Scotland

We are very proud to be Scottish and live in such a beautiful country so a focus on Scotland was a no-brainer. It’s an added bonus my boy totally rocks a kilt and that there are so many great activities associated with this topic. We had such good fun during our Scotland theme. Below I have added the mind map I used to plan the theme and I have detailed the activities we completed.

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Claymore Craft – resources: cardboard, scissors/Stanley knife, paint, tinfoil.

Claymores are traditional Scottish swords. They are heavy and essential for battle, so naturally, this was the first activity we did. To make the swords we drew the outline onto a piece of cardboard and cut it out using scissors. Robbie then painted them. Once they were dry we wrapped tinfoil around the blade.

These were great fun for imaginative play, Highland Flings and Highland charging.

Scottish Flag Craft – resources: cardboard, pens, white/blue paint.

We couldn’t have a Scottish themed week without making some Scottish flags. We cut out a square of cardboard and drew the St Andrew’s Cross onto it. Robbie then painted the cross white and the background blue.

Toddler Highland games – Kilt optional.

Weight toss: resources: ball, washing line/string

Traditionally this event is where a heavy weight is tossed over a high rope, however, we substituted a football for the weight and used our washing line as the rope. This was still really tricky for Robbie, but he had great fun trying to get the ball over.

Shot Put

Again traditionally this even would have been done with a large round weight and contestants would see how far they could throw it one-handed. We swapped in a lightweight, outdoor bowling ball and Robbie had a go throwing it two-handed. He became quite good at it by the end of the activity and could throw it quite far.

Tossing the Caber

A traditional caber toss sees the participants attempting to launch a large, heavy tree trunk as far as they can. They usually hold the caber from the bottom and almost push it up and away from them. We decided to use Daddy’s foam roller instead as we had no tree trunks to hand.

This was Robbie’s favourite event in our Highland games and we have done it many times since.

Other Highland games events needed additional participants or equipment we didn’t have so we created a few alternatives of our own.

Mickey Slalom

Robbie pushed his ride-on Mickey car in and out of cones up and down the garden.

Bounce and slide

We used Robbie’s garden slide and bouncy “Rody” horse for this event. Robbie needed to slide down the slide then do 5 bounces on Rody, then slide back down the slide again.

Scottish Country Dancing – resources: Amazon Alexa or Spotify

Scottish Country dancing is an essential skill for any young Scottish boy and Ceilidhs are excellent fun. We decided to have our own Ceilidh in the kitchen. Robbie learned many partner dances such as the Gay Gordons, Military Two-step and Canadian Barn Dance. He loves all the twirling and jumping around.

The Highland Fling – resources: YouTube, sticks/swords made earlier.

I have very fond memories of my brother breaking into a Highland Fling randomly when he was little so I was keen to give Robbie the chance to see what it was all about. We found a video of a Highland Fling on YouTube which we watched several times. We talked about what the men in the video were doing and had a wee practice. We then set out our swords and danced along with the video, getting all the arm positions spot on.

Scottish Thistle Picture – resources: paper, pens, crayons

For this easy activity, I drew the outline of a thistle on a piece of paper and explained to Robbie what colours the different parts of the plant were. We looked at pictures of thistles on Google Images too. Then we coloured in the picture together.

Abstract Thistle Painting – resources: cardboard, green/purple paint.

Robbie likes painting freely so this activity was great fun for him. I gave him some cardboard and some green paint which he used to make big green splodges. I then gave him dome purple paint and a different brush and showed him how to make some neater lines and splodges which he copied, creating this nice little abstract picture.

Nessie The Loch Ness Monster Craft – resources: egg box cut into individual pieces, cardboard, paint, googly eyes.

This was a really effective and fun activity. First, we painted the cardboard base blue to resemble the Loch. Then we painted the egg box parts green. We had cut the divider parts of the egg box off and we painted these purple. After everything had dried we stuck the egg box sections onto the blue base and the purple spikes on with glue.

Haggis, Neeps, Tatties, Shortbread, Teacakes and Homemade Steak Pie.

Food is an important part of any Scottish person’s life. We decided to indulge in some of our favourites this week. Robbie loves eating all the Scottish food and is definitely a fan of Haggis, Shortbread and Teacakes!