Simba’s Story
This week in Adventure Island, the Minpins told us an interesting story…
‘Long, long ago a great lion lived in Adventure Island. This lion was the king and he ruled all the animals and creatures that live on the Island. He had the most beautiful thick mane, a mix of oranges and yellows, very much like the carpet of leaves that cover the floor at this time of year.
One day, a young witch swooped down on her broom stick to speak to the lion. She explained that she was making a very important spell, but she needed one last, very special ingredient. She asked the lion, very politely, if she could snip a lock from his magnificent mane. Now, the lion was a fair king and well-liked by all that lived in Adventure Island, but he was also extremely vain and he was very proud of his mane. Foolishly the lion refused to help the witch. The witch was young but also very powerful and she was not yet in total control of her power. As a result, in her anger she accidentally cursed the lion and changed him into a cat!
The cat, named Simba, still visits Adventure Island to this day, and as some of you know, can be a little cantankerous, and now we know why! The trees remember what happened to Simba and each autumn they drop their leaves, the colour of his beautiful mane, to show they remember him as the great lion.’
How amazing is that?! It made us wonder what other stories the animals around us have to share?! Feeling inspired we went down to Adventure Island and used the leaves to recreate Simba’s mane. We also kept a look out for the witch as we found a broom stick down there and several children heard cackling in the distance… we shall keep you posted!!
The Poggle Portal
This week in Adventure Island we found The Magic Phone once again, with a message to call Riddle Diddle. Sadly, Riddle Diddle was feeling fed up and needed our help! He explained how Pitter Patter (who lives in the sky and sends down the rain) had been sending a lot of rain down to Adventure Island and he had lost his umbrella, got soaked and caught a cold. Poor Riddle Diddle!
First, we worked together to make a soup to warm him up. We used our counting skills to ensure we used the correct amount of each ingredient then used a magic stirring stick to heat the soup up.
Once the soup was cooked, we went off to find Riddle Diddle’s umbrella. He told us he had left it by ‘The Poggle Portal’ and explained that portals are doorways or openings into other worlds, so we had a good look around and found several likely places but no umbrella! Eventually, we discovered it tucked away next to a tree. Riddle Diddle explained we had found ‘The Poggle Portal’ which is where the Poggle enters Adventure Island from his world, how cool is that?!
The Poggle is a very friendly creature that lives under the ground like the Bog Babies. However, the big difference is that the Poggle is lighting fast and likes to take messages for people. If you tap your foot on the floor 3 times the Poggle will come to you, then all you have to do is think of someone you care about and whisper a message to the ground and the Poggle will whizz off to that person. How lucky we are to have our very own Poggle. He has asked us to let you all know you are very welcome to use him to send and receive messages to your child while they are at school!
Photos this week show children searching for portals, an amazing den that has appeared in the woods and tiny letters written to the Minpins!
The Magic Phone
In Adventure Island this week we all had a surprise when we discovered The Magic Phone! Chirp, who is the gate keeper of Adventure Island and a small blackbird, told us that ‘Riddle Diddle’ had left it for us. We worked out the magic number then rang Riddle Diddle straight away to find out what was going on!
Riddle Diddle told us that somebody had hidden something for us in Adventure Island. Each class had different challenges they had to complete before Riddle Diddle gave clues to find the hidden gift from… the Minpins!
Pre-school and Reception children sang nursery rhymes then found a tin of googly eyes to create new characters in Adventure Island. Well, what fun was had! See the photos to meet some of our new characters.
Year 3 spent time making improvements to the entrance of The Magic Tree and apparently the Minpins are thrilled with the results.
It has been such fun getting to know Adventure Island and we can’t wait to see what we will discover in the coming weeks!
The Minpins
This week we discovered the ‘Minpins’ (tiny little people) living inside ‘The Magic Tree’. It happened when Pre-School children were exploring Adventure Island on Monday. We all heard a strange whispering sound and felt a magical pull which lead us to one of the large trees.
There we found a note from the Minpins asking for our help. It turned out those pesky goblins had cast a spell on The Magic Tree, trapping the Minpins inside! We had to go on a quest to find the secret password that would break the spell.
Using excellent counting skills to unearth clues that were hidden around Adventure Island we eventually found a special tin which had the pass words ‘bish bash bosh’ inside.
