During this term, we’ve been having the equivalent of a gym session outdoors. The children have been constructing various items from ropes. The universally most popular item has been a hammock. The one in the photo comes from Muddy Faces. As you can see, the children love being cocooned in it!

It is incredibly easy to put up so the children are developing confidence at being able to do this independently. The other recent trick some of the children have learned is how to flip upside down without falling out!

I’ve blogged previously about hammocks and the trick of getting in and out which is quite a skill in its own right. The next step in hammocks is to move to trying a net one, like this one from Cosy:

This net hammock is slightly smaller. The holes mean there is a greater chance of something like a button or part of a shoe getting caught up in the netting.

Now, naturally shop-bought hammocks are a good starting point. In the most recent session, I decided it was time to put in a challenge of creating a hammock – was it possible to do this using tarps and ropes? One group immediately decided to give this a go.

The result was a very deep hammock. Just right for hiding inside. Now as usual when creative acts such as this happen, we discovered a wee bonus. That on a sunny day, the tarp hammock can also become a shadow sheet! You can even work out how many children the hammock can hold…

If you do not have a hammock, then this tarp-rope alternative is cheap and effective. The only down side is that it does put stress on the rivets. When a fourth child joined the hammock, it finally did break! Bear in mind these are 11 and 12 yr olds!

Finally I have just discovered that hammock camping is a specialism all in itself. Check out The Ultimate Hang and other books to discover a new world…