you!
And see you again next Fun Friday!
Love and kisses
Salty Sam
www.christina-sinclair.com
Bill and Bob’s Joke of the Week
Bob: Why was the tree crying?
Bill: l don’t know. Why was the tree crying?
Bob: Because it was a weeping willow.
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
There are different types of willow
Willow leaves
Willow buds are seen in early spring
THE SALTY SAM NEWS DESK
This week, we have another of Bill and Bob’s word quizzes for you.
They told me to tell you that there were two clues for every one answer.
Sometimes in English words can have more than one meaning.
It can be confusing – or an opportunity to create humour!
- a phase of the Moon/a kind of street
- a part of a calendar/a fruit
- part of a lamp/something to plant in the garden
- part of a shirt/at the end of an animal
- part of a door/part of a mug
- something inside a pillow/outside a bird
- part of a book/part of a plant
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PLEASE CONTACT:
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Quick Quiz
What are these houses called?
- a one-storey house
- a house in a tree
- many properties stacked up on top of each other
- a house attached to one other
- a tall tower with a light on top
- a house in the forest
- a country house with a thatched roof
lt’s the Weekend!
HOW TO MAKE A BELL DECORATlON
These loops are very easy to make.
You could make a few in an evening.
You will need some bells to hang at the bottom of the loops.
Choose yarns in festive colours and in no time at all you will have some lovely decorations to hang on your tree.
LOOP
Using 4mm knitting needles and dk yarn cast on 20 stitches
Cast off
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
- a phase of the Moon/a kind of street – a crescent
- a part of a calendar/a fruit – a date
- part of a lamp/something to plant in the garden – bulb
- part of a shirt/at the end of an animal – tail
- part of a door/part of a mug – handle
- something inside a pillow/outside a bird – feather
- part of a book/part of a plant – leaf
A waning Moon
Quick Quiz Answers
- a one-storey house – a bungalow
- a house in a tree – a tree house
- many properties stacked up on top of each other – a block of flats
- a house attached to one other – a semi-detached
- a tall tower with a light on top – a lighthouse
- a house in the forest – a cabin
- a country house with a thatched roof – a cottage
