Big Porridge & Play Ruchill Week 7

2022-07-13T15:55:08+00:00

15th June 2019 The final session in Ruchill was the last Big Porridge and Play 2019 and we were really moved and delighted to have so many people join us to send the project off in style. We had to add and extra table to fit all 44 people - plus Virginia, Rita, Jack and Ruby round the table when it came to the meal, and it was lovely to share our games, songs and story with our guests. That included loads of your great Funky Chicken animals, like the Dancing Tiger, the Shy Butteryfly and the Slithering Snake. We also played a great game of Witches Fingers, with confident cackling witches of all ages sending us from quiet suspense into laughter and joyous running off. It was clear at the beginning that having guests and a videographer there made a difference, but any shyness was soon forgotten as we got swept up in the worlds of the games. Our Grannies in Monsters' Footsteps were all very keen to tell us about the castles and caves they lived in, even the youngest ones! And everyone was focused on the game together as the grimacing trees crept towards the Grannies and they admired their un-treelike expressions! After the meal, where we enjoyed trying Emma's Jollof rice and plantain, as well as tucking into Edie and Nikki's cakes, we had another go at On Off, which never fails [...]

Big Porridge & Play Ruchill Week 72022-07-13T15:55:08+00:00

Big Porridge & Play Gorbals Week 7

2022-07-13T15:56:22+00:00

13th June 2019 Our last session at the St Francis Centre was a wonderful celebration of what Porridge & Play can be, with families bringing countless delicious things to share in the meal, guests dressing up with the same gusto as everyone else, and big, collective games together in the circle. We started with Big as a Bear, during which we could hear several people joining in with the whole thing word for word. Then we played Funky Chicken, with lots of people revisiting their favourite invented animals one last time, and everyone joining in the actions - like the Happy Lion, the Sneaky Fox and the Slithery Snake.   There was an incredible level of focus on what the funny witches would say when we played Witches Fingers,and it was fantastic to have our wonderful Lickety Volunteer Saliha becoming a brilliant first witch! We sang Grandma Grandma, which was particularly enjoyed by the visitors as it's such an inclusive, feel good song for joining in the first time. Much the same could be said for Letter to my Love, kicked off by Arush and Jack, which could have gone on for hours before anyone got bored. And we finished with our story, Anoo the Alien and Jack the Deer, with a dozen people reading a line or two each round the circle. The story is a real achievement that everyone should feel so proud of, and it was lovely to end the play session with this before we sat down to eat. What a treat we had [...]

Big Porridge & Play Gorbals Week 72022-07-13T15:56:22+00:00

Big Porridge & Play Whiteinch Week 7

2022-07-13T15:59:11+00:00

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 [...]

Big Porridge & Play Whiteinch Week 72022-07-13T15:59:11+00:00

Big Porridge & Play Ruchill Week 6

2022-07-13T15:55:17+00:00

8th June 2019 We had a really fab sixth session at the Ruchill Community Centre. You could really see how everyone has got to know each other over the last six weeks, with the group chatting away at the start of the afternoon and during the meal, and other parents supporting those with the youngest children. We all put on jam trousers and custard in Mucky Brew, which was hilarious, and went back to the Button Factory for Hello my Name is Joe. Flying Balloons was lots of peoples' favourite game. We saw a volcano, a pink and green whale and even a rocket going into space and the moon! We saw lots of little animals which turned out to be kites being flown along a beach, then one of them was lifted up into the air - with the man holding it attached, and we had to help pull him back down so he wouldn't be carried off into space! We also wrote an epic story together, sitting rapt for more than twenty minutes while Ruby helped us thread together everyone's ideas. We started with a character, a place and an object, and ended with a rich and colourful tale of adventure, revenge and inclusion. The tale of Emily and the Magic Mountain is the longest and most detailed Big Porridge & Play story yet, click here to [...]

Big Porridge & Play Ruchill Week 62022-07-13T15:55:17+00:00

Big Porridge & Play Gorbals Week 6

2022-07-13T15:57:04+00:00

6th June 2019 Week 6 at the Gorbals was a day for Pirate captains keeping things ship-shape on the open sea, storytelling and a surprise from poor Old Rodger. Everyone really at ease playing together today. We had some extremely committed Pirates, wearing fantastic costumes and really feeling like we were on a huge ship, drinking our grog and swimming away from sharks. Everyone over 5 volunteered to read some of the story we wrote together last week, which was really special - a beautiful, focused moment. Anoo the Alien and Jack the Deer also appeared in some of the Reflective Drawing, as well as “a butterfly high in the sky all the way to the moon” (3 year old) We also sent a Letter to our Love to everyone’s great amusement – this along with Balloons is an absolute favourite. There were huge smiles all round in Old Rodger and it was great to see how much the parents were supporting the children to get involved in planting the tree and tumbling down the apples. This was mirrored in the songs, where those who have been coming to Porridge & Play for longer were really making people laugh with their full-bodied renditions of Jelly on his Head. Everyone was really excited for the Celebration session and keen to bring lots of exciting homemade food. Everyone was also delighted that Saliha brought some Turkish Delight to share following Eid celebrations.   What you said... [...]

