We had lots of fun with a very clever bunch of witches too who had marvelous witchy cackles and some very exciting juices including purple poison and large amounts of seagull juice. Very tasty!

Talking of seagulls, we saw some very cheeky ones at the beach who liked sandwiches and muffins. One of them actually swallowed a muffin whole!

We all enjoyed a tasty picnic and some yummy ice-cream which was a real treat.

Then after all the delicious food we went to explore the beach and had so much fun together, paddling in the sea and finding treasure on the beach. We found pools of water in the sand,bright green seaweed, lots of different shells and even a crab skeleton.

It was such a lovely day and just before it was time to go home, we had a game of Olly Olly Octopus which was so much fun! Then it was time to say goodbye to the sand and the waves and the shells and the naughty seagulls and so we all got on the bus for the journey home.

Once we were all on the bus, we started to feel a bit sleepy after all the glorious fresh air, so some of us enjoyed a wee nap! Troon beach was just a brilliant day out!

Sarah, Ruby, Andre and our Cranhill Hub

There's lots of ideas and activities to get you playing at home. Try our interactive videos! Including...

• Making with Iona
• Cooking with Taz
• Exploring with Jack
• Funky Chicken
• Grandma Grandma

and many more!

Find out more about what's happening at Licketyspit by clicking on the button.

We have some Lickety Mums who volunteer at our Porridge & Play sessions as Storyplay Champions.

If you would like to find out more about Storyplay Champion training and volunteering, click on this button or get in touch with us on cfn@licketyspit.com

A very sunny last Picnic & Play of the Summer in Troon Beach and our Whiteinch & Online Hub pals did not hold back…

The sun was shining, and our friends were well prepared for Picnic & Play on Troon beach – swimming costumes & goggles, big brothers and sisters, smiles and excitement – fantastic ingredients for a cool day taking Storyplay out and about!

We found a great spot on the beach, a big space that seemed to have a circle already drawn on the sand…coincidence?

Our circle was big and our warmup busy – we danced, we made ourselves as Big As A Bear and we had a good stretch while taking that beautiful salty sea air in.

Of course we played the all time favourite Funky Chicken and we had a Scary Tiger, a Galaxy Axalot, Jumping Starfish and Snapping crocodile amongst other funky animals!

‘Hello My Name Is Joe’ had us all pressing imaginary buttons vigorously and then we had a good round of Witches Fingers – cackling and running away!

Love was in the warm air with ‘Letter to my Love’ and after all that the excitement was growing and the hunger was too!…PICNIC TIME!

Everyone tucked in and got their energy up to get ready for seashore exploring and swimming! Shahla had brought cinnamon roles for everyone too which were delicious. Yum!

Let me tell you – our friends were ready to splash, dive, paddle, jump and explore stones and shells and even jellyfish!

Grown-ups also paddled and refreshed in the sea, it was actually not cold at all, and the sun was lovely and warming so if you ever got a wee bit cold in the water a few minutes out in the sun would warm you up again!

It felt even more like the perfect beach day as after our sea playing, we had delicious ice cream.

It’s funny how you can feel many things at the same time…we were a bit sad to leave the beach and at the same time we were so happy and grateful for a fabulous day on a beautiful beach with lovely weather and brilliant friends…

This was our last Picnic & Play of the Summer and the whole Licketyspit team felt very chuffed because it has been an absolute blast out there Storyplaying with our brilliant, creative and brave families! Huzzah for friends & play!

Sarah, Virginia, Taz, Nerea, Catherine & our Whiteinch & Online pals!

There's lots of ideas and activities to get you playing at home. Try our interactive videos! Including...

• Making with Iona
• Cooking with Taz
• Exploring with Jack
• Funky Chicken
• Grandma Grandma

and many more!

Find out more about what's happening at Licketyspit by clicking on the button.

We have some Lickety Mums who volunteer at our Porridge & Play sessions as Storyplay Champions.

If you would like to find out more about Storyplay Champion training and volunteering, click on this button or get in touch with us on cfn@licketyspit.com

We all know how fast the weather in Scotland can change but our bold Govan & Online Hubs are always ready to adapt and enjoy whatever the weather.

We arrived in Balloch and saw some of the impact of a storm that had happened a couple of days before – branches scattered around and still some gusts of wind blowing now and again, whistling loud in our ears. We found a nice big clear space up the hill where we could make our circle and off, we started with Storyplay!

Have you tried dancing outdoors? We very much recommend it – you may even get some other passing people to be inspired to join you!

Funky Chicken was a lot of fun, and Hello My Name is Joe got us all panting and laughing in equal measure.

We met a few Witches & Wizards with long fingers and a flair for making different bottles of strange beverages – even a tiny wee Witch who chased us all!

