Early Man and a Trip to Butser Ancient Farm

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By In The Playroom

There’s a new movie from Aardman animation out in cinemas this Friday. Early Man is the new prehistoric comedy adventure from award-winning director Nick Park and Aardman, the creators of Wallace & Gromit and Shaun the Sheep.

Set at the dawn of time, when prehistoric creatures roamed the earth, ‘Early Man’ tells the story of courageous caveman hero Dug (Eddie Redmayne) and his best friend Hognob as they unite his tribe against a mighty enemy Lord Nooth (Tom Hiddleston) and his Bronze Age City to save their home.

To get into the caveman spirit, we went along to Butser Ancient farm in Hampshire to find out more about life in these prehistoric times, and how early man actually lived. A couple of my boys had studied this in school too quite recently, so it was great to link in with and reinforce the topic.

It was so interesting to find out more, and try our hand at some practical skills too, from chalk carving to flint knapping and skinning a deer! These are some of the chalks we carved with spiral patterns, which were one of the most commonly seen patterns in cave drawings as the long continuous line represented a long continuous life!

It was so fascinating to see the Bronze casting too, and we found out that the concept of the magic wand actually originated from these times too, from the stick that was used to stir the molten metal!

As it’s a farm, of course we met a few of the animals too. Little N enjoyed saying Hello to the goats.

And we found a little Hognob that must have sneaked in to warm himself up in front of the fire 😉

To find out more about the film, take a look at the Early Man trailer… This would be a great one to watch with the kids over half term, especially if your kids have been learning about prehistoric societies in school too

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Anna Marikar, mum of four and seasoned blogger, has spent over a decade sharing her parenting journey and passion for kid-friendly crafts and free printables.
Her easy-to-follow craft ideas and practical parenting advice have transformed In The Playroom into a cherished resource for parents.

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