Truly seasonal and only available in September and early October.
Help our Head Gardener pick the apples in our orchards and learn all about how this favourite fruit grows.

Learn about flour and the ingredients needed to make bread, before making bread dough and baking a roll of their own to take home

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Children visit the different areas of the farm, investigating the growing areas, why the animals are reared, and how we ensure we can provide food we need to eat everyday. Based on the Farming Calendar, this year-round workshop is truly seasonal and will never be the same from one week to the next.  It will include a visit to the farm, so please dress appropriately.

In this double session, children will start by meeting in our veg garden, to consider seasonal food before working together in the ‘kitchen’ to prepare and cook a soup to take home. While soup is bubbling away, children will explore ‘natures produce’ in a bit more detail. Each child will take home a cup of delicious soup.

Duration: 1.5 hours (90 minutes)

This workshop gives pupils the opportunity to learn all about hop picking and experience what it was like to live and work as a hop picker in Kent. This workshop is suitable for up to 30 pupils per session.

The herb garden is a vital part of today’s diets.

After years of dismissing much of it as ‘optional’ tastes, we are realizing again how important herbs really are.

Come and investigate the many beneficial aspects for our daily lives, finishing with something edible to try.

Where does our food come from? Do we know what we’re eating? Can we be more personally involved?

Come and discover how to make a quick and easy ‘jam’ sauce that can be eaten with so many things!

Children meet grocer Frank Wiffen who is looking for a new delivery boy. Exploring several aspects of the manufacture of and trade in food and drink, children learn about the different foods for rich and poor people.

Experience life as a Victorian child and discover the differences between the rich and poor.  See some of the toys Victorian children entertained themselves with. Explore the differences between modern day and Victorian toys.

Children are taken through the process of washing, rinsing, drying and pressing clothes Victorian style, using historic artefacts. Children will have the opportunity to try some washing themselves.

Children are armed with slates and chalk and given a lesson Victorian style in our Victorian schoolroom. They will find out about the old methods of teaching and discipline

Children will learn about the reasons to make rugs from rags in the Victorian era, and where materials came from. They learn how to use a bodger and will be asked to help the inventor by trying out the tool and evaluating its usefulness. Children will create a small rag rug to take home.

How lucky to be able to go to school! Those not so well-off have to go to work to earn money. In this workshop, children will try their hand at some of the jobs children were expected to do from a very young age, such as pure collector or mudlark.

Children will meet a 1940s farmer and learn about rationing and why it was done and what food was rationed.  They will learn about the recipes of the time and the ways the government tried to help.

In this hands-on, interactive session children will experience what it was like for city children to be evacuated to the countryside.

Does your class know what to do when the Air Raid siren goes off? In this hands-on, interactive session children will find out what it was like to live through an air raid.

Children will learn about the reasons to make rugs from rags during the 1940s. Clothes rationing and “Make do and mend” will be discussed. Children learn how to use a bodger and will create a small rag rug to take home.

Britain’s borders must be kept secure in these dangerous times. With many men away, the Home Guard ensures that we’re all safe and that any spies are discovered and dealt with.  Left, right, left, right, march!

Children explore the new technologies the Romans have brought to Britain. They compare and contrast inventions to do with bathing, road building and central heating, and create an aqueduct in competition with each other.

Do you have what it takes to be a centurion? Meet a real Centurion and undergo training! Discover which weapons were used and how the legions travelled to battle.

An audience with Queen Boudicca who will tell you the story of her life. Children can ask questions about life in the army and the kind of weapons they used. Children will also undergo some training and may even get hired!

Meet a slave, and learn about life in a Roman Villa.  Also, discover the exotic foods the Romans brought with them.

Children will discover the science behind the amazing transformation that turns ‘mud’ into stone.  Children will make and take home their very own coil pot, using the same methods as the Romans!

Minimum 20 children required

We know that Alfred burnt the cakes, but there must be more to him than that as he is the only monarch ever to be known as ‘the Great’. Learn of his many battles against the Danes on land (locally at Rochester, Appledore and Milton in Kent) and at sea. Discover how Alfred overcame his early defeats against the Vikings to counter-attack them in a great victory.

In this lively workshop, children will go on a journey on a Viking boat (interpretation) and discover what life was like on board. They will find out how the Vikings navigated their way around the world and where they went and why.

Come and listen to a traditional Viking Saga. Children discover why storytelling was a very important part of Viking culture: stories of brave Vikings, and of the many gods and how they are worshipped.

