It was the last session of this block at Castlemilk Library and we all feel like we are great big family!

We get in our circle cause circles are cool,

Nerea plays music, we dance and we groove,

A twirly fun Conga made with all our pals

To get us all started and warm up our hearts!

Make yourself big as House or

As small as a mouse!

As Thin as a pin!

Or maybe a string??

As round as a ball,

As a tree, very tall!

Wobbly as jelly, Buzzy as a bee

Have a wee think…

What else could you be?

Funky Chicken is an old-time favourite,

Castlemilk families are so fast at it –

They all come up with fantastic ideas,

Take a wee look at what we have here…

Poppy’s Kangaroo was Cheeky,

And Kim’s Snake rather Stinky,

Haaris brought a Snow Turtle,

And Anusha invited a Sneaky Sea lion

 Zara’s Horse was Jumpy,

And Caroline’s Dog was Dancing,

Sayeda brought a Happy Cat,

And Ammar’s Penguin was Fast!

 Shabana’s Elephant was Angry

Rumaisa’s Sealion was Dancing

Abu thought of a Naughty Eagle

And we also met a Strong Mohammed!

Let’s Dress Up as Forest Creatures,

And imagine what we can be?

Butterflies, midges or rabbits,

A squirrel, fox, bat or a flea!

Haaris – ‘I am a hacker creeper, and I like to annoy people’

Muhammed – ‘I am a normal seagull called Cristiano Ronaldo’

Anusha – ‘I am a bat and I eat people’

Zara – I’m a fox and I hunt people’

Poppy – ‘I am a squirrel; I climb trees and spy on people…’

 

But in this forest, there’s only one creature

That if you dare to ask

Will tell you the time looking at their watch

In this forest, there is only one …

Wolfie Abu – I live in a house, it’s actually a flat, a dirty flat. My watch is brown and at 5 o’clock it’s time to play football!

Wolfie Mohammed – I live in a mansion, it’s black and white – black in the winter and white in the summer. And at 3 o’clock it’s time to ….play tennis!

Wolfie Ammar – I live in a cave, and I got my watch from my Mum

Wolfie Caroline – I live in a brick house that you cannot huff and puff away! I make cushions and I got my watch from Asda.

Wolfie Poppy – I live in a flat – nice and clean. I like to read books. Matt from across the street gave me my watch. At 4 o’clock it’s time to ….have a dance party!

 Wolfie Anusha – I live in a poor dirty house with a poor dirty swimming pool. I made my watch and I kept it because I like it.

 Wolfie Haaris – I live in a tree house, a brown tree house. I live with other wolves. My watch has diamonds, gold, cash and money. I got it from Asda. At 6 o’clock it’s time to ….swim in the pool!

 Wolfie Zara – I live in a cave above a river. Sometimes it’s tidy and sometimes it’s untidy, somewhere in the middle. My watch is like a flower with purple background and red flowers, roses! I got it from a lovely next-door neighbour. And at 3 o’clock it’s time to …do ballet!

 Wolfie Rumaisa – I live in a brown Tree House. My watch is made of metal and it’s pink. At 1 o’clock it’s time to ….read a book and

at 5 O’clock it’s time to ….buy toys!

What’s the time Mr. Wolf?

Do you dare to ask?

Aways be ready to run just in case you find it’s……..

DINNER TIME!!

 

What a brilliant Porridge & Play block we’ve had at Castlemilk Library and what a great last session! After all that, everyone made fantastic drawings. Then we all enjoyed eating the beautiful food that many families brought to share – as well as our usual Licketyspit meal.

The Art Gallery was great fun and we all agreed that we love Porridge & Play in CASTLEMILK!

Sarah, Taz, Nerea, Virginia and the Castlemilk Hub Families

Licketyspit Art Gallery

Poor Bun Brother was a bit preoccupied although you wouldn’t think so when we first met him…

‘Aye, Aye, Aye

I’m The Best, I’m the Best

• clap, clap, clap
• clap, clap, clap

 We are the Bun Brothers; we are like no other! ‘

He was singing and cheering and clapping and he got us all involved in singing about him and his brother and how they are the best and they are like no other when suddenly…

Poor Bun Brother realised that he was on his own, without his brother (who couldn’t come) and he was in a right pickle because he couldn’t remember any of his fantastic recipes!

But his sadness didn’t last long as soon as he realised he had arrived in Castlemilk Library where he discovered a Delicious Crew of Brilliantly Creative CHEFs!!

There was Angel Chef, Cool Chef whose speciality is pizza, Crazy Chef, Pizza Pie Chef, Mean Chef who is a dog as well as a chef, Fairy Chef, Prince Chef, Ninja Chef who specialises in Chocolate Milk, Sad Chef & Happy Chef, Wee Chef, Jamaica Chef & the world-famous Candyfloss Chef!