Big Porridge & Play Gorbals Week 62022-07-13T15:57:04+00:00

Big Porridge & Play Whiteinch Week 6

2022-07-13T16:01:45+00:00

5th June 2019 With our sessions drawing to a close we want to make sure our last Big Porridge & Play afternoons together are fantastic! On Wednesday at Whiteinch Library we had exactly that! We had such an enjoyable afternoon of play together! Ruby and Jack were joined by Iona as again everyone braved the horrible weather outside to make it to the library. We had the best Big as a Bear in Whiteinch yet. As soon as we started our warm-up, everyone was joining in with some brilliant actions too! We were so happy to see how well you have all learned this, as well as all the other songs and games! This is a great one to teach your family and friends at home and school! After last week’s brilliant story creation with Ruby we absolutely loved hearing your story again this week – Kitty the Clown & the Naughty Seagull. Taking it in turns to read brilliantly, there was a great deal of respect shown by the rest of the group as everyone listened so well! We were so impressed by this and we can’t wait for you to show your invited guests how hard you all worked on this! The story of Kitty the Clown was our inspiration this week, as we took turns in showing off our best and most exciting circus skills! With [...]

Big Porridge & Play Whiteinch Week 62022-07-13T16:01:45+00:00

Big Porridge & Play Ruchill Week 4

2022-07-14T09:26:51+00:00

18th May 2019 We are missing next week’s session not taking place because of the Bank Holiday so we wanted to make sure we had an excellent session of Porridge & Play today - and we did! –Jack, Iona and our General Manager, Shona were here for our 4th Ruchill BIG Porridge & Play 2019! We started the session with our infamous Big as a Bear - everyone was in the mood to play and full of Licketyspit spirit! We were SO SAD to hear about Old Roger! We wept and we wailed! So we planted an apple tree over his head! The apples grew ripe and tumbled down so the lucky Old Woman could pop them in her basket. Cheek! She was delighted BUT just as she was about to nip off home with them….Old Roger jumped up and he gave her a SHOCK! Eeek! That made the Old Woman go Hippety Hop! We loved playing In the Way of the Word! One group decides on a ‘doing’ word and the other group plans different things to ask them to act! - taking a shower and playing football gigglingly was hilarious! So was brushing our teeth and eating our dinner sadly! Both groups performed brilliantly and we guessed all the words! This is a great game to play at home – especially with grown-ups who don’t usually play! [...]

Big Porridge & Play Ruchill Week 42022-07-14T09:26:51+00:00

Big Porridge & Play Ruchill Week 5

2022-07-14T09:27:03+00:00

1st June 2019 We had a really wonderful Picnic & Play on The Tall Ship with the Ruchill Porridge & Play group last week. Ruby met some of the group to get the bus to Partick after a quick game of Big as a Bear and Funky Chicken at the bus stop. When we got there, we met the rest of the group, as well as Jack, Rita, Boatemaa and Emmanuel, who had been getting things ship shape and ready to go, and we had an incredibly imaginative, energetic and joyful session. We had some very confident Funky Chicken contributions - like the Puppy Dog, the Tall Snake and the Slow Snail. Everyone was really listening to each other and showing a lot of mutual respect and appreciation. We also played Sent a Letter to my Love, with lots of smiling and skipping about. Then suddenly, the Letter turned into a Magic Ball... Our Tall Ship Magic Ball Adventure - The Nasty Pirate and the Sea Creature We climbed inside the Magic Ball and found some dressing up clothes to create our adventure costumes, then we said the magic words and the Magic Ball took us off - to an Arctic Island! You were unstoppable and brimming with ideas. Several people bravely jumped into the icy sea and invited us all to have a swim. Then we [...]

Big Porridge & Play Ruchill Week 52022-07-14T09:27:03+00:00

Big Porridge & Play Gorbals Week 5

2022-07-13T15:57:25+00:00

30th May 2019 Travelling from the St Francis Centre in several taxi’s, we all managed to avoid the wind and the rain arriving at the wonderful and exciting Dream Machine on the London Road! As we warmed up and danced like Funky Chicken’s we could tell we were in for a great session and we were not disappointed! There was a special birthday in the group this week so we all decided to bake a cake! There were lots of exciting ingredients - delicious melted chocolate, fresh strawberries and grapes as well as some more unusual and odd ingredients added like…. a pair of shoes, a beautiful pink dress and even a door! We all helped pour the mixture into a baking tin, open the oven door and pop in the cake to bake! With a loud beeeep! The cake was ready! We all decorated it and sang Happy Birthday to Alan! who turned 4! (Then we tasted the cake! Yumm!) After we had finished eating our cake we had some story time! Jack read a brilliant story called Cockatoos by Quentin Blake. This is the story of Professor Dupont and his wondering and hilarious Cockatoos who get fed up of the Professors morning routine one day and decide to run away! I wonder if we can all remember where the Cockatoos were hiding?! The story of the cockatoos [...]

Big Porridge & Play Gorbals Week 52022-07-13T15:57:25+00:00

Big Porridge & Play Whiteinch Week 5

2022-07-13T16:02:22+00:00

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 [...]

Big Porridge & Play Whiteinch Week 52022-07-13T16:02:22+00:00

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