Welcome to the tales of Robin Hood, whereby, Robin has asked village folk if they have what it takes in becoming one of his Merries. This team are Robin Hood’s trusted steeds, who are all highly trained men and women.
The group of village folk have come to the edge of Sherwood Forest to be taken by Robin to a secret location deep in the forest, where they can train to become one of the legendary Merries.
Sheriff!
Throughout Robin Hood’s training to become one of the legendary Merries, at anytime, the lead may shout ‘Sheriff’! This means that you have to drop what you are doing and hide. The last person to hide is out of this game.
The person who didn’t get caught and is still listening out for the sheriff wins the loot (chocolate). The question now on everyone’s mind is, does this trainee merry want to share their loot?
Materials: Bag of chocolate
Trust Walk
The trainees will be required from time to time to bring people back to Robin’s secret camp, known as ‘The Hood’. They need to make sure their skills of guiding anyone through Sherwood Forest is at a good standard.
Get into pairs, one is blindfolded and the other guides. Create a short walk, making sure that the blindfolded person can feel things whilst walking.
Once you have finished the short walk, then ask them to remove their blindfold and try to walk their route back to the beginning. Once this is done swap over.
Materials: Blindfolds
Making Hides
When planning to rob from the rich to give to the poor, Robin and his group of Merries have to create hides in order to vanish into thin air and away from the Sheriff of Nottingham’s soldiers.
Robin wants to see how good you are at creating hides. Think about the functionally of the hides needing to make you vanish.
Materials: Natural material, tarps, rope, duct tape or sticky tape
Foil Parcels
Everyone has to eat, here is how Robin and his Merries would normally eat. Split the group up into two groups, one focusing on food preparation, and the others focusing on creating and managing a fire.
Materials: See links for materials needed - fire kit , foil parcel
Target Making
You will be required to make one or two big targets, they can be any shape. The standard target shape would be either a square or hexagon. Knowing what a shear lashing and a square lashing are, may come in handy when creating your targets.
Materials: String, Sticks
Natural Javelin
Using a javelin will show Robin whether you have the accuracy and determination to hunt and defend ‘The Hood’.
Find a straight stick that is slightly heavier at one end, then tie cord around the centre of the stick to create your javelin handle (grip). Once you’ve created the javelin, it is now time to practise your throwing technique. In order to do this, make a throwing line and a waiting line. Once all the javelins have been thrown, it is then the time to retrieve them. Repeat as many times as you feel the trainees need.
Materials: Hand or bow saw, string, scissors
The Tournament
Using the targets that made, position them either straight in front of the group or over a brow of a hill to challenge them all. Set the javelin range up, making sure you have a throwing line and a waiting line.
You might want to put a points system in place or just focus on trying to hit the targets.