12th June 2019 The last Big Porridge & Play 2019 at the Whiteinch library was the biggest yet - with nearly 60 of us singing, playing and dressing up together, before sitting down for a meal. It was very characteristic of the project as a whole, with a lot going on but a wonderful, vibrant energy - just like a big family party! It was great to introduce our guests to Jelly on his Head and Grandma Grandma. With loud enthusiastic singing across the circle, encouraging grandparents, neighbours and friends to join in. Lots of people took the floor to lead us in different Funky Chicken animals - like Rhiannon's Naughty Unicorn, Yu's Silly Dinosaur and Ava's Cheeky Snake. We had fun remembering the body-part names in Ickerickeroo,with even the youngest in the group joining in and concentrating intently from our Toe Pointers to our Brainboxers! Letter to my Love was really fun, with those dropping the letter taking great delight in guessing who had picked it up. Everyone really went to town with their Dressing Up - the best yet - gathering into a huddle for a quick group photo before we played our final game, Monsters' Footsteps. Here, we met Granny Carson and Granny Jennifer, and Granny Frankey and Granny Sofia, before everyone else turned into brilliant Monster Trees, dancing and creeping their way towards them. We were so thrilled that so many people wanted to bring something to share at the meal - we were certainly not short of food! From Anzelika, Frankey and [...]

29th May 2019 With the rain tumbling down and the wind blowing, we couldn't have our planned Picnic & Play in Victoria park, but we stayed and had a brilliant session in the Library instead, with a dressing up parade, another Balloon adventure and lots of songs. Jack read us a Letter to his Love - his lovely love that he loves, loves, loves! On his way to send the letter, he dropped it, only to find that someone else had picked it up and put it in their pocket. But who was it...? This game was greatly enjoyed by all, with as much fun being had by those who didn't have the letter as those who did! We also created our own story in this session. As you know, every Porridge & Play game can be like a trampoline bounce into making up characters and stories, whether it's Grandma with her creeping forest of Monster Trees, Mr Wolf and his various watches and different activities every hour, Flying Balloons high over Glasgow together or Magic Ball. These games all fill our heads with ideas, stories and adventures where we can be anyone, go anywhere and do anything - and we do! All we need to play is each other! This week we thought we'd have a go at making up a completely new story, starting with a character and getting ideas from across the circle to tell the tale of Kitty the Clown and the Naughty Seagull. Click here to read the story! After our dressing [...]

22nd May 2019 Licketyspit travelled from the Whiteinch Library to The Tall Ship at Riverside for a brilliant outreach Picnic & Play session! We began our journey with delighting fellow bus travellers with an excellent rendition of Jelly on His Head! We wanted to share the Lickety songbook with the rest of Glasgow! Once we boarded the Tall Ship, the group met our friends Old Rodger and the Old Woman! We planted apple trees, watched them tumble down and collected them in our baskets! Old Rodger gave us a big fright which made us all go Hippity Hop! We then went on an adventure on the Magic Ship travelling to a beautiful and exotic Island! We first did some exploring - finding crabs, beautiful sea shells and a wild unicorn! We then found a tiny cave which we all bravely crawled into and we were rewarded with an amazing white sandy beach with warm turquoise water. We all went for a swim meeting along the way a mermaid! This was a very hungry mermaid who loved eating cake and lots of it! As we swam back to shore two sharks gave us a terrible fright! Luckily, they were very friendly and all they wanted to do was play with us! What an incredible journey we went on today! The Tall Ship, also known as the Glenlee, is one of [...]

15th May 2019 Our third BIG Porridge & Play Glasgow at Whiteinch Library was brilliant – a great atmosphere and lots of great game playing! Jack and Ruby were joined by Iona and Asem, Lickety volunteer! We had over 40 participants attending the session as we all took shelter from a very hot and sunny Wednesday afternoon. We played lots of Lickety Playcard games including some new ones that we have never done before! We met the hardworking, never stopping Joe who works in a button factory and after meeting him we all felt like we had been working in the factory with him! We flew high above Whiteinch and high above Glasgow seeing all sorts of wonderful things! We saw a unicorn meeting up with her friend the dragon! A tower so high that it nearly reached us in our balloons and a flying dinosaur! What adventures we had! We also all baked a cake together - from stirring in our ingredients, adding some delicious PICKLES to opening the oven, to putting on our oven gloves to retrieve our baked cake. It was very very tasty! Don’t forget you can read all about the Licketyspit food on our website! We’re very excited to be heading out of the library and on to the Tall Ship at our next session! Other [...]

1st May 2019 Our first Big Porridge & Play session in Whiteinch this year was absolutely packed - with 14 families and 50 people in total! It was great to see some families from last year, as well as a few families we had met at the Whiteinch Nursery Spring Tea the week before - and lots more new local families. Virginia, Ruby, Jack and Hilde were joined by our new Lickety Volunteer Saliha, and our Children & Families Network Producer Rita was there to meet everyone too. We had a vivacious and energetic play session in the Children's Library at Whiteinch - meeting the Funky Chicken and his friends, flying off in our Balloons and seeing dragons, dinosaurs and a volcano, and turning into marvellous creeping trees in Monsters' Footsteps! There was some fantastic dressing up, especially from the parents and grandparents. This was a moment that really helped everyone relax and set their imaginations free, as we saw in the hilarious and highly expressive Monster faces! We had a delicious lentil, carrot and leek soup made by Saliha, delicious fruit and crusty bread, and ended the session with Reflective Drawing and the Licketyspit Gallery, with great listening and appreciation of all the artists, despite some of the younger children losing concentration a little. You can find out more about our food in the Lickety Kitchen and find [...]