16th May 2019 Our third session of BIG Porridge & Play Glasgow at the St Francis Centre in the Gorbals was very enjoyable indeed! Jack and Ruby were joined by Iona, our Lickety volunteer Saliha and 35 participants as we played, sang and ate together on Thursday afternoon. We flew high above the St Francis Centre and high above Glasgow, travelling around the world holding on to our multi-coloured balloons! We saw four polar bears in the North Pole, we met a beautiful purple octopus and we just missed our balloons being popped as we ducked in and out of some aeroplanes at a busy Airport! We also saw 22 people, so small they looked like ants, playing football and luckily, we were just in time to see one team score! Gooooaaaaaallllllll! We had some great dressing up on show which made the game of What’s the Time Mr Wolf all the more fabulous! We had some very energetic animals in the woods and we need to remember for the next session just how scary the wolves are! We don’t want to get too near otherwise we might get eaten! Ahhhh! Love was also in the air throughout this session! We heard a romantic letter to a love but tragically it kept getting dropped onto the floor. Thankfully there was always someone there to pick it up! There was [...]

9th May 2019 We returned to the St Francis Community Centre for our second BIG Porridge and Play Glasgow session in the Gorbals where we visited the tropical forests of India, met people with some strange bed-time habits and were chased by a scary witch. With 13 families made up of new and returning members of the Children and Families Network, we had a fantastic session with all participating in our adventures. One parent exclaiming after the session, “they’re so happy!” Ruby and Hilde were joined by Jack and our new Lickety Volunteer Asem. We all enjoyed meeting the group again and playing and singing together! The Funky Chicken introduced us to some of his new friends, we met the fancy swan, the roaring tiger, the purring cat, the rainbow unicorn and the oinking pig! We also met some of Ruby’s friends! They all had one thing in common, some very very strange sleeping habits! One of her friends goes to sleep with a Jelly on His Head and another of her friends goes to sleep with Ice-Cream in her ears! We all wondered how they get to sleep at night! We travelled around the world for the first time leaving the St Francis Centre in our Magic Ball arriving in a very hot tropical forest in India! We trekked our way through the dark forest with torches and [...]

2nd May 2019 Our first Big Porridge & Play session in the Gorbals was a lovely coming-together of new and familiar faces in the St Francis Community Centre. 35 participants joined us, with several families from St Francis Nursery where we did a taster session the day before, and lots of local families from our Children & Families Network. We played lots of Lickety Playcard games and met the Fancy Peacock, the White Hampster and the Funky Horse in the Funky Chicken! In Balloons we saw the pacific ocean, a green pirate ship and a Brachiosaurus, the river Clyde and a door that went to a special place... Dressing up was a highlight, followed by Pirates - with a couple of hearty captains and Monsters Footsteps was very popular, appearing in lots of drawings. We had a Grandma who lived in a Yellow Cave and another who lived in a Golden Castle and grew tomatoes and carrots in her garden! We had a delicious lentil, carrot and leek soup, fruit and crusty bread, and ended the session with Reflective Drawing and the Licketyspit Gallery, where children and parent artists presented their work and shared what they liked most about the session! Even the youngest participants came up to share their detailed drawings and there was a lovely focus during the Gallery. You can find out more about our food [...]