Sports

Stories from the Stables – Part 4 – Summer Camp

Summer Camp at the Stables, from Carolyn Ward

Once a year, in August, Stourton Stables had a summer camp.  Fifteen lucky kids were invited to spend a whole week with their pony, grooming, tacking up, and riding every day.  There would be a jumping competition and picnic hacks, a visit to the three counties showground, and a swim at the leisure centre.

I was allocated Heidi, a grey mare with a snotty attitude. Literally. One of her tricks was to toss her head about whilst being ridden and flick massive globs of snot and foam backwards into the rider’s face.

Aside from the snot, she was zippy and responsive, pleasant enough to ride; but her main problem was she was evil to groom and tack up. She was a biter and a kicker. Hence I gave an audible groan when they announced we would have to wash our pony’s tail. Drat!

Read More...

Science, Nature and Tech

Get Cracking With Computer Coding for Kids

Kids computing – there’s a lot of talk going on about it right now.  What do you learn about computing in your school?  Are they teaching you how to make cool video games?  How to come up with a story that makes sense, how to make sure that it’s engaging, that there are challenges at each level, and that there’s a reward at the end?  How to build that? 

How to make the bird you toss flop realistically into a pile of whatever you choose – making sure that gravity works the way you would expect it to (or not).  How to craft the graphics you need to tell your story?  How to publish that to your own smartphone and to share it (or sell it!) to friends and strangers? 

Hmmm, I didn’t think so.  “ I’d rather just do some Power Point and Word exercises, “ said no kid, ever.

Read More...