Week 5: Funky chickens, magic balls, and wolves with watches!

Welcome to the Big Porridge & Play blog, where we share the stories of the adventures we’ve had during our virtual play sessions on Zoom. If you’d like to join in with our open session on Saturday mornings at 10am, all you need to do is either email us at cfn@licketyspit.com, text us at 07413 800 342, or sign up using this form. Everyone’s welcome, and we’d love to see you!

What we did in MILTON

Wednesday 17 June

Licketyspit actor-pedagogue Jack shares the adventures that happened in the fifth of our Zoom play sessions in Milton. Welcoming children and parents who live in Milton, Jack and other Licketyspit team members guided everyone through warm-ups, games, and a fantastic journey using only our Magic Ball, and our collective imaginations…

🎵🎶 BUT I BET YOU A DOLLAR SHE COULD WRIGGLE LIKE A FOOL,
WRIGGLE WRIGGLE WRIGGLE WRIGGLE WRIGGLE LIKE A FOOL! 🎶🎵

We started last week’s session in Milton with a brilliant version of Grandma Grandma. Everyone was doing some great actions and it really started this session off with a bang!

Funky Chicken

As we welcomed two new families to the Milton session this week, Piyanshu introduced us all to the Hungry Jaguar-Cheetah – which got us in the mood for a brilliant round of the Funky Chicken. We’ve been so impressed with everyone’s ideas over the past five weeks; the creativity in the children’s choice of animal and their actions has made this game a real favourite for all of us! We loved Yumna and Fathima’s suggestion this week, and Ayaan and Noor’s Cheeky Monkey had us all on our feet, jumping up and down…

What’s The Time, Mr Wolf?

Deep in the forest, there were a series of wonderful animals who all seemed to know each other: Djames the fox, Noor and Yumna the beautiful butterflies, Mihika the pig and Piyanshu the eagle. As we made our way deeper into this dark and mysterious forest together, we met a very busy animal – Mr Wolf! Mr Wolf is always on the go, and is the only animal with a watch! So, if the animals want to know the time, they all say: “WHAT’S THE TIME, MR WOLF?”

And Mr Wolf will always tell us the time and tell us to join him, in whatever he’s busy doing. Yesterday, Mr Mihika Wolf had us singing! And Mr Djames Wolf had us playing outside!

But, one thing’s for sure – we better run and hide when it’s dinner time!

Magic Ball

“MAGIC BALL MAGIC BALL MAGIC TAKE US WHERE WE WANT TO GO!”

After that, we got out our Magic Ball…

“It’s so windy! Jack, I think we’re on top of the tallest mountain the world.”

“We’re so high up, Taz.”

With Mihika being scared of heights, we all held each other’s hands, so we didn’t fall off the edge of the mountain. Luckily, Piyanshu saved the day, allowing us to get down – he’d brought enough skis for all of us to ski down the side of the mountain! We picked up some serious speed before we reached the edge of the cliff. With nowhere to go, we took a leap of faith, hurling ourselves off the edge…

As we flew through the air Yumna told us to look down, and there beneath us was a beautiful lake and a forest!

As we landed with a bump and bang, Piyanshu realised we’d landed in a dark and spooky cave. Taz, always with a solution, asked if anyone had a match to light so we could see where we were. We all did, and as our matches illuminated the cave, what a beautiful sight we saw. Across the cave walls, there were ancient drawings – stunning pictures left by our ancestors! Mihika saw a painting of a Highland cow, Noor and Ayaan saw a picture of people dancing, and Yumna saw a painting of a beautiful butterfly sitting on a leaf.

ROOOOAARRR! It turned out that this cave was being looked after by a monster! Mihika, who can speak Monster, warned us that it was time to go so we all ran as fast as we could, ducking and diving, back to the Magic Ball.

We had another amazing session this week. Each week, all the participants come with excellent ideas and the way they all listen to and support each other makes it such a pleasure for us to work with them all.

Remember to keep looking out for our films, Exploring with Jack, Making with Iona, and Cooking with Taz.

See you all next week!
Jack

Do you live in Milton?
Join the Big Porridge and Play Milton Facebook Group

What we did in Govan

Tuesday 16 June

This Govan gang have been playing together for five weeks, and yesterday we had another fun packed session, with Erin, Ethan, Priyangaa, Kanika, Moatasim, George, Lazare, Jia Chen, Nuo Xuan, Hamna, Dyanesh, Jeevitha, Gurveer, Radha, Simran and Sahaj!

This week we found a yellow magic ball in a forest, and together we travelled to the planet Mercury! The ground was red and sandy and smelled a bit like strawberries (Priyangaa pointed out that in fact, it smelled like diamonds, just like her mum’s jewellery box!). It was really hot on Mercury, so we found a beach there with an Ice Pops stall – Hamna opened hers and found ice lollies with diamonds in them (which by the way, can get stuck in your teeth!). Jia Chen cooled down so much that he froze solid, so we tried to defrost him with our warm breath, lead by Nuo Xuan – which worked a little bit, but what did the trick was when we all tickled him!

When we got back to Glasgow we drew and shared our art, thoughts and some surprises we’d found during our playing, like…

🦄. Hamna telling us about seeing and touching a unicorn on Mercury – and Erin spotting it too

🍦 Priyangaa telling us about the moon rocks in the ice lolly she got

🦋 Kanika showing us the butterfly she became during What’s The Time Mr. Wolf – which was, in fact, a poisonous one!

Another brilliant session, full of possibility, ideas and laughter with this absolutely legendary group of pals.

Can’t wait to see everyone again next week!
Taz

Do you live in Govan?
Join the Big Porridge and Play Govan Facebook Group

What we did in Easterhouse

Thursday 18 June

It was another fantastic week in Easterhouse. After immediately getting grooving with Grandma in a game of Grandma’s Footsteps (who thought that she was sick, but actually all she needed was a walking stick!) and doing all sorts of hilarious and funky moves in Funky Chicken (which included the children coming up with fantastic animals including a rumbling rhino, and a silly cat) we soon found ourselves deep in a forest, where we enjoyed dressing up and meeting lots of forest animals.

We met woodpeckers, elephants, snails, squirrels, butterflies and bears – but, there was one very special animal in the forest who had a magnificent watch, and that was Mr Wolf! Mr Wolf was very busy when we asked him the time, and got us to do all sorts of things, especially exercise! Mr Emmanuel Wolf got us doing aerobics, jumping jacks, and golf!

Next week is our last week, I can’t believe it! See you all then!
Iona

Do you live in Easterhouse?
Join the Big Porridge and Play Easterhouse Facebook Group

Cooking with Taz, Exploring with Jack & Making with Iona:
This week’s new episodes

Taz, Jack and Iona have also been busy making more videos for parents and children to join in with. Do you want to learn how to make the ultimate Lickety sandwich? Putting things in bread is like having an edible plate – a whole meal in one! Join Taz in the kitchen this week and see what she uses to make hers – then, the big question: what are you going to put in yours?

On Saturday, Jack took out his Magic Map and we went on an incredible adventure to the coldest place on planet Earth. Can you guess where? Yes, it was Antarctica, right at the bottom of the world! We met penguins and whales, but also learnt what climate change is.

On Sunday, we were in for a really special treat with Iona, who taught us how to make our own silly moustaches! She then did a performance introducing us to some very funny moustachioed new friends. Using only cardboard, crayons, some bits of netting and some twigs, it really is very easy for you to make your own at home. We highly recommend it!

In fact, all our videos are made for you to follow along with at home – why not have a go?!