Picnic & Play: CULTURE in GLASGOW

2026-10-16T15:53:25+00:00

Discover what’s free to do with your family in our city! This October holiday Licketyspit families from all our hubs joined Picnic & Play CULTURE at the fascinating Hunterian Zoology Museum inside Glasgow University! The Zoology Museum has been at the heart of the Graham Kerr Building since it opened in 1923! (over 100 years ago!) The displays are used to teach students as part of their classes today and the public is also welcome to come in and enjoy them – for free! Licketyspit spoke to Ruth and Eleni – who work for the Zoology Museum, and we all thought our Licketyspit families would sure enjoy bringing Storyplay to this brilliant place. But what does zoology mean? Let’s have a good look at that word – ZOOlogy. Mmm…what do you find in a ZOO? Animals! ZOOLOGY is the scientific study of animals and their behaviour – so it makes sense that this museum is used to teach people about the animal world. But what did our Licketyspit friends think about our visit? The museum surely got our pals inspired! Check out the Funky Chicken animals they created - Abisha came up with The Spinning Giraffe and Aila imagined the Silly Eagle. Arvin gave us the Squealing Pig and Ruth created a Squeaky Mouse. Mali turned into the Speaking Butterfly and Arvin also [...]

Picnic & Play: CULTURE in GLASGOW2026-10-16T15:53:25+00:00

Porridge & Play MARYHILL is back at CCH!

2026-09-09T10:39:18+00:00

A new block of Porridge & Play sessions has started with a fabulous group of families – some returning friends and many new ones gathering for the first time at the big Reid Hall. Our circle today was BIG and all the families were smiling and ready to use their imaginations, relax and have quality time together. ‘Make yourselves as Big As A Bear’ - warming up is great to get everyone ready! Funky Chicken was a hoot, and we met very many animals – Thrishitha was the Naughty Dog and Yachai was the Angry Bird Maya was a Sneaky Snake and Zoe a Grumpy Lion Zac was a Happy Dog and Shriyansh was a Sleepy Lion Farah was a Cheeky Rabbit and Violet a Good Dog And Mai got as all dancing as the Dancing Dolphin! ‘Flying Balloons’ There were yellow and rainbow and purple and gold and silver and blue and green and classic red balloons! And we blew them up big and we flew up high in the sky And we flew and flew above the Canal – what can you see? Red birds and apple pie that tasted of chocolate, steak or blueberries? We heard music, is that a drum? We saw a dog and even dolphins in the canal! Dressing up was a hit! All our friends [...]

Porridge & Play MARYHILL is back at CCH!2026-09-09T10:39:18+00:00

Maryhill Storyplay Games – The Exhibition launch!

2026-08-20T11:50:13+00:00

A Celebration of Storyplay, family and community - with food, friends and play! On the 7th of July Licketyspit and Community Central Hall launched the Maryhill Storyplay Games Exhibition to celebrate our first Maryhill Storyplay Games 2026 (coinciding with Glasgow's Commonwealth Games!), created with photographer Eoin Carey and the Licketyspit Child-Photographers.   Eoin, who has worked with Licketyspit for many years photographing many of our projects, events and festivals, perfectly captured the joy, creativity and community of Storyplay! His genius invention addition, was The Licketyspit Photography Studio, where child photographers took wonderful portraits of their families and friends! The launch of the Exhibition at Maryhill’s Community Central Hall was a fabulous success, attended by Licketyspit families from across Glasgow, Licketyspit friends, supporters and members of the public who were experiencing Storyplay for the first time! Our fantastic Licketyspit Patrons, actor Sanjeev Kohli and Storyplay Champion, Zainab Adeleye, cut the ribbon to open the exhibition. They spoke eloquently about the power of Storyplay to create and nurture this richly diverse, generous and inclusive community and the importance of play, not only for children but for everyone, and how creativity and human connection helps us all become people who can change the world! There were crafts, reflecting drawing, dressing-up, a CCH cooking workshop making Quesadillas! lovely food, and we even had an impromptu Dressing-Up Parade!  And of course, [...]

Maryhill Storyplay Games – The Exhibition launch!2026-08-20T11:50:13+00:00

MARYHILL STORYPLAY GAMES 2026!

