Find out all about our Picnic & Plays with the Bridgeton, Castlemilk and Cranhill Hubs!
These Blog posts show what we got up to and all the Storyplay we did!

Porridge & Play Hubs is running throughout 2022 with this block being the 2nd of our exciting New Scots Integration Project!
Thank you to everyone who has partnered with us to provide such amazing experiences for our children & families, and to all our Storyplay Champions!

The Sensory Hub is  in Easterhouse and is a great experience for all the family! The “Hub” is a sensory-rich environment which is inclusive and inspiring. A space where children can explore, investigate and discover for themselves.

Sensory Development begins during gestation and continues throughout childhood. There are seven sensory processes: taste, smell, touch, hearing, seeing, body position (proprioception) and movement (vestibular).

All of the above can be utilised in a visit to the Sensory Hub, taste being kept outwith the sensory rooms themselves but you are welcome to bring a snack to enjoy in the indoor picnic space.

 Picnic & Play at the Sensory Hub!!

Thursday 16th June

‘I’m so proud of him, he’s never spoken up like that!’ – Mum

Thank you so much to The Sensory Hub in Easterhouse for letting us come for a Cranhill Picnic & Play, we had a wonderful time!

We got the bus over from Cranhill Development Trust and met some other friends there. Once we warmed ourselves up we stepped inside the Magic Ball to start our adventure! We weren’t sure where we were so we slowly stepped out and headed towards a great big door. It was locked!! Luckily lots of us had brought a key so Ruby stuck all the keys together and used them to open the door…

We stepped into a wonderful sensory world! We explored the space station, the oceanscape and the magical forest… when all of a sudden a Gnome appeared! The Gnome welcomed us all to Gnome Academy where we took part in some very serious training to become the best Gnomes we could be. We had to close our eyes and think of something that made us really really happy and then relax into our true Gnome state. We thought about what kind of Gnome we would be.. A fishing gnome…. A laughing gnome…. A gnome pulling a funny face? We froze in that image and then……. WE ALL COMPLETED GNOME ACADEMY! We had a big round of applause and then we went on our way!

As we left the magical forest and dived into the ocean we came across a Starfish Tiwani! He was really friendly and led us in a rendition of ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Starfish.’ Then he swam away! Lots of our other underwater friends shared some songs and stories and as we were watching them Starfish Tiwani came back in a panic saying that a Monster had stolen all his friends to eat them.  We quickly rushed to the monster to see what was going on! At first we thought the monster was really scary but we learned that really the monster was just sad, lonely and hungry! Thankfully everyone had brought lots of snacks the monster could try. There were apples, cakes, pizza, sandwiches and so much more. The monster was much happier after that and he promised to return all Starfish Tiwani’s friends and never steal them again. As we got ready to head back into the magic ball the monster started to look sad again… he didn’t want to be left alone!
Amelia asked if the monster wanted to come with us and he looked excited so everyone said ‘Yeah, come back with us’ and the monster cheered and said THANK YOU!

We all climbed back into the Magic Ball together and headed out to have our picnic. We really enjoyed resting and eating some food after such a big adventure.

Funky Chicken Fact: Do you know Starfish Tiwani wouldn’t have fully-formed eyespots if he was a real starfish? Instead he would ‘see’ with his feet. Starfish use their senses through their feet to navigate the ocean!

Thank you to Catherine, Nikkita and Gail from the Sensory Hub!

Blog by Effie, Taz, Andre, Ruby & the Porridge & Play Cranhill Hub!!

Thanks to our Hub partners, funders and Picnic & Play partners!

Porridge & Play Hubs Castlemilk, Cranhill & Bridgeton is a New Scots Integration Project by Licketyspit, in collaboration with the Indigo Group, Cranhill Development Trust & Church House.

For Picnic & Play we have partnered with Castlemilk Park, Tollcross Park, The Hunterian Museum, The Science Centre, Glasgow Green, Glasgow Women’s Library, Forth & Clyde Canal Boat Society, the Riverside Museum, the Tallship, Balloch Castle Country Park and Dream Machine! We’d like to say a big THANK YOU to all our partners for helping us provide such an amazing programme for all our families.