We rushed back to The Magic Tree, shouted out the words, then watched as the very grateful Minpins came flooding out! What a busy morning! As the week progressed it became clear the goblins were up to their tricks again as every class had different clues to solve to free the Minpins once again.
Year 2 are particularly excited to discover the Minpins on our doorstep as they are currently reading ‘Billy and the Minpins’ by Roald Dahl, what a happy coincidence!
All classes had a lovely surprise on World Mental Health Day, a very special note from the Minpins.
Also something else you should know. We believe the large tractor tyres that mysteriously turned up on the playground may have come from the goblin factory, it makes you wonder what kind of vehicles they are making in there?!
The Symbol of Doom
This week we discovered the ‘Symbol of Doom’ scrawled all over the bat house (UH OH!). We were eager to find out what was going on because there were other tell-tale signs that things were amiss; the most noteworthy being a large fallen tree!
The Bog Babies soon told us that a horde of goblins moved into Adventure Island at the weekend. They were riding a dragon which lost control in the strong winds and crash landed into the tree! They have been causing mischief and mayhem ever since.
The Bog Babies explained that the goblins have put magic spells on the bats that live in the bat house and now they ride about on them at night. They have also turned the bat house into ‘The Goblin Factory’. The Bog Babies have no idea what they get up to in there but at night they hear all sorts of machines whirring and loud bangs and clangs. It’s all very mysterious and we are hoping to learn more over the coming weeks.
Year 3 did their best to lure the goblins out with apples and berries but saw no sign of them, however, the next day they had received a letter of thanks, for the apples, from the goblins themselves! Year 3 were quick to spot that the goblins need to work on their spellings and were able to correct the errors made.
The children have enjoyed building a variety of structures in Adventure Island and we would really appreciate some more building materials. If you have any of the following that you can donate to school it would be really appreciated.
- Milk bottle crates or other sturdy plastic crates
- Decking boards or planks
- Tyres
- Pallets
- Traffic cones
Thank you!!
Playing with the Bog Babies!
Children have been having a brilliant time this week getting to know our Bog Babies and Adventure Island is proving to be a truly magical place!
We have had great fun using Bog Baby Detectors (large sticks that ‘BEEP’ when a Bog Baby is beneath them) to scan the ground then follow the Bog Babies, who it turns out, are incredibly speedy! Some of us were down in Adventure Island when the Bog Baby Bus drove underneath us which meant we all had to get our feet off the floor! It was a bit hairy at times but luckily, we all made it safely out of the way.
Probably the best bit was discovering the Bog Baby Phones (traffic cones would you believe!). Lots of us had chats with a Bog Baby and in Pre-School they led us on a treasure hunt. We had to count the number of spots on each clue and in the end, we found a special tin which had a tiny pinecone, a toy cat and a very pretty little shell; gifts from the Bog Babies!
Here are some photos of Pre-School children down in Adventure Island and there is also a picture that captured the moment Year 6 children and Mr Long received messages from the Bog Babies out on the playground! The magic is starting to spread!
An Exciting Discovery – The Bog Babies!
On Monday 14th September, Pre-School children went to Adventure Island and stumbled across a line of branches that led to the pond. We soon discovered a family of Bog Babies!
Bog Babies are small, brown and fluffy and they live under the ground. They often follow pathways of branches which mark where their little tunnels are so if any of them get lost (when they come up out of the ground) they can follow the road of branches back to their home – The Swamp Bog (previously known as the pond).
They are noisy little creatures and they make a humming sound, we tried humming to see if a Bog Baby would come out, Kelly thinks she saw one waving from behind a bush but it disappeared very quickly, so she didn’t manage to get a photo. If you get down and put your ear to the ground you may hear one scuttling about beneath you!
Bog Babies get underground through bogs or sometimes under large trees and apparently, they live under the ground all around East Devon so if you put your ear to the ground and start to hum you may get to see or hear one in your garden or out on a walk in the woods!
Here we are following the pathway of branches then searching for Bog Babies in the Bog Swamp.
As the week progressed many other children visited Adventure Island and also heard the Bog Babies! It would be brilliant if children could bring a big stick into school to leave on the field by the entrance because who knows? Maybe the Bog Babies will want to tunnel beneath the school grounds and they will need some pathways to follow!
