Kids must wear goggles

Yesterday I asked my head teacher if it would be okay to let my class play conkers to which she answered, ‘As long as they don’t wear safety goggles!’

We played through this morning as part of our school’s first ‘Conker Championship’. Every child gave their conker a name then I went through most of the established rules with the class before going to the playground. I gave a quick demonstration match with one of my pupils and then everyone started playing. We also had ‘official match referees’ set up with each pair to assess victories and record strikes made for our Maths data handling activities. You can find out more on our Official Conker Championship blog.

The experience was fantastic, for the class and for myself. We had a great morning learning about playing a game most of us adults played when we were children. Some of the children had played before but for many it was their first time so needed to be shown how to hold and strike their conkers. There was a buzz in the classroom that carried through to the next class and throughout the school by lunchtime with many children asking me if they too could enter the competition. Hopefully we will manage to find enough conkers for everyone to play with and we can then have a full school competition.

Download a poster for your school to let others know about the Conker Banning myth!