Week 6: A big Lickety goodbye to our wonderful new pals

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!

Saying goodbye in Govan, Milton and Easterhouse

Monday 29 June

After six fantastic weeks of play, last week we said goodbye for now to our new friends in three different regions of Glasgow.

It’s amazing what can happen over just six weeks. We ‘met’ once a week – this being a digital meeting, or course, due to the lockdown situation which has forced us all inside. And yet, very, very quickly, we were having new adventures together, thanks to the power of our imaginations, and making new friends so we didn’t feel so alone. No special effects or expensive equipment required – we had everything we needed in our own heads. Being around other children and making new pals was the perfect way to unlock it!

During what become a very special couple of hours for all of us to look forward to each week, we did energetic warm-ups to get us all moving, sang funny songs, played games such as Monster’s Footsteps and What’s The Time, Mr. Wolf, used the Lickety Playcards to play the Funky Chicken, dressed up with scarves and blankets and tights on our heads, and used a Magic Ball to travel all across the world. We really were overjoyed by the consistently brilliant ideas that the children came up with each week – from eating diamond-studded ice pops on Mercury to an underwater seahorse picnic where everything tasted backwards. Together, we escaped our four walls for a couple of hours, and expanded our minds as we went to some weird and wonderful places.

Whilst these sessions will be pausing over the summer (we’ll be back in the autumn and will give you all plenty of notice!) – we still have plenty of tips and resources to entertain over the summer holidays.

⭐ The Saturday Sessions are still happening! These take place at 10am every Saturday over Zoom, and usually have more people attending than our community-specific ones. So, they’re a bit different, but also great fun and the best opportunity to make even more friends! To join these, 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!

⭐ The great thing about the summer holidays is that you can play EVERY day! To help inspire you, we’ve compiled this list of some great games you can play when you’re not at school.

⭐ In our Lickety Activity Videos, you get to choose from three super-fun activities – Cooking with Taz, Exploring with Jack, or Making with Iona. Then all you need to do is a gather a couple of simple things that you might have in your house, like crayons, or sellotape, or a saucepan, and watch along with the video at home.

So to all our wonderful participants in Govan, Milton and Easterhouse, see you soon & keep playing!

Pictures from our final week together

Goodbye from Taz!

The fantastic Govan gang has been gathering every week for six weeks to meet each other and play, play, play – and the last session was special because after all that time, and all those adventures, we all feel like proper pals!

In our last session we gave Yumna and her mum Fatima a special welcome, shouting “WELCOME TO GOVAN!”. Yumna and her family are new to Govan so it was great to have them at a session and make new friends. We also gave a big hello to some very special guests – Dyanesh and Jeevitha’s uncle and grandma, who joined the session all the way from India! That was very cool indeed!

Thanks so much to our friends Erin, Ethan, Jia Chen, Nuo Xuan, Priyangaa, Kanika, Muhammed, Hamna, Moatasim, George, Lazare, Gurveer, Radha, Simran, Sahaj, Bob, Jeevitha, Dyanesh and Yumna for all the good times, and to grown-ups La, Hardeep, Hao Lin, Ngoneh, Rashida, Anadhavalli, Nadia, Fatima and Leah and everyone else for helping our younger pals to join the session each week, and being always at hand to help make the sessions better for them.

We’ll miss you over the summer, but remember we’ll be back in the autumn to play together again.

Goodbye from Jack!

On behalf of Taz, Iona, Ruby, Virginia and myself, I want to thank our friends Ryan and Lorna, Lujain and Ahmed, Piyanshu, Arohi and Pallavi, Mihika and Amruta, Lobna, Dan and Momeh, Rama and Ahmed, Rebecca and Iona, Zeenat, Ayaan, Noor, Muaz and Emaan and everyone else who has played with us over the past six weeks in Milton. We have had such a brilliant time getting to know you all!

We’re going to miss you over the summer but fear not, we still have four Saturday at 10am sessions left, and we’ll be back in no time for more Big Porridge & Play sessions with you soon.

Remember to check out our tips for ways to play in the summer holidays, and keep in touch – we love hearing from you. Keep playing, and keep smiling!

Goodbye from Iona!

I would like to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who has joined us over the last six weeks in Easterhouse. What an inspirational, hilarious, creative and kind group! Thank you to Emmanuel, Joyce, Grace, Boatemaa, Alina, Zofia, Le Xuan, Ayo and Franky who joined us for our final session when got up to all sorts, including:

🐔 the best Funky Chicken ever – with a slithering snake, a lazy sheep and a crazy tiger

🧙🏾 some wonderful dressing up with tights on our heads and blankets as capes… which suddenly turned us in to witches!

🔮 using our Magic Ball to go to the North Pole and an underwater disco

Keep playing, drawing, flying, and keep in touch – we can’t wait to see you again in the autumn.

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.

🥝 🍑 🍍 In Episode 5 of Cooking with Taz, she treated us to something that is not only really sweet and delicious, but also very nutritious – isn’t that brilliant! Watch Taz’s video to find out how to make a fruit salad, using any fruits you have in your house. If you do have a lovely yellow melon, though, you can use it to make a melon boat to display your delicious fresh fruit in!

🐪 🗺️ 🇪🇬 Jack took out his Magic Map and went somewhere really special, where they ride on camels and there are enormous stone pyramids, shrouded in mystery… yes, it’s Egypt! Remember to watch along with your Journal so you can draw and write about all the amazing things you’ll see.

🗞️ 👒 🎩 For Iona’s video this week you need only ONE item – a single sheet of newspaper, which she will show you how to transform into a funky newspaper hat! If you’ve got some sellotape then you can make even more types of hat, as well as a crown, and a funny new fringe… all of which will be the perfect props for some dressing up fun!

All our videos are made for you to follow along with at home – why not have a go?