Five Currant Buns

One advantage of working as a casual on call for a large organisation is the inspiration you receive from your fellow educators at each of the centres.

In the past weeks I have had requests for currant buns from a number of centres and I decided to take up the challenge.

After researching the net I found a free pattern on Ravelry for current buns.  This pattern was created by Chloe Blunn and is designed for intermediate knitters with experience knitting on 4 double pointed knitting needles.  The pattern can be downloaded at the following address: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/bakers-dozen-currant-buns

There were some row number errors in the pattern that caused some initial confusion.  These are listed below (I have added a comment to Chloe’s blog complementing her on her wonderful pattern and listing the corrections.}

Changes to the Current Bun Pattern starting from row 14.

14-19.  Knit 6 rounds

20.  Join in Cream/Icing Colour and follow chart carrying colours at back of work until end of round 22 when you can break off the Brown and weave the end in now, the chart is repeated 6 times around.
23.  K
24.  *K4, K2tog repeat from * (40)
25.  K
26.  *K3, K2tog repeat from * (32)
27.  K
28.  *K2, K2tog repeat from * (24)
29.  K
30.  *K1, K2tog repeat from * (16)
31.  K
32.  *K2tog repeat from * (8)
Break off yarn, leaving a tail to thread through all the stitches
Stuff the bun
Thread the tail end through all the stitches, draw up tight and stitch shut.

 

The original pattern has red cherries on top of the bun but I added different coloured berries to each bun to add the additional educational dimension of colour recognition.

 

Lyrics - Five currant buns

 

FIVE currant buns in a baker's shop,
Round and fat with a (insert colour) cherry on top.
Along came a boy with a penny one day,
Bought a currant bun and took it away.

FOUR currant buns in a baker's shop,

Round and fat with a (insert colour) cherry on top.

Along came a girl with a penny one day,
Bought a currant bun and took it away.

THREE currant buns in a baker's shop,
Round and fat with a (insert colour) cherry on top.      
Along came a boy with a penny one day,
Bought a currant bun and took it away.
 
TWO currant buns in a baker's shop,
Round and fat with a (insert colour) cherry on top.
Along came a girl with a penny one day,
Bought a currant bun and took it away.

ONE currant bun in a baker's shop,
Round and fat with a (insert colour) cherry on top.
Along came a boy with a penny one day,
Bought a currant bun and took it away.
Bought a currant bun and took it away!

I also created pennies using a picture of a kangaroo Australian penny found on Microsoft Word.

I cut these out and laminated them so that the children could gain a cultural understanding of the coins historically used in Australia in the |”olden” days.

 By adding holly to the buns this variation can be used closer to Christmas.

 

If you utilise this resource or have other resources that you use to engage children, please leave a comment. The children in our care can only benefit if we discuss and share our experiences