Do you have to do chores at home? Which jobs do your parents do? Children explore the roles and tasks of the different members of the Viking family and compare this to their own families. They discover what family life was like.

Meet the doctors of the Tudor era. Discover how herbs, leeches and frogs were used to ‘cure’ the sick. How did a Barber Surgeon remove a musket ball, a lump or even a leg? A fascinating look at medieval medicine. 

Tudor justice. Was everyone treated the same? What exactly are stocks? What did they use balls and chains for? Find out the answers to these and much more in this interactive and exciting workshop.

We know that Alfred burnt the cakes, but there must be more to him than that as he is the only monarch ever to be known as ‘the Great’ Learn of his many battles against the Danes on land (locally at Rochester, Appledore and Milton in Kent) and at sea. Who were Ivar the Boneless and Charles the Bald? Discover how Alfred overcame his early defeats against the Vikings to counter-attack them in a great victory.

Meet the famous ‘Lady with the Lamp.’ Miss Nightingale will tell you about her early life, her dreams of becoming a nurse and then take you back in time to experience life as it was for her in Scutari.

Charles Dickens, the famous author, directs a rehearsal of “A Christmas Carol”. This is your opportunity to ask him any questions you have.

Meet Samuel Pepys who gives an eyewitness account of The Great Fire of London. Samuel also talks about his life and his job, giving the children some insight into life in London in 1660. 

Meet Thomas Farryner or his daughter from Pudding Lane where the fire started. They will explain just how the fire started in their bakery shortly after midnight on Sunday 2nd September 1666.

Enter the magical world of the mini-beast and discover what the world would look like if you were only 2 centimetres tall! Then, let your imagination run wild as you create your very own mini-beast from clay.

The mini-beasts may be painted either at home or at school at a later date.

What is clay? Where does it come from? Discover the science behind the amazing transformation that turns ‘mud’ into stone. Then make your very own coil pot, using the same methods as the Romans!

These pots may be painted at a later date at school.     

Through hands-on investigating, pupils will explore the minibeasts that live around Kent Life, how they survive through the seasons and why they are so important to us. We will consider ways we can help them thrive then finish by making a simple minibeast house to take away.

This workshop lasts approximately 45 minutes. It will include a visit to the nature trail, so please dress appropriately.

Homes in the Past

Travel back into the past and visit our historic houses to discover the differences between homes past and present. This one hour workshop will include tours of two of our period homes, in the company of a historical character. You will visit the Victorian & the WWII house. This workshop is ideal for KS1 children, this workshop gives pupils the chance to explore these fantastic period homes and compare them with their own. Maximum 30 children per group.

Children will be allowed to get up close and personal with live owls during a fascinating and educational display. Why not see what’s inside an owls pellet?  Then learn about what owls eat, where they live and how they hunt using their amazing superpowers!

Get the class up close and personal with an array of spectacular nocturnal creatures! Learn about the habitats, adaptations and lifestyles of the animals that come out in the night time. Are you brave enough to say hello to a skunk?

Africa with Meerkats

Get up close to some of Africa’s most iconic creatures! Learn about both predator and prey in this new to 2023 workshop. Please note this is an outdoor workshop so please dress for the weather.

Do you have to do chores at home? Which jobs do your parents do? Children examine the roles and tasks of the different members of the Ancient Greek family and compare this to their own families. They discover what family life was like.

Through a discussion of various diseases, injuries and hygiene, children will find out how the Ancient Greeks dealt with someone who was poorly. Food, magic and the gods play a big part.

What kind of soldier will you be? It depends on your status in society. Children undergo some soldier training (under strict supervision of course!) and experience army life.

The Conquistadores explored and conquered South America with devastating effect, but it wasn’t just their technology that caused so much destruction.

Pyramids aren’t just for the Egyptians. Children learn how and why the Mayans built huge structures without the aid of modern technology.

Children explore what the Mayans believed in and how they communicated with their gods. Be warned: this workshop is not for the faint-hearted!

Children will get to meet Claw, Kent Life’s very own Tribe Member. How did he live in Stone Age times, what did he eat and what clothes did he wear.

Children will discuss the beliefs of Stone Age and Bronze Age people and explore their worshipping and rituals.

Compare and contrast the difference in lifestyles between hunter gatherers and early farmers. What do they hunt and gather? What role does Technology play?