As we were starting a game of ‘Letter To My Love’ the skies opened, and a summer shower descended upon us! But Licketyspit & friends are adaptable and determined so we quickly found cover under a canopy of trees where we not only played our game, but we also set up our camp so we could have our Picnic protected by the gorgeous big trees…it was rather magical!

We tucked into our picnic and drank hot chocolate, and then we were ready to set off and explore around beautiful Balloch Country Park at the Loch Lomond shores!

Loch Lomond is BIG and DEEP but oh so beautiful and inviting…

Swings and Swims!

Some of us had a blast at the brilliant play park – zip lining, pushing with our legs, learning about monkey bars, climbing and sliding, seesawing…

And some of us were immediately drawn to the water! – Aminata, Safa and Fatou were the first ones in. They didn’t hesitate and soon they were all swimming.

Azeem got inspired and after some discussion…in he went too!

Soon everyone else was exploring the shore: throwing stones, looking at pebbles and imagining finding some gold!

Then trousers got rolled up and many of our pals were paddling in the water and taking in the beautiful view and enjoying the great outdoors.

Many grown-ups and children said what a beautiful place Balloch is – for fun and games, adventure but also for peace and quiet and to relax in nature.

We all felt lucky and grateful for being outside, playing and happy with such a great group of pals – it was hard to leave as we were having such a great time but, you know what? Balloch and other wonderful spots in Scotland are there for all to visit and take care of so we can continue to enjoy our beautiful country!

A fantastic day all round with a fantastic bunch of families!

Taz, Sarah, Andre, Taiwo, Zainab & our Govan & Online pals

There's lots of ideas and activities to get you playing at home. Try our interactive videos! Including...

• Making with Iona
• Cooking with Taz
• Exploring with Jack
• Funky Chicken
• Grandma Grandma

and many more!

Find out more about what's happening at Licketyspit by clicking on the button.

We have some Lickety Mums who volunteer at our Porridge & Play sessions as Storyplay Champions.

If you would like to find out more about Storyplay Champion training and volunteering, click on this button or get in touch with us on cfn@licketyspit.com

What’s the saying? If life gives you lemons…make lemonade. And if the Picnic cannot happen outdoors…have it indoors! Our fabulous Bridgeton Hub wasn’t fazed by the change of plan because the truth is, ALL we need for a brilliant Storyplay is our imaginations and each other! And that we had!

That’s the great thing about Storyplay, we can be anyone, do anything, go anywhere with our imaginations and so today although we were indoors in a fantastic big hall at the CCH in Maryhill, we had a sea adventure as The Ugliest Pirate Crew ever known to Scotland! Amongst other things actually…

As we always like to do, we had a nice big warm up – we first had a nice boogie and then we stretched to our Big As A Bear rhyme!

We also met some cool animals playing Funky Chicken – Emilia showed us the Jumping Snake, Alan the Flying Fly. Tanisk came up with a Flying Car and Moira created the Angry Crocodile. Lexi was a Crazy Giraffe and Leeanne was Purring Cat. Lin created a Fast Dog and Suleman an Angry Cat.

After that we all became Cackling Witches with long witchy fingers coming up with all sorts of weird concoctions to drink!

‘I’m going to drink a bottle of…Snake Juice!’

 The big Reid Hall at the CCH is a great space to run around and the Witches had it tough to get to catch people after saying ‘I’m going to drink a bottle of…POISON!’ – but they still managed!

Dressing up was deliciously UGLY! Ugly? Well, aye, aye! And you know why? Because the challenge was to become the Ugliest Pirate Crew Ever Known to Scotland!

Captain Tatty Scone – who looked a bit like Taz – was recruiting for ugly pirates and our Bridgeton Hub raised to the occasion and became as ugly as ugly can be! Once the level of ugliness of these crazy pirates was established Captain Tatty Scone started shouting orders about –

 SCRUB THE DECK!

            CLIMB THE RIGGING!

                     and….. WALK THE PLANK!

The Ugly Pirates were very good at following orders so the Captain decided to do some Captain try-outs and let some of the crew be in charge…

We had Captain Ridhi who was mean and Captain Lin who was very interested in keeping the ship clean! Some of the other pirates didn’t enter the try-outs but started calling themselves Captain none the less! At some point the whole crew was made of Captains which doesn’t happen often but we seemed to be getting along fine, so all the Captains decided it was time to cross the Seven Seas…underwater! We took a big breath in and underwater we went – there was a shark that looked scary but Alan using his Shark language knowledge managed to persuade it not to eat us up!

