Here are 4 different ideas for you to add some Burns related activities to your Daily Walk in the days before, during and after Burns Night on 25th January. The suggestions include activities suitable for learners working from Early to Second Level.
- Initial Sound or Letter Hunt
Choose a word with a link to Robert Burns, Burns Suppers or a Burns poem. We have chosen the word ‘haggis’.
On your walk, see if you can spot things that begin with each sound or letter of your chosen word. Make this more challenging by finding each thing in sequence: you cannot start until you have found something beginning with H and then you can move on to something beginning with A and so on.
This is what we found –
H house
A ants
G gate
G girl
I insect
S sign
2. Use your chosen word and what you have found on your walk to write a simple acrostic poem.
Here is our simple poem based on HAGGIS but you can use rhymes and more interesting vocabulary (adjectives, adverbs, similes or metaphor) and use what you have been learning elsewhere in Writing.
3. If you have been learning Scots poems, use them to make your walk even more interesting.
The following two poems are for learners working at Early Level. Can you say /learn your poem as you walk along? Can you add new verses based on what you see around you? Don’t forget to use Scots words!
The Wee Rid Motor How many red car or vans have you spotted on your walk?
Three Craws Have you spotted three craws sitting together? Not all craws are completely black as this sheet shows – RSPB Guide to the Crow Family How many different kinds of craws have you spotted?
Younger children will enjoy Scottish Book Trust – Three Craws.
4. Street Name Search
Did you know that their are hundreds of streets named after Robert Burns in the UK? Because Robert Burns was born in Ayrshire we see lots of street names, business names, monuments and memorials to Robert Burns. Places like Mauchline, where Robert Burns and his family lived for a time, even have blue plaques describing facts about Burns’ life there.
Plan a walk which takes you along streets named after Burns or his family, or past businesses with Burns in the name. Use a paper map or Google maps to explore your local area before you go out and plan your route.
Can you write 3 sentences explaining why you think we have decided to remember Burns in these different ways?