 ‘Marvellous! We can work together and create a sublime recipe for an out of this world CAKE!!’ – the Bun Brother was beside himself.

So we got working…we had a massive bowl in the middle. There were so many of us we needed of course to bake a gigantic cake! SO,

Cool Chef mixed in Flour

And Prince Chef some white sugar

Ninja Chef went for melted chocolate

And Chef Angel put in Strawberries & angel cake – an extremely light cake!

Crazy Chef went for White sprinkles

Sad Chef threw in some Eggs

We are going to need some butter!

said another Chef!

Mean Chef added Potatoes

Big Chef liked the idea of Mango Chunks

Chef Pizza Pie, put in a cucumber

And it was all topped off by a nice rotten cheese from Happy Chef!

Stir and stir and stir and stir and Let’s Bake A Cake!
Let’s Bake A Cake!

Think of all the things that we like best…

A little bit of this

A little bit of that

NOW let’s put it in the oven!

 You have never seen a bigger CAKE TIN!

The cake cooked beautifully and all the chefs agreed about decoration…

‘Pink raspberry icing, cockroaches, Gummy sushi and Gummy Bologna!’

 It did look MAGNIFICENT, I’m not going to lie…But as they say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, so we had to try the cake to make sure our recipe was a good one and then…

‘Oh…oh…something funny is happening to me…’

 ‘ And to me…’

 ‘Wait a minute…how light was that angel cake you put in Angel Chef?’

It turned out it was cake of the of the lightest kind, so light in fact that  we all started to float up away into the air!

We floated and floated …………..until we got to the moon!!

The view from the moon was amazing and floating about the moon is of course great fun but we did have to return to the Library for our meal. Thankfully Sad Chef had her special parachute! So, we all held onto it, pulled the string and whoooooosh….we landed in a heap and we all laughed!

Our food was as usual, delicious and this week we had a wee treat of Honey Mango from Pakistan!

After that we had a fabulous Licketyspit Gallery sharing our drawings, thoughts and opinions and few very interesting book reviews and recommendations.

We were so inspired that some of us took home some books about food that the brilliant Castlemilk Librarians had found for us! I wonder if our Castlemilk Families will be cooking  some more deliciousness this weekend?

Or even next Thursday for our Porridge & Play Celebration Session?!

See you there!

 Taz, Ruby, Virginia and Castlemilk Hub Families

Licketyspit Art Gallery

Our Castlemilk families have many cool moves

When they hear music they can’t stop to groove –

Let’s dance some more! For a little bit longer!

Let’s get together in a fabulous CONGA!!

We also DRESS UP with gusto and style

Combining materials and sharing smiles

Today we decided to turn into PIRATES

but colourful ones – striking like parrots!

 

Haaris turned himself into Pirate Angel,

Anusha became Spy Pirate who spies on people,

Poppy was Mermaid Pirate and she looks for cool treasure,

Zara was Pirate Pretty who looks for treasure with Pirate Mermaid,

Rumaisa  decided to be Cool Pirate.

We also had wee pirates Massi, Udo and Ammar

And wee baby Ugo was the littlest one!

We blew up a Red Magic Ball and after much discussion on possible destinations we chanted the magic words…

MAGIC BALL
MAGIC BALL
TAKE US WHEN WE WANT TO GO…WHOOOSH!!

We landed on a beach…and there must have been a party going on somewhere because we could heard music  – so we immediately danced to the beach music! We couldn’t resist!

‘We are in Hawaii, it’s great!’ – shouted Pirate Pretty.

‘Ice cream anyone? –  Spy Pirate offered.

We all wanted some ice cream – Spy Pirate had bubble gum flavour.

We went into the ocean determined to find treasure as we swam and swam and swam… BUT there was a shark in the water! And then Pirate Taz got into trouble ! So we pulled her out as fast as we could!

‘We found some diamonds!’ – Pirate Pretty & Mermaid Pirate shouted.

‘It must be part of a famous Hawaii bigger treasure! If only we had the map to look for it!’

‘We do!’

While making sense of the treasure map, we suddenly heard a grumpy voice…

‘What are you doing with MY treasure map?!’

It was a Grumpy Pirate Captain. So cross with us!  and tired and a bit cranky…

‘Get in a line! Let me look at you lot’ – she shouted.

‘I am getting on, my knees hurt and I need to find some replacement for my ship…

‘Have  you ever worked on a ship?’

‘No!’ – said we.

‘Have you ever BEEN on a ship??’

‘No…’ – we admitted.

‘Oh dear…well, let’s get you started!’

So the Captain started to boss us, shouting lots of orders we had to follow!

‘Port! Starboard! Scrub the deck! Climb the rigging! Cook my dinner!’

It was tiring but we were actually quite good at being a pirate crew…

‘Ok, let’s try out some of you…YOU!’ – she pointed at  Pirate Muhammed

Pirate Muhammad took over being the Captain – ‘Poooooort!’