– Who has the treasure map? – said a Captain

– I have the map! – said Captain Salah

– Right, let’s take a look – said another Captain

We quickly worked out that we had to swim to a desert island if we wanted to dig out the treasure and so off we swam until we got there.

-I found the spot!

-Everyone DIG!

There were coins and jewels and all sorts of fabulous treasure to share and also we found…A LOVE LETTER! Naturally we decided to play I Sent a Letter to My Love and it was great fun! We had our lovely picnic sitting on picnic blankets, and we even had some ice cream with sweeties as toppings Tarika brought for everyone.

We also had time to do a Reflective Drawing and to visit the Licketyspit Art Gallery and after that we even had a game of Tunnel Tig and the very best Hide & Seek game ever known to Scotland! Bad weather? Who cares! What an absolute hoot this Indoors Picnic turned out to be!

Taz, Sarah, Andre & our adventurous Bridgeton Hub

There's lots of ideas and activities to get you playing at home. Try our interactive videos! Including...

• Making with Iona
• Cooking with Taz
• Exploring with Jack
• Funky Chicken
• Grandma Grandma

and many more!

Find out more about what's happening at Licketyspit by clicking on the button.

We have some Lickety Mums who volunteer at our Porridge & Play sessions as Storyplay Champions.

If you would like to find out more about Storyplay Champion training and volunteering, click on this button or get in touch with us on cfn@licketyspit.com

There's lots of ideas and activities to get you playing at home. Try our interactive videos! Including...

• Making with Iona
• Cooking with Taz
• Exploring with Jack
• Funky Chicken
• Grandma Grandma

and many more!

Find out more about what's happening at Licketyspit by clicking on the button.

We have some Lickety Mums who volunteer at our Porridge & Play sessions as Storyplay Champions.

If you would like to find out more about Storyplay Champion training and volunteering, click on this button or get in touch with us on cfn@licketyspit.com

Picnic & Play is here and Licketyspit is delighted to go on trips with friends from all our Porridge & Play Hubs across Glasgow. Picnic & Play is an opportunity to Storyplay away from our Glasgow neighbourhoods – visiting public spaces in our city – like museums, parks or galleries or visiting outdoor places outside Glasgow, like Troon Beach or Balloch Country Park and bringing Storyplay to all of them!

The sky above Troon Beach looked dramatic – a combination of greys with occasional rays of light braking through the clouds. The wind was blowing and there were seagulls screeching loudly while circling in the air through a drizzle of rain. Sound dramatic, right?

Well, no drama for our Maryhill Hub friends! – they were full of beans and so very excited about their day out that they almost didn’t feel how fresh it was – one certainly needed a couple of layers on!

Graeme and Andy, our drivers dropped us near the promenade so carrying all our bits and bobs for our picnic wasn’t a huge effort and everyone helped so it was even easier.

We settled and quickly many of our friends were already running around, digging in the sand or checking out the shore!

DANCING ON THE BEACH!

Our dance warm up got the attention of folk who were there also enjoying a day out and many passersby were smiling at us and admiring our moves! Ruby got us all started, and we threw some cool shapes.

Funky Chicken with Andre was hilarious, and seaside infused! We had a Pinching Crab and an Angry Sea-turtle as well as of course, a Naughty Seagull!

We had to make our voices loud for Hello My Name is Joe and after that, running away in Witches Fingers was particularly satisfying running in the sand!

Letter to my Love is a great game to play outdoors! You can make a massive, big circle and friends get turns very quickly – it is also a funny game with everyone trying to pull the least suspicious face they can possibly master!

We also had a couple of rounds of Monsters Footsteps with some really scary looking Monster Trees…

TIME FOR A PICNIC!

We put down some tarps and big cloths to sit down on the sand and have our tasty picnic which it was so delicious that of course it got the seagulls attention. However, we managed to eat peacefully, and we even had some ice cream before heading to the shore to explore, paddle and…SWIM!

Yeah, you read it right.

Some of our wee pals were determined and in they went for a full swim!

Moman made up a game about jumping waves and Shiva said she got a wee bit nervous when something in the water brushed one of her legs…it was just some seaweed! Dan also swam like a fish and Yasna, Amira and Gabbie loved collecting seashells on the seashore.

Shaylin and Gabriella couldn’t make up their minds. One minute they were jumping waves and the next running away from them! Maha decided after a while that she was going to get in the sea too, but Adam was not convinced, and he just decided to look at all the dogs playing around on the beach and feed muffins to the seagulls!

Did I mention that most of the grown-ups also went for a wee dip …..of their toes?

It was a fantastic and action-pack day at the beach so some of our pals had a wee nap on the bus on our way home but others, like Yasna and Amira, decided to make up games to play while travelling. Clever, eh?

The Picnic & Play season is officially open!!

Andre, Ruby & Taz and our Maryhill Hub

There's lots of ideas and activities to get you playing at home. Try our interactive videos! Including...

• Making with Iona
• Cooking with Taz
• Exploring with Jack
• Funky Chicken
• Grandma Grandma

and many more!

Find out more about what's happening at Licketyspit by clicking on the button.

We have some Lickety Mums who volunteer at our Porridge & Play sessions as Storyplay Champions.

If you would like to find out more about Storyplay Champion training and volunteering, click on this button or get in touch with us on cfn@licketyspit.com

Find out what the Cranhill  group got up to in their latest Picnic & Play adventure!

BALLOCH

We had a WONDERFUL trip to BALLOCH with the Cranhill Families!

We enjoyed a delicious picnic & throwing PE Shapes which became a GYMNASTICS CHALLENGE with rollie poleys, handstands and more!

Feeling energised by the warmth of the sun and a delicious veggie picnic we were all just a bit too tempted having set up camp at the top of the hill to get down on the grass and turn our selves into sausage rolls.

With the help of Taz & Andre we got on our marks at the top of the hill all sausage set & ready to ROLL!

Prisca & Joy became the most epic olympic sausage roll racers and lots of our pals shared their favourite gymnastic moves before heading down to explore the Loch Lomond Shores, spirits high singing GRANDMA GRANDMA altogether x

Thanks for such a lovely day guys

Till next time,

Emma xxx

What you said:

There’s lots of ideas and activities to get you playing at home. Try our interactive videos! Including…

• Making with Iona
• Cooking with Taz
• Exploring with Jack
• Funky Chicken
• Grandma Grandma

and many more!

Find out more about what’s happening at Licketyspit by clicking on the button.

We have some Lickety Mums who volunteer at our Porridge & Play sessions as Storyplay Champions.

If you would like to find out more about Storyplay Champion training and volunteering, click on this button or get in touch with us on cfn@licketyspit.com

It wasnae a dark n stormy night for our motley jelly headed crew! 

Excited our friends gathered below deck on the Tall Ship…

We played games & sang some of our favourites songs including Grandma Grandma

and then….

WE DRESSED UP AS PIRATES

in true licketyspit style fashioning eyepatches from pairs of tights & hooks from an old skirt

We got to meet Nabillah’s ‘Captain Spider’ and then took it in turns to make sure the crew was in ship shape, scrubbing the deck, cooking food, walking the plank! 

 3, 2, 1, AAAAAHHHH

After all that work we were ready to tuck into our delicious picnic before a big explore on the top deck! Bread, cheese, tomatoes, chocolate muffins washed down with tea & squash! 

Mohammed rang the bell & Annabel spotted a frog on the Clyde!

Yo ho yo ho

It’s a pirates life for all of us here at Licketyspit, 

Till next time me hartys!

Emma, Andre, Colette & Virginia xxx

What you said:

Thanks for playing with us, see you soon!

There’s lots of ideas and activities to get you playing at home. Try our interactive videos! Including…

• Making with Iona
• Cooking with Taz
• Exploring with Jack
• Funky Chicken
• Grandma Grandma

and many more!

Find out more about what’s happening at Licketyspit by clicking on the button.

We have some Lickety Mums who volunteer at our Porridge & Play sessions as Storyplay Champions.

If you would like to find out more about Storyplay Champion training and volunteering, click on this button or get in touch with us on cfn@licketyspit.com

37 play in The Green Green Wood!

What you said:

Thanks for playing with us Castlemilk pals, see you soon!

There’s lots of ideas and activities to get you playing at home. Try our interactive videos! Including…

• Making with Iona
• Cooking with Taz
• Exploring with Jack
• Funky Chicken
• Grandma Grandma

and many more!

Find out more about what’s happening at Licketyspit by clicking on the button.

We have some Lickety Mums who volunteer at our Porridge & Play sessions as Storyplay Champions.

If you would like to find out more about Storyplay Champion training and volunteering, click on this button or get in touch with us on cfn@licketyspit.com

Salsa, Sand, Sea & Send offs

What you said:

Thanks for playing with us Bridgeton pals, see you soon!

There’s lots of ideas and activities to get you playing at home. Try our interactive videos! Including…

• Making with Iona
• Cooking with Taz
• Exploring with Jack
• Funky Chicken
• Grandma Grandma

and many more!

Find out more about what’s happening at Licketyspit by clicking on the button.

We have some Lickety Mums who volunteer at our Porridge & Play sessions as Storyplay Champions.

If you would like to find out more about Storyplay Champion training and volunteering, click on this button or get in touch with us on cfn@licketyspit.com