2026-08-20T11:45:47+00:00

A new collaboration between Licketyspit and Community Central Hall This Summer Licketyspit was delighted to host The Maryhill Storyplay Games in partnership with Community Central Hall, as part of the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games Festival of art, live music, sports workshops, and community city-wide events celebrating the Commonwealth Games! On the 27th of June over a hundred Licketyspit children and their families put on Racing Bibs for a programme of wonderful Porridge & Play games - from Funky Chicken to Monsters Footsteps! In Licketyspit EVERYONE'S A WINNER and ALL WE NEED TO PLAY IS EACH OTHER! After lots of fun play we awarded ourselves marvellous medals, before enjoying an international FEAST, dressing-up and taking sporty portraits in our On Stage Photography Studio. The day was also photographed by Eoin Carey to create a Maryhill Storyplay Games Exhibition at CCH to share this magical children and families' event with the people of Glasgow. What an unforgettable day we had! (and another at the Exhibition Launch on 7th July!) Licketyspit would like to thank EVERYONE who made this brilliant day possible, especially the fantastic Licketyspit volunteers, and the team at Community Central Hall, and of course, the wonderful Licketyspit families who are at the heart of everything we do and are the true ambassadors of STORYPLAY. Thank you from us all at Licketyspit! [...]

MARYHILL STORYPLAY GAMES 2026!2026-08-20T11:45:47+00:00

Too wet and windy for the seaside – let’s build a seaside here!

2026-08-17T09:32:33+00:00

Another wet, windy and cold day when we had planned to get Maryhill Families to Troon Beach! But did that stop us?...NO WAY! All families came over to Community Central Hall, and we decided that we could create our very own indoors picnic and have a cool fun time! And so we got warmed up with Andre and Big As A Bear, dancing and making a conga with Nerea and playing a round of Funky Chicken with Taz and then Xiya and Andre showed everyone how to play ‘Oli Oli Octopus’ – a cool game that makes you run FAST! Andre and Xiya were 'it' to start with but in this game, whoever gets tagged becomes It TOGETHER with those who started being 'it'! You follow? Andre and Xiya were in the middle spreading their ‘tentacles’ trying to tag anyone who ran past by them – everyone must run from one end to the other but ALWAYS passing by the Octopuses and if you got tagged you became an Octopus! Everyone runs fast and tries to dodge a tag until in the end it was only James, Nerea and Xiyu left…we caught them in the end! Then we played ‘Bear and The Honey Pot’ and Cyrus was very good at confusing the poor bear with his squeaky shoes! Using our big silks, we [...]

Too wet and windy for the seaside – let’s build a seaside here!2026-08-17T09:32:33+00:00

Bad weather? Nae bother! A Picnic indoors, a fashion show and a birthday!

2026-08-17T09:36:13+00:00

As we all know Scottish weather is unpredictable - you never know how a day will be until the morning and this morning we discovered that it was a bit too wet to head to Balloch and Loch Lomond… But - we didn't let the rain didn’t stop our Storyplay! We just had a brilliant Storyplay session indoors instead! After a quick warm up - in the Picnic & Play spirit! - making ourselves Big As A House - and a dancing to some cool tunes, Yasna introduced us to ‘Kitty Cat Musical Statues’! Like Musical Statues – everyone in the game dances to music and whenever the music stops everyone must freeze! But in ‘Kitty Cat Musical Statues’ you get back in the game after losing your three lives by posing as a Kitty Cat for a round! This is a fabulous game to get your dance moves going and practice your listening – you must be sharp! After that Abu showed us all how to play ‘Family Square Game’! In this game each family takes a corner, and another family is 'It' in the middle. The family in the middle shouts ‘GO!’ and every family must leave their corner and run to another corner, while the family in the middle tries to get themselves to a corner! Whichever family ends up without a corner [...]

Bad weather? Nae bother! A Picnic indoors, a fashion show and a birthday!2026-08-17T09:36:13+00:00

A trip to Balloch and a dip in Loch Lomond!

