Arts & Rafts at Forest Hills

The sun had his hat on for the Bank Holiday (probably as it wasn't one in Scotland!) but lucky for those on holiday none the less :-) It must have meant that everyone was off out enjoying the rays somewhere else as we only had one little lad today and for the first time ever at Forest Hills, no-one for the bat walk? 

Will made Harry a bonus extra boat - he just loves whittling! Harry named it Super Hero.



Harry went for a Hazel wand - the most popular choice this week. Interestingly it is the Celtic Ogham month for Hazel, see these kids are using their intuition well :-)

 

Harry's 'Super Hero' mark one!

Wooden Pendants & Medallions

George (now wearing a kangaroo t-shirt rather than GOA today ;) brought his younger sister Rosie along to make pendants.  Here's what they came up with...

Rafts & Crafts at Tigh Mor

Lots of great creativity this weekend at Tigh Mor....

From left: Henry's HMS Titanic and Eleanor's 'Eleanor'

Nick's 'Wooden Craft' and James' HMS Victory

Magick Wands from left: Ben & Luke's Hazel wands and Rose & Sam went for Hazel too - must have been the invisibility and creativity powers within them :-)  Interestingly it is the Celtic Ogham month for Hazel, see these kids are using their intuition well :-)

 

Aaah, Loch Achray :-)

Wacky Forth Races

While I was away face painting at The Lodge, Will was left all on his own to run the mini rafts and race this week - I hear it was wild and wacky :-) Apologies that the names are in the wrong order to the pictures but I hear Will did manage to get the winning order right and ensured no rafts floated off to Edinburgh :-)

From Bottom to Top: I think? - Apple Juice, the Gold one is Super Swimmy 300, the green fruit shoot one is Rocket Booster, Purple Fanta must be the Fanta bottle, the other four inbetween then are either White Chocolate, Fire Plane, GOAT Blower and Gumball Ship 

 

Winning Order:

1st - Super Swimmy 300 by Jamie & George

2nd - Gumball Ship by James

3rd - Apple Juice by Gregor

4th - Purple Fanta by Rosie

5th - GOAT Blower by Jack

6th - Fire Plane by Robbie

7th - White Chocolate by Rachael, Abbie & Calum

8th - Rocket Booster by George (GOA ;)

 

Magick Wands

This weeks magick wands at Cobleland Campsite.....

From left: George's Rowan wand (complete with leaves, berries and googly eyes :-), Samuel's Silver Birch, Joshua's Willow and Nathan's Willow.

Rory's Hazel wand

 

From left: Leo's Oak, Eva's Rowan wand (Freyja in human form I'm sure :), and Max's Hazel.

The Lodge Visitor Centre Opening Weekend

Fabulous weather for a fabulous opening weekend as the formerly known as 'David Marshall Lodge' in Aberfoyle re-opens, re-vamped and will now be known as 'The Lodge Forest Visitor Centre'. There are some pictures of the new building on their Facebook page, part of the Forestry Commission Scotland news feed (don't forget to 'like' them and follow their future events :-). You will see how the refurbishment maximises the amazing views and incorporates more interactive learning features within the building.

Nix in Nature was fortunate enough to be asked to contribute to the weekend with some woodland themed face painting and the 'Lets Go Batty' event, also tying in nicely with the European/International Bat Weekend. If you haven't already you can join our Facebook page too to keep up with future events, links and competitions!

Here are a few pictures from the weekend...

Face Painting

A wee cheeky pixie tattoo on my arm to welcome in my face painting victims :-)

Cheeky blue tit and butterfly, aka Rosie & Charlie

Beth's butterfly tattoo

Martha, Seth & Jack star as Little Miss Badger, Mr Fox and 'Wild' Cat 

Guided Story Telling Walks

The most excellent Rebecca and Robert from The Walking Theatre Company take us on a hilarious white rabbit and mad hatter walk around The Lodge's beautiful woodland. Like and follow them on Facebook :-)

Bat Walk

 Will tries out our new prop - the bat wings. Just the bat mobile to make now then!

 A 'big scary Dad' takes on the task of eating all the moths with his newly evolved echo-location before we all embarked on the bat hunt.

 

 



Arts & Crafts at Forest Hills

A very crafty afternoon at Forest Hills this week, loads going on!

James & Nate's raft Skully

Theo's The Shin Digger (sponsored by Pepsi Max)

Jasmine's The Red & White Raft

Sarah's Monkey Banana 

Russ's Tinted Turbo 

Louisa's Fiddlestix 

 

Lydia's BOAT

Sarah and Lydia's pendants, Beatrice made a lovely pendant too but I missed photographing that one! 

Last but not least, a wand making session, phew! 

Louisa's Ash wand and her brother Russ's Oak wand is pictured above. Their Mum Nikki made one too with her ogham birth tree Alder which is a wand in progress (same name and tree as me:). Quite funny when the tree bobbed Will on the tree after snipping a branch, I asked permission from the Dryad, clearly Will didn't!!
Sarah made a Hazel wand too and Lydia a Willow. Happy magick making, remember the full blue moon tonight for magick and cleansing :-)