Why I started Licketyspit

2025-03-31T09:39:19+00:00

I started working with early years children when I had my own children – Ruby & Iona. Having children reminded me how much I love to play, sing, dance, dress-up, read, explore and make up and act out stories! Play is so important. Its how we learn to become ourselves. Play is how we discover the world around us and what we think about it. And play is how we get to know each other and build strong relationships. When we play we can relax and open up our imaginations. Anything is possible! We can be anyone, go anywhere, do anything! Grown-ups can get so busy with work that we sometimes forget the serious business of play! Everyone needs what children need - to be seen, heard, valued and included; to be LOVED! to have somewhere to live; enough to eat and enough sleep; to feel safe and respected and to have time to relax and PLAY!  Grown-ups who know children are so lucky because children are the WORLD'S PLAY EXPERTS. Actors are 'Players'. We are experts at playing too, and Licketyspit actors are experts at playing and talking with children and families. Licketyspit asks children to be our experts when we create our shows and all the other things we do. Children have so many amazing ideas that Licketyspit has to run to keep up with all the things we want [...]

Why I started Licketyspit2025-03-31T09:39:19+00:00

Licketyspit at the Refugee Festival Scotland!

2022-07-12T11:26:20+00:00

We went to the Scottish Refugee Festival!! Saturday 18th June We had a wonderful Licketyspit Picnic & Play to celebrate the Scottish Refugee Festival in Elder Park on Saturday 18th June with 14 families from all over the city – and all over the world! It was a blustery sunny day. The early birds had a hilarious time with Effie singing Old Roger is Dead & inventing millions of new verses and new characters for Jelly on his Head! Adeelah gave us Violet with Chewing gum in her mouth! Mohammad gave us Freddie with eggs on her ears! We had far too many to remember! Azalea with butter on her nose!  Melody with carrots on her nose! Flower with rolls in her nose! Jeff with sausages in his ears! Wendy with apple pit in her mouth! Nachos in someone’s eyes! Max with birthday cake in his mouth!....so many!  When everyone else arrived, we did BIG as a BEAR – which was BIG as there were 41 of us! We also played Funky Chicken and a raucous Grandma Grandma. Raucous means making or aiding in creating a really loud noise! Then we Dressed Up for our Magic Ball Adventure. Jainaba set up the Magic Ball for everyone. When we finally arrived and unzipped the magic ball to see where we'd arrived we stepped out into ‘0h gravity …wooooooo! ….we were in space! [...]

Licketyspit at the Refugee Festival Scotland!2022-07-12T11:26:20+00:00

Volunteer with Licketyspit!

2022-07-13T16:02:11+00:00

22nd April 2022 We are looking for volunteers to take part in our intergenerational Storyplay sessions across a range of projects. Our play sessions mainly take place on Wednesdays (2.30-6.30), Thursdays (3-7), Fridays (3-7), Saturdays (10-4). Dates for induction training are - 24th May (6-7.30) - 25th May (11-1) drop in for 1-to-1 chats - 21st June (4-5.30) You must attend at least 1 training session. If you can attend all 3 sessions you'll develop your skills further, on the road to becoming a Storyplay Champion! We aim to be as flexible as we can to accommodate our volunteer's availability and circumstances. You can tell us more about your availability when you sign up or get in touch if you'd like to have a chat. If you have children and would like to volunteer with us - we'd love to hear from you. We can work out an arrangement suitable to your needs, every family is different. You will receive Storyplay Training - learn to use the Storyplay toolkit of games, rhymes, songs and imaginary play activities and the methodology of how we play Experience working with diverse groups of families including refugees and asylum seeking families, in communities across Glasgow Understanding and experience of how Licketyspit engages online and in person, logistical know-how of running successful large group play activities Storyplay resources Experience preparing and serving community meals Experience [...]

