Aim:
To raise children's awareness of writing and printing techniques in Tudor times.

Objective:
To allow children to experience some writing techniques as used in Tudor times.

Resources:
Feathers from a variety of birds - some ready-trimmed to form quills, ink, paper, (parchment, vellum, replica horn book, if possible), pencils, crayons, pens, felt pens, simple printing equipment.

Method:
Ask the children how writing and printing is done in modern times. Show a selection of writing implements, asking children to describe and name them and also describe when and how they are used. Ask children how they think writing/mark-making was done before modern implements were available. Let children try to make marks/impressions on materials other than paper, (e.g. wax, slate, stone, etc.) with implements other than pens, (e.g. twig, stone, chalk.)

Show variety of birds' feathers - discuss why goose feathers are one of best kinds of feathers to fashion into quill pens. Demonstrate, briefly, how a feather is prepared, to become a quill. Show technique of writing using a quill pen and ink. Allow children to experiment with the technique, on paper (and if possible, on parchment and vellum). Stress that this was the main method of writing in Tudor Times but most people were not, in fact, taught to write with any expertise - writing down their name was all that many could manage. Not all children went to school and learning how to cook and sew was thought to be far more important for girls than learning how to read and write!

Show children a variety of decorated letters. Explain that important pieces of writing were sometimes produced using such letters - discuss why this was so. Give children a simple outline of a letter, (possibly one or more of their initials) on which to produce a decorated design, using modern-day colouring materials.

Allow children to experiment with simple printing materials and tell them that printing (mention Caxton) did become possible in Tudor times, making books more widely available and therefore the skill of reading (and writing) more widespread.