I was saddened to see conkers is one of the lost words highlighted in Robert Macfarlane's book. How can these stunning orbs become lost from our children's vocabulary? It seems inconceivable to me. Stampsies (or stamps) is where if a conker ends up on the floor, a player shouts ‘stampsies’ and then races to try to stamp and crush their opponents conker. Orchar Park – There are a few horse chestnut trees around the perimeter of this Broughty Ferry park. Cotton & wire (eco) pipe cleaners - get from Conscious Crafts https://consciouscraft.uk/products/pipe-cleaners

A derivation from the word ‘conquer’, referring to the battle-style nature of the game with each player hitting each other’s nut Conker nuts usually mature and fall from trees in early Autumn in the UK - between mid-September and mid October. With world temperatures rising, the conker season is getting earlier. The Horse Chestnut Leaf Miner is an invasive moth larvae that burrows into leaves turning them brown and preventing the full photosynthesis process to occur. A huge number of Horse Chestnut trees in the UK are infected. Scoring in conkers is very straight-forward. In every game you basically win the points of your opponent’s conker. So for example, if your conker has 2 points (i.e. a is a ‘two-er’) and your opponent’s conker has 3 points (i.e. is a ‘three-er’) then then winner’s conker will become a ‘five-er’.This week we began our new adventure on Monkey Camp where the children have enjoyed exploring new areas of the forest and engaging in different activities. The conker clamp can be held in one hand and is suitable for small items like conkers and acorns. It enables you to hold the item securely with one hand while using a softwood hand drill or palm drill to make a hole. After securing the item, you can place the clamp on a work surface, holding the clamp with one hand and drilling vertically down with the other. Yes. It is possible buy conkers with holes in them already. If you don’t want to hole and prepare a conker yourself, then you can buy pre-holed conkers - so you don’t have to worry about skewering your hand?! There are no specific UK laws that ban conkers from being played at schools, however schools have the powers to ban any activity within their domain that theydeem dangerous / to contravene school rules based on heath and safety grounds. Ideally also conker clamps (buy from Muddy Faces) https://muddyfaces.co.uk/shop/products/conker-clamp-kids-at-work

Talk to them about spiders as you do the activity - are spiders insects? How many legs do they have? How many eyes? What do they eat? How do they catch their food (not all use webs etc). You may want to share some photos of spiders to talk about body parts as conker spiders aren't quite true to how a spider looks - no abdomen! Disabling Most Interest Based Advertising: Most advertising networks offer you a way to opt out of Interest Based Advertising. We will not, without your express consent, supply your personal information to any third party for the purpose of their or any other third party's direct marketing. If you would like to find out more information, please visit aboutads.info/choices or youronlinechoices.com. The history of the name ‘conker’ is not 100% clear, however ideas of why a conker is called a conker include:

Where are the best places to find conkers in Dundee?

We will take reasonable technical and organisational precautions to prevent the loss, misuse or alteration of your personal information.

If you have conkers growing near you, they are a lovely resource to link to nature through play and learning. Every time I see a fresh smooth conker I am mesmerised by the swirls and beautiful colours. The real name for a conker is a horse chestnut - or in its latin name Aesculus hippocastanum Conker Equipment

Instructions

Goggles and arm guard: for safety, if you don’t want to risk your eyes or forearm a pair of goggles and arm guard are key! G-clamps are designed for woodworking projects. This model has a fixed frame holding a threaded rod that connects to a flat end or swivel shoe. The T-handle attached to the rod is turned to tighten the clamp. These clamps have a smaller jaw size and a limited range of 25-150mm compared to F-clamps. A link to the French word ‘conque’ which means ‘conch’ or ‘shell’ - referring to the shell of the horse chestnut, or perhaps another game involving snail shells The best indication of whether a Horse Chestnut tree is going to grow lots of conkers is whether the tree in Spring has lots of white ‘conker blossom’ covering it - as the more blossom, the more and bigger the conkers will be by Autumn-time.

Other ways to cheat at conkers is to bend the rules - for example, when you’re playing a game of conkers who can do ‘stampsies’ which is when you stamp on your opponent’s conker, therefore smashing it! Is conkers really banned in schools in the UK? Conkers start growing from early Spring, and by mid Spring you can see white ‘conker blossom’ on Horse Chestnut trees. Tips on how to encourage schools to allow conkers to be played in the school playground include asking children to wear safety goggles (like ones they way wear in the science lab) and only allowing children to play conkers outside. Do they play conkers in the US? No, it’s not possible to eat conkers. Unlike other types of chestnuts - which are edible - horse chestnuts - Aesculus hippocastanum -conkers are in fact poisonous. To work with smaller and delicate workpieces like wooden discs, you should use spring clamps. They are ideal for this kind of application due to their small size. These clamps can be used to hold small objects on a work surface, but they are especially useful for holding two pieces together when glueing.Notwithstanding the other provisions of this Section 6, we will retain documents (including electronic documents) containing personal data: Get them to clamp in the conker and one of the kids hold the clamp while the other uses the palm drill to drill a hole through the body of the conker. Make sure you show them how to do this safely. The clamp helps avoid them drilling into their hands. We will not pass your information to third parties; except for the purpose of fulfilling our services to a school who enters into an agreement to use our services and you, the user or where we are required to do so by law. To reduce our impact, we collect conkers that have fallen onto the pavement and would inevitably end up being crushed in the road.