Devon’s Children became archeologists for the day at West Town Farm and decide to form an educational activity group!

In a collaboration between Devon Children’s Serivces Participation Team, the RAMM and the Carosel Project, twelve children and their carers took part in a fun, meaningful and engaging introduction to archaeology last week. Young people took part in a broad range of activities available to give to a flavour of the archaeological process and explore what life was like when the Seaton Down Coin Hoard, which is a huge roman coin collection discovered in Devon, was buried. Activities included a mini excavation, pottery making, creating a leather pouch for participants’ own mini coin hoard, Roman bread/ food, collaborative weaving and mosaic creation.

The young people who came along were in foster care, adopted/seeking asylum and/or had a disability or special education need which brought them into contact with Devon Children’s Services.

We made did collaborative Roman weaving and also made individual table place matts….

Despite the group having very diverse backgrounds with mixed needs, they all gelled remarkably well, with frequent bouts of socialisation as well as opportunity for those who wanted individual quiet refection to have the opportunity to do so.

Compiled by Katherine Ford, Carousel Director, 27.10.16

We made “Roman Bread”, using flour, oil, water, sugar and pumpkin and cooked it over the fire for sharing…

Compiled by Katherine Ford, Carousel Director, 27.10.16

We used circles of leather, hammers and hole punches to make ‘mini-coin hoard’ pouches to hold our precious chocolate coins…

Compiled by Katherine Ford, Carousel Director, 27.10.16

Kevin lead a tour of the farm, where we picked different varieties of apples in the orchard, (and climbed a few trees!) then pressed the apples to make our own Roman Apple Juice

Compiled by Katherine Ford, Carousel Director, 27.10.16

The event was a huge success with lots of good feedback:

“He was really frightened and angry about coming this morning, but when he discovered that he was going to be an archaeologist digging, he enjoyed every minute of the day.” Foster parent of male child, 8

“I loved the weaving best”, female child, 10

“An excellent mix of activities for everyone, and just the right amount of downtime!” Female foster carer

We are going to hold more fun educational events as a group in the school holidays, and so we sought suggestions from the children as to a group name, with ‘The Leather Pouch Crew’, ‘The Chocolate Coin Hoaders’, and ‘The Mary Berries’ being amongst the favourites. After a vote, the group decided that going forward, they will be known as ‘The Kelly Kettle Club’!!??

Compiled by Katherine Ford, Carousel Director, 27.10.16