Volunteer with Licketyspit!2022-07-13T16:02:11+00:00

Training Women’s Aid workers in Storyplay

2025-04-02T23:41:37+00:00

17th December 2021 In 2020, Scottish Women’s Aid (SWA) approached Licketyspit to explore a collaboration: ‘When I heard more about Licketyspit all I could think about was how few tools we’ve had (in WA) based on joy and play and love and excitement and art and music and all of the thing to allow us to express emotions and not only get them out but also share them in a really meaningful way with the people we love.’ Marsha Scott CEO SWA In Feb 2021 Licketyspit introduced Storyplay to 30+ Women’s Aid Workers – who immediately understood how they could use this imaginary play-based approach and methodology – “(Storyplay is) a great way to create empathy and connect with a child …who may be unable to understand their feelings & responses / (of) helping Mums and children build a shared experience and address difficult issues” Women's Aid Workers Feb '21 SWA approached Scottish Government to support an innovative collaboration between Scottish Women' Aid and Licketyspit. Last week the first Women’s Aid workers –from Wigtown to Shetland - completed an intensive 5-week online Licketyspit Storyplay Training programme - with flying colours! Storyplay is not as easy as it looks. Learning to facilitate it is to embark on a journey of learning, self-reflection and bold experiment! The WA workers all described a similar experience, initially feeling out of [...]

Training Women’s Aid workers in Storyplay2025-04-02T23:41:37+00:00

Licketyspit’s Xmas Dress-Up!

2021-12-14T11:16:39+00:00

All you need is your imagination for a Magical Christmas! Some of our fantastic families won’t be getting a present this Christmas so we would like to be able to give them a some presents from US ALL! We invite YOU to join our Dressing-Up Challenge to make a fantastic & hilarious costume out of anything you can find around the house or office! Then if you can, donate to our Christmas fundraiser.  Donate Here How to take part: 1)  Dress yourself up in a fantastic & hilarious costume made out of anything you can find around the house or office!  2) Take a picture and share it with us tagging @LicketyTweet or Licketyspit on Facebook with the  #xmasdressup 3) if you can, donate to our Christmas fundraiser here. Lickety Dressing Up tips with Effie The Lickety Gallery

Licketyspit’s Xmas Dress-Up!2021-12-14T11:16:39+00:00

National Lottery Birthday Film

2025-04-02T23:50:32+00:00

26th November 2021 This month we had a fantastic Porridge & Play session at our home in Community Central Halls - CCH, with families who've been playing with us online since last year! We were also joined by Sanjeev Kholi and our funder the National Lottery who wanted to make a short film about Porridge & Play. The National Lottery Community Fund Scotland has funded Big Porridge & Play Glasgow since 2017 and last year helped us run sessions online all year, keeping our Children & Families Network connected & playing together throughout the challenges of the pandemic. Even though we were at home, in our imaginations we went everywhere! It was great to meet up in person together with the Funky Chicken, the Swimming Mermaid, the Flying Dinosaur and the Wobbly Penguin. We flew to space in our balloons, introduced the crew to Grandma and even saw some rainbow unicorns! The National Lottery collaborated with Joe Media for their 27th birthday to make a series of films about projects they support. Click on the image to the right to see the film they made about Porridge & Play! Click on the image below to watch the film The Lickety Gallery BUILD Installation We were also included in an installation [...]

National Lottery Birthday Film2025-04-02T23:50:32+00:00

Storyplay for the Planet

2021-11-09T10:57:08+00:00

Licketyspit wants to spark a children’s rights-based play revolution! Storyplay for the Planet is part of our wider work in Glasgow, the first Storyplay City! See Big Porridge & Play and Storyplay City to find out what else we're doing nearby. What is Storyplay for the Planet? A series of Storyplay & Have Your Say Through Play sessions for families with 3-12 year olds in East Centre Ward. Licketyspit will deliver sessions in schools, nurseries and online for communities across the East Centre Ward to support confidence, parental engagement, relationships and children’s rights. The school groups will receive an introductory Storyplay session, followed by a Have your Say Through Play session to support the children to express their thoughts, feelings & ideas about Climate Change using imaginary play. These sessions will be a chance for families to explore the issue of climate change and share their feelings about it creatively, elevating children's voices and demonstrating the power of imagination to find solutions to the greatest collective challenge of our time! We might encounter melting polar ice, or deforestation in Brazil, put a stop to heavy traffic in Cranhill or plant trees in Barlanark. The adventure will present challenges and as a group we’ll overcome them using the power of our collective imagination! We might end up in a river clogged with rubbish, or slipping [...]

