Workshops
For groups of 10 plus
W1 Working in the Great Kitchen - food of the rich and poor
Learn about gentle folk and their meals. See and taste examples of their food. Make some of the following: pottage, salads, sweetmeats, subtleties and sodd eggs
and try grinding almonds and spices.
Tudor arithmetic and technology in food preparation.
W2 Making Cloth
See materials used; learn about and handle them. Try you hand at tozing, carding, spinning, winding, knitting and weaving. Follow the process by which raw fleece becomes woolen cloth. Try ironing with a calendar and sad iron. Look at different types of raw material and
finished cloth - wool, flax/linen, silk.
Technology in action.
W3 Tudor Games - fun and frolics for all!
The Tudors worked hard and played hard. Holy days were fun but camping (playing at football) was banned! gambling, games of skill, board games and children's games are included, as well as special activities associated with the festivals including bobbing for apples at Halloween and at Christmas, the Lord of Misrule with his "Morris dancers" and their hobby horse.
Physical and cultural activites from times past.
W4 Common-place Book- colouring, writing and printing.
This is essential for the full benefit of the activity to be achieved
The commonplace book is a permanent record that the pupils keep of their Tudor experience.
The children: make the book from the sheets provided; sew the pages together, print with the wood blocks and type provided; write their name on the cover; and if there is time, they colour some of the pictures.
At later date the children record their experiences of the event; share them with classmates and answer questions on what they saw and heard.
The main vehicle for combining English writing into our presentation.
Other subjects include technology and art.
W5 The Militia: Dad's Army in Tudor times!
Every ordinary man, between 14 and 70, had to keep a bow and six arrows and practise with it weekly. Each month the local militia had to meet and practise their drill with pikes and halberds.
The better off practise their horsemanship and swordfighting and manly sports of leaping, throwing, running and wrestling. Although the latter became unpopular with the gentry in the latter Tudor period.
All boys between 6 an 14 are required by law to be given a bow and two arrows by their father and to practise with then weekly
Military technology and Physical activity are an integral part of this workshop.
W7 Tudor Music ( simple recorders ) and Dance
See and try 16thC style instruments. Some we have to demonstrate, for others, pictures must suffice. Listen to music as played in Queen Elizabeth i's coronation. Play simple 16thC tunes on the descant recorder with drum/tambour accompanyment (mainly for children who can play a few notes, say EFGABC'D', but some could play percussion or the workshop could be geared to dance for the practical part).
Physical activity, and music combine in this artistic workshop.
W8 A Mummers Play
A short play from Tudor times. We supply some costume and props along with "horn books" for the children to read from. This is an ideal activity for the class teacher to run as a workshop since you know the skills of your pupils.
Drama and English reading and speaking.
W9 Tudor Expansion: Exploration and Colonisation
Planning a voyage of exploration (or piracy?). We hear of life on board ship. We provision the ship, plan the route we shall take to the colonies in the New Found World.
We discuss the plantation of parts of Ireland by the English.
Geography and arithmetic are features of this workshop.
W10 Making clothes and keeping them clean
Look at the different kinds of clothes - feel them, try them on. Dress Bartholemew's Baby - who was she? Washing and Ironing clothes.
Techonology and measurement are features of this workshop.
W11 Coins, Weights and Measures
Again essential to make the most use of the Tudor Market presentation PM
The children weigh in Tudor (Imperial) weights and measure volumes of liquids and solids in pints. They learn of how much they would earn in their trade or profession, of whether they have all found (meals and clothes) or whether they paid for daily work only. They change their money into Tudor pennies and groats so that they can shop at the market.
Mental Arithmetic!
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