Storyplay City Launch
Licketyspit wants to spark a children’s rights-based play revolution! The Glasgow Community and National Lottery Community Funds have let us make a start. This is just the beginning! Everyone can join. There is a big imaginary play train going round Glasgow and everyone can jump on board!
What is Storyplay City?
Everyone, of all ages, loves to play! We need to play! Play is at the essence of being human. When we play imaginatively with other people there are no limits and no mistakes, just endless possibilities. Licketyspit and our children, families and colleagues have got a recipe and a list of ingredients that make imaginary play an easy, wonderful and inclusive part of every day. We call this Storyplay.
Licketyspit has been developing Storyplay with Glasgow families for over 15 years. From LicketyLeap sessions in nurseries to Storyplay Schools programmes in primaries, to Porridge & Play in the community and Picnic & Play in museums and parks. Now, the Glasgow Community Fund is supporting us to build on our work to make Glasgow the first Storyplay City!
We all need what children need
Children know that the most important things in life are love, kindness, fairness, respect. Playing with children liberates adults to remember this! You can let your hair down and feel at home even with strangers! Storyplay is a celebration of collective invention where everyone is safe in the knowledge that they will always be seen, heard, valued, included. We can all relax! It’s not competitive, it’s fun. There are no mistakes, only endless possibilities. Everyone is welcome – the more the merrier!
Since May 2020 Licketyspit has been working with 120 Glasgow Families three times a week through Porridge & Play Online. Big groups of families are meeting on Zoom to sing, dance, rhyme, joke, go on imaginary adventures and make friends. Thanks to Glasgow Council, Bemis and the Scottish Government, these 3 weekly Zooms can continue in January 2021 as part of Storyplay City.
We play using the Lickety Playcards – old and new hilarious games that give people a licence to be creative and inventive together. Children are at the centre of this play – our world play-experts – supported by fearless Licketyspit actor-pedagogues and Play Champion volunteers – who know how to give children agency and create safe friendly spaces for everyone to play in.
“It makes it so fun, the sessions have showed me that it’s fine to be silly with your kids it’s fine to imagine the world abroad…we came here they had no friends and it made them lonely. But (now)… oh my god! I begin to see Beauty come out of her shell because she’s one of the introverts in the family, like in school they would ask questions and she wouldn’t want to put up her hand, but ever since she has joined, I got her school report a couple of days ago and I see that she has taken bold steps. She’s more confident which is phenomenal it’s great… In all essence I think these sessions are so educational they are vital to the family, it puts into perspective me knowing how to play with my children, it gives them confidence, it’s making them feel like they are not alone. You know these are weird times whereby it is a weird world where everyone’s saying it’s the new normal, well I don’t like the new normal we miss going outside we miss seeing people, but what Licketyspit has done, is it has revolutionised – it’s made them feel like their Saturdays are not just a waste, you know, they can dream up anywhere and see lots of people. (And) It’s so good for me, I know I’m not alone……”
Lickety-play can be enjoyed for its own sake or become a springboard for other things – e.g. in education, arts, health. This kind of play nurtures creativity, confidence, social skills, friendships, emotional literacy, family and community, equality, resilience, language, literacy, integration, multi-culturalism, confident parenting, physical and mental wellbeing, love, happiness and positivity.
A Glasgow network of Lickety Play Champions
Facilitating play like this is not as easy as it looks. It takes time and work but develops life-enhancing life-long skills. We want to share this children’s rights based practice with Play Champions of all ages across Glasgow as part of a movement to further embrace and celebrate the creative riches, kindness and humanity that characterize this city. We want to embed this play and playfulness in our culture to support us all to flourish despite the immense challenges of contemporary times. Collectively we are our greatest resource, people really do make Glasgow!
And once Glasgow has shown how to do it, we can lead the rest of Scotland and the world in doing it too!
If you or your organisation would like to join us in making Glasgow a Storyplay City, please get in touch.
Licketyspit – opening doors to imaginary playworlds to unlock the limitless possibilities of children…..and adults!
Licketyspit 2020 News Round-Up
Click on the image on the right to read our reflections on a year like no other, and find out what’s in store for next year.
Thank you to everyone in the Licketyspit family who’s helped us support each other, champion children’s rights and discover endless joy and friendship through imaginary play!
See you in 2021.