Storyplay for the Planet2021-11-09T10:57:08+00:00

Stories of Resilience

2025-04-02T23:39:44+00:00

25th October 2021 This autumn, we were delighted to make a film about Porridge & Play Online as one of 13 Stories of Resilience commissioned by Refugee Action. Working on Zoom has produced a wealth of wonderful video clips of Porridge & Play Online throughout the Pandemic. Lead Actor-pedagogue, Iona Zajac, was able to cherry-pick from these in order to edit together a 5-minute film to provide a window into the essence of this amazing project. The narration, recorded by Storyplay Champion children, draws on child consultation sessions to capture what the project has meant for them. We were delighted to be able to share our families' experiences of Storyplay during the pandemic, alongside such an important group of projects. People who succeed in getting to the UK to claim asylum against the odds have already shown great resilience and courage, but faced with our brutal Asylum system, their sense of relief and hope can often be short-lived. Watch the film here The Home Office needs to do much more to meet the material needs of people seeking asylum. The basic human rights to food, shelter, clothes, school, digital access and transport are not sufficiently met and many charities do vital work to fill the gaps. The pressure of these needs also has a huge impact on mental health and wellbeing - in limbo, isolated and disempowered, [...]

Stories of Resilience2025-04-02T23:39:44+00:00

Women’s Aid Storyplay Scotland

2022-04-27T13:10:47+00:00

29th September 2021 Licketyspit and Scottish Women’s Aid are excited to offer a free place on to our upcoming Storyplay training course to member Women’s Aid groups across Scotland. Following a very successful introductory session in February, Women’s Aid Storyplay Scotland will provide in-depth Storyplay training to Women’s Aid Workers to use Storyplay as an additional approach in their work with mothers, children and young people recovering from domestic abuse. Storyplay offers a children’s rights-based approach to social interaction and relationship building through structured, joyful, imaginary play. This highly developed, tried and tested approach and toolkit will support workers to work with mothers and children together, nurturing creativity, confidence, relationships, confident parenting, physical and mental wellbeing, resilience, love and happiness. Training will be led by Licketyspit’s Artistic Director Virginia Radcliffe, alongside skilled Licketyspit Lead-Actor-Pedagogues who will train you and support you in sessions with your clients. Evaluations of the Storyplay approach demonstrate that this is an empowering approach for participants and workers . Storyplay demonstrates  a consistently high impact on children and adults’ confidence, social skills, emotional literacy and resilience, and use & knowledge of language and introduces a rich way of playing that mothers and children can build into their lives. Workers will learn to facilitate a wide range of Storyplay activities, including group imaginary play, games, rhymes, songs and reflective drawing. You will also be supported [...]

Women’s Aid Storyplay Scotland2022-04-27T13:10:47+00:00

New Porridge & Play Hubs!

2021-11-24T16:34:45+00:00

7th September 2021 We are thrilled to announce that Licketyspit has been funded by the New Scots Integration Fund to set up two new Porridge & Play Hubs in Glasgow!  Porridge & Play Hubs - Castlemilk & East End will be delivered in partnership with Storyplay Champion partners, parents/carers and children from these communities, with open sessions starting in the new year. The project has been designed in consultation with the Licketyspit Children & Families Network and draws on Licketyspit’s highly successful and well-evaluated intergenerational imaginary play project Big Porridge & Play Glasgow. We chose Castlemilk and the East End for this expansion because of the high numbers of asylum-seeking families living in and around these areas who have joined Licketyspit’s Porridge & Play Online sessions and further, because of the enthusiasm of our local partners to learn about and use Licketyspit’s Storyplay approach. Thank you very much for the opportunity to learn and play with my child. It has been a magical experience. They're like your best friends Like a big family round a table! Don't know where we'd be without this...no one's judging there's lots of acceptance, feels like we're being brought into the community. We learned a lot of new games and we keep on playing them during daytime as well and we both enjoy it. We are [...]

New Porridge & Play Hubs!2021-11-24T16:34:45+00:00

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