2026-08-17T09:34:15+00:00

Bridgeton families and one family from Whiteinch too - two buses of us, we all set off to Balloch Country park! We parked high up at the top of the hill and first we set off all the way down to Loch Lomond shore! WHERE there is the most fantastic adventure playground. We all had amazing play swinging on the giant Rope Dragon, climbing on the big ship, swinging on giant tyre swings, spinning on the merry-go-round AND flying along the wire on the Flying Fox! Then we all ran down to the shore of the Loch and for many a paddle turned into a bit of a swim & a wade - some of us in all our clothes!  (but luckily the Mums had brought lots of extra clothes!). Then we all climbed and ran back up the hill to have our lovely Picnic inside the secret tree canopy! We sat on the groundsheet & tucked into bread and eggs and cheese & fruit and Lina's delicious aubergine dish & the yummy coleslaw Ghada had brought. They had also brought delicious Sudanese tea with cardamom, cloves, cinnamon and sugar and coffee with ginger cardamom and sugar! So yummy - Arafa said - "This is the life! food and friends in a lovely place - so happy!". Taz made hot chocolate for all the children and then [...]

A trip to Balloch and a dip in Loch Lomond!2026-08-17T09:34:15+00:00

Picnic & Play Summer’26 – family trips & outdoors Storyplay!

2026-07-31T15:59:27+00:00

Our first trip to Troon Beach this Summer with Bridgeton Hub families! We had a lovely bus journey with our Porridge & Play Bridgeton families! On one bus we sang Old MacDonald, played Alphabet Countries (thanks to Suleman as it’s his fave game) and “My Names Bob & I’m Very Big & I like to eat Bananas!” And Virginia told the story of the Quangle Wangles Hat! (Which Licketyspit once did a show about – take a look here 👉🏽 https://www.licketyspit.com/families-2/licketyspit-projects/quangle-wangle/# On the other bus we chatted about the seaside and how excited everyone was about heading to beach! All the children were determined to go swimming even though the sun was not out today…but they weren’t worried about that at all! After spotting farms & sheep and cows and forests (or maybe woods.... And some people playing golf!) to our great glee (delight) we suddenly saw the SEA! It was windy & so sandy blowing in our eyes a bit but lots of us still hopped into swimsuits and leaped into the sea to paddle, to swim & to play - hooray! It was COLD but it was So FUN! And lots of mums jumped in too! Taz made us all lovely hot chocolate to warm us up. We moved our picnic up onto the grass beside the promenade near the beach so we didn’t get [...]

Picnic & Play Summer’26 – family trips & outdoors Storyplay!2026-07-31T15:59:27+00:00

A breezy, blowy day at the sea!

2026-07-31T14:30:15+00:00

No sooner had we arrived than we got stuck in playing in the sand and sea. There was lots of paddling and some brave souls went in for a full dip! Wow! We had to play tag to warm up! Back at camp, some serious construction got underway. We dug deep holes, built epic castle sculptures and buried our siblings in sand. We ate our picnic up on the grass and chased away the seagulls and crows that flocked hopefully around. There were eggs and cheese sandwiches, fruit, muffins and cucumber and tiny tomatoes too! Then the football came out and there was Duck Duck Goose and Witches Fingers too. Once we had played and eaten our fill, we set off for the playpark Aharrr! Pirates appeared! There were mermaids And fishes And sailors in jail! But there were some people, missing, who could it be? Why Ruby and Sobia off to get ice cream! Back for a cone quick before it melts! Then onto the bus for games and drawing. And home again for a big long sleep! by Taz, Sarah, Ruby & Licketyspit Families Find out more With Storyplay friends from Castlemilk! Troon Beach, July 2026

A breezy, blowy day at the sea!2026-07-31T14:30:15+00:00

Rain, rain, we play again!

2026-07-31T14:31:28+00:00

Our spirits weren’t dampened by a little light rain at Balloch Castle Country Park on Wednesday. We first had a look at the spooky castle, talking about who might live in the building now overgrown with weeds - spiders, birds, perhaps something else… On with our bright blue ponchos and we were off to explore. Down down down the path to the loch, finding a marvellous playpark by the water. We climbed and we jumped. We swung and we slid. Inside the ship’s galley we chased and we hid. On pole, slide and seesaw we played and we played. Children and grown ups all joined in the games. The flying fox took us off with a whoosh! We helped one another to climb on and push. And when we got hungry we went back up the hill. To have our picnic under a canopy of trees. Ruby read Mrs Wobble the Waitress Where children saved the day with nets and skates Entertaining the customers as they caught chickens and plates! We played I spy and the alphabet games on the bus Put our phones away and it passed in a flash “If we’d been at home on a day like this we’d probably just have been on screens all day” Mum We were wet, but happy thanks to Picnic & Play! by Taz, Sarah, Ruby & Licketyspit [...]

Rain, rain, we play again!2026-07-31T14:31:28+00:00

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