1st June 2019

We had a really wonderful Picnic & Play on The Tall Ship with the Ruchill Porridge & Play group last week.

Ruby met some of the group to get the bus to Partick after a quick game of Big as a Bear and Funky Chicken at the bus stop. When we got there, we met the rest of the group, as well as Jack, Rita, Boatemaa and Emmanuel, who had been getting things ship shape and ready to go, and we had an incredibly imaginative, energetic and joyful session.

We had some very confident Funky Chicken contributions – like the Puppy Dog, the Tall Snake and the Slow Snail. Everyone was really listening to each other and showing a lot of mutual respect and appreciation. We also played Sent a Letter to my Love, with lots of smiling and skipping about. Then suddenly, the Letter turned into a Magic Ball…

Our Tall Ship Magic Ball Adventure – The Nasty Pirate and the Sea Creature

We climbed inside the Magic Ball and found some dressing up clothes to create our adventure costumes, then we said the magic words and the Magic Ball took us off – to an Arctic Island! You were unstoppable and brimming with ideas. Several people bravely jumped into the icy sea and invited us all to have a swim. Then we came out and dried off and found the entrance to a long, dark tunnel. Luckily, someone found some torches and shared them out so that we could crawl slowly through the tunnel.

Inside, we found a map and Boatemaa spotted a chest on it. Every went off to look for it, eventually finding the chest further down the tunnel. But it was locked, and no matter how many keys everyone found to try, none of them worked! Suddenly, Nikki had a brilliant idea. We could try our keys all at once! Edie suggested we say Abracadabra at the same time – and it worked! The chest burst open to reveal golden treasure, chocolate and jewels!

As we were marvelling in our discovery, a Pirate appeared. He was very displeased to see us taking his treasure. In fact, he was rather cross. He started telling us to Scrub the Deck and Climb the Rigging, to Drink our Grog and even to Walk the Plank! We had to do exactly as he said, but in return, he said he’d show us his ship. And what a ship it was! We climbed up the galley stairs to the deck and looked out at the Arctic Sea. It was a beautiful sunny day, and we were exploring the ship when all of a sudden, a Sea Creature appeared!

The Sea Creature spoke and strange Sea language and she was crying. You quickly discovered she was very hungry. Everyone found things to give her to eat which cheered her up a lot. Then she gave us each a gift. Everyone was presented with a Sea Bangle. When the bangles started to change colour, the Sea Creature told us in her strange voice, that it was a sign the rain was coming. The bangles started to flash faster, so we quickly went back into the hold.

Back downstairs, Ruby and Jack reappeared just in time to get back into the Magic Ball and go back to the Tall Ship. Everyone told them about the Pirate and the Sea Monster they had met – they couldn’t believe they’d missed them!

We got out of the Magic Ball and settled down for a delicious picnic of crunchy veg, fresh fruit, bread, cheese and humus.

We hope the sun shines this Saturday so we can have another picnic in Ruchill Park. If not we’ll just stay indoors at the Ruchill Community Centre.

Thank you to Levi and everyone at The Tall Ship for having us and sharing in our Porridge & Play adventure!

What you said…

“It was so great watching the other people on the tall ship watching what we were
all doing, that was exciting.” (Mum)

“The fact that we had this week’s session on a ship was awesome.” (Mum)

“It was really cool as I’m a shy person and wouldn’t do this anywhere else.” (Mum)

“E was excited before we came and he has loved every bit. Me too. Thank you.” (Mum)

“My daughter love it counts down the days until the next one things she will be lost when it finishes up, might need to go to another location.” (Mum)

Other blog posts…

BIG Porridge & Play Glasgow is a 7-week block of Licketyspit Playcard Play & food sessions for families with children under 12. This year for the very first time we will be going out for sessions 4 and 5 to have Picnic & Play sessions in cultural centres around Glasgow. Find out more by clicking here!