Then Cool Pirate – ‘ Make a pizza!’

Then Pirate Abu – ‘Mop the floor!’

We followed  the orders to the letter… and while mopping the floor Pirate Pretty screamed –

‘It smells disgusting!’

And she was right, it did!

But after all that hard work we could finally relax –

‘I have some Funky music, let’s play and dance!’ – So we did our crazy pirate dance!

‘Now…I’ll show you all where the big treasure is…right …..under there!!’.

We dug and dug until we found a chest containing…

 2000 coins!

And rubies!

And diamonds!

‘What shall we do with all this treasure??’

‘We could buy some go-karts in Costco!’

 ‘Great idea!’

So we all headed off to the Costco in Hawaii and got ourselves super cool go-karts of different colours and went for a spin!

It was  fantastic being a pirate crew but we realised we were starting to get a bit peckish.

So, we got back into the Magic Ball and returned to Castlemilk Library to do some Reflective Drawing to remember our adventure and get some nice grub in our tummies! ARRRRGH!!!

Sarah, Taz, Nerea, Virginia and the Castlemilk Hub Families

Licketyspit Art Gallery

It’s so hot outside, we are melting away

But in Castlemilk Library

We still STORYPLAY!

We giggle, we smile

We’re rolling with laughter

We enjoy a good play

And some nice food after!

Whatever the weather

We are getting together

To play with our friends

Imagining forever…

 A Sleepy Capibara, a Stinky Snake,

A Happy Cow smiling

and Dancing one as well.

 Our Dressing Up bag

Full of colourful rags

That turn into magic

When we mix them all up!

 A pair of old tights to wear on your head

A long bit that tied up will be your long tail

A red pair of trousers to wear round your waist

And some wee green t-shirt to cover your face…

Just some bits and bobs and imagination

And you are the Monster taking over a nation!

 We heard of some Grannies who live in the forest

They have groovy gardens with veggies and flowers –

 ‘ I’m Smart Granny – I live in a purple house and my garden has poppy flowers, star flowers and sunflowers. I like making chocolate chip cookies for breakfast!’

  ‘I’m Foxy Grannie – I live in a blue house. I grow potatoes in my garden, and some are magical and some are not. I hide the potatoes so no one can steal them. I like making candy for breakfast’

We played MONSTERS FOOTSTEPS

And gave them a fright

But they had a giggle and it was alright!

 We do love to draw all the things we imagine

We do love to eat together while laughing

We do love to show each other our art

At Porridge & Play we sure are SMART!

Sarah, Taz, Nerea and the Castlemilk Hub Families

Licketyspit Art Gallery

Castlemilk Library is a very cool place

You can come to hang out, borrow books and to play!

Play? Play, you say?

Well…YES! Castlemilk Library has been hosting Licketyspit’s Porridge & Play for five years now – so once a year we get together with some Castlemilk families at the library for 5 weeks in a row, to Storyplay, eat and hang out together and this is also a chance for new families to learn to Storyplay and join Licketyspit’s Children & Families Network family!

So, for our first session of Porridge & Play this block we had Caroline, Poppy, Jacqueline, Evie, Sayeda, Abu, Sobia, Rumaisa ,Haaris, Shabana, Anusha, & Ammar with us again and Chioma, Udo, Ugo, Jodie & Leo coming for the very first time!

What a joy to see some old friends again and to meet new ones! The best thing about Porridge & Play is – you NEVER run out of friends.

Now, have you ever played beach ball with a Dragon while flying up high on a Flying Balloon? WE DID EXACTLY THAT!!

We blew up our Flying Balloons – they came in many colours!- and flew all over Castlemilk…What a view!

We were so high that at some point we could REALLY feel the cold but luckily Anusha had brought jackets and hats for us all and Caroline had some fluffy socks for everyone too.

‘What’s that down there? – Taz said

Beach balls! – Caroline shouted’

Caroline saw beach balls all over the place and it turned out that a dragon down below was throwing beach balls up in the hope someone would play ball with her! So we did!

First up Caroline caught a beach ball, threw it back down and….whoosh! up it came again for Poppy to catch!

Then Poppy threw it back down and ….whoosh! Up it came again for Haaris to catch!

Then Haaris threw it back down and…whoosh! Up it came again for Ammar to catch!

Then Ammar threw it back down and…whoosh! Up it came again for Rumaisa to catch!

Then Rumaisa threw it back down and…whoosh! Up it came again for Evie to catch!

We all had go at the Dragon Beach Ball game until the Dragon got tired and cooked a barbecue instead!

Do you like dressing up? Well, we LOVE IT at Porridge & Play but what we really like to do is to dress up the Licketyspit way…

Our Dressing Up style is out of this world even though we use random bits and bobs – we use old clothes that we have in the house, or clothes that are too wