I’m a teacher, get me OUTSIDE here!

The merciless side of my personality is revealed at this time of year. It always tickles me to see sane people develop ticks and twitches as well as irrational behaviour when they try to shoo away a wasp. 

People like to copy each other.  That’s why wasps can play havoc in the school grounds and indoors.  It just takes one child to scream and ….you can imagine the scene!

Thankfully children can be trained to behave properly around wasps.  It’s very much like teaching good manners:

1)      Keep your mouth shut. The moment it opens, a wasp can fly right in.  Practice breathing through your nose.

2)      Politely cover your mouth and nose if a wasp is buzzing around these orifices.  Having experienced a wasp clean up my lips at a wedding when I’d just eaten a meringue, it is scary. (NB Admittedly I can scream quite loudly with my lips shut tight).

3)      Stand or sit still. Close your eyes if you need to but remind children this does not make a wasp magically disappear.

4)      Never run away.  Running creates a vacuum effect causing a wasp to follow in your wake.

5)      Flapping  your arms frightens the wasp.  Frightened wasps are more likely to sting.

6)      Avoid eating sweet foods and fruit outside on sunny days.

I like to hold “wasp practice” drills.  These work just the same way as fire drills, except you fake a buzzing wasp sound instead of the fire alarm and encourage children stay still and quiet, whether inside or out.

Wasps and bees make a great project.  The British Bee Keeping Association (http://www.britishbee.org.uk/) has various education packs and information. I love getting young children to do a writing activity about what to do if you are stung and how to stop this from happening. I usually end up telling them the Very True Story of how my grandmother accidentally swallowed a wasp when eating Kendal Mint Cake and got stung in her throat.  She saved her own life by eating lots of raw onions to reduce the swelling. I do, of course, advise children to seek medical help as soon as possible should this happen to them or someone they know.

I have also stumbled upon an ingenious, environmentally friendly device for keeping wasps away.  No nasty sprays.  No swatters.  No cups of jam and washing up liquid. No more slaughter of these helpful insects which munch up garden pests like greenfly. No. No. No!  Instead I’d like to introduce the ….WASPINATOR  (http://www.waspinator.co.uk/)

This amazing device is a fake wasps’ nest which you hang up in your garden. The very sight of it keeps the wasps away. The website is worth a visit, not least because it contains all sorts of information about wasps written in a friendly style. Read and enjoy!

Some people have washing machines which eat socks. I have a drawer which makes plastic box lids disappear.  This is a nuisance.  I am trying very hard to be environmentally friendly but if a box has no lid, then it’s not much use for storing sandwiches and other packed lunch paraphernalia.

North America’s green movement have been promoting litterless lunches for decades.  The concept is simple.  You make packed lunches where no litter is created and if you must have packaging, it should be recycled or composted.  Instead of plastic bags, cling film or aluminium foil, you put food into boxes and take water or juice in a reusable bottle. Dairylea lunchables are a definite no-no along with yoghurts and crisp packets.  This is a harder challenge than it looks, especially if you have no lids for all one’s plastic boxes.

In April I stumbled across a nifty little item called a Wrap-n-Mat sitting innocently on a shelf in an outdoor centre near Seattle.  This object has revolutionised my life and put a lid on my plastic box problem once and for all.  It’s a plastic coated piece of material in which you wrap up sandwiches. Being a closet Science nerd and open sceptic I bought a couple to test. Like all other sectors of our society, the eco world is full of Things You Never Knew You Never Needed for the ethical consumer. I am a wary purchaser of gimmicky products.

Every day last term, I made up sandwiches and wrapped them up. The Wrap-n-Mats survived. I machine washed, hand washed, wiped them clean and used them continuously. Four months later, they are still going strong.  The mat acts like a soft plate and catches crumbs and spills. Best all of they live in my box drawer and have yet to go awol.

So for sandwich life beyond the box, visit www.wrap-n-mat.com  or if you are living in the UK, try www.onyabags.co.uk

The outdoor bargains continue galore.  This week I popped into Asda, where the sale now runs at 75% of the original price. Here’s an illustration of the potential of items found in supermarkets:

1)      Two more kites – forces, flight, aerodynamics, technology.

2)      Funky knee pad and garden gloves (37.5p per pair!) – knee pads make useful portable seating and are easy to clean.

3)      Bubble kits galore – every school and nursery needs a bubble box for practical science and maths activities.  I like to build up different sorts, so that there’s plenty for a large group or class.  This can supplement gadgets and shapes made by the children.

4)      A rubber chess mat. Great for work on patterns, tessellation and practical problem solving.

5)      A portable target board for hanging up. Simple, but great for schools which can’t leave resources outside overnight.

6)      A foldaway 3 litre bucket from the camping section (also in the sale).  It cost me 75p which compares favourably to £10 in an early years catalogue.  Great for centres where lack of storage is a nightmare.

Before the summer holidays start next year (oh yes, I’m forward thinking!) I’m going to send a wee reminder about this to schools.  If the PTA or school funds can be found, huge saving can be made buying outdoor gear in the summer sales.

Next stop?  B&Q or Au Naturale? Watch this space!

Last week. I was shopping in Tesco’s and noticed there was an outdoor toy sale. End of season bargains to be snapped up. For me this is a fatal attraction! I become a magpie with a homing instinct leading down the aisle to the display enticed by the bright colours promising FUN outside.

This is an opportunity not to be missed by teachers looking for outdoor activities especially for forces and flight! I managed to find 4 different kites and several different sorts of flying rings.  Small parachutes which work with 16 children or less are half price at £5.

I breathed an apology under my breath to the sweatshops in Asia as I took out my business debit card, got the goodies swiped and into my bag. I reminded myself that this is the catalyst for invention and innovation by children as they use the kites to make their own designs using unwanted plastic bags and used paper.

In my first year as a teacher my Primary Two class made kites.  It was a rip-roaring success until we went outside.  No kidding. I gaily sent the children off running in the playground as the intended icing on the cake to a fabby lesson. Fun melted away in the sun as the children bumped into each other and tripped up. I think I managed a record number of unfortunate injuries.  Since then I have endeavoured to take children onto grass, lined up, to run one at a time along a line with their kites flying behind them. I am also yet to find a kite manual or an education book which advises on the fatal attraction children exhibit for running into each other when holding kites.  Please help me out here and let me know if you find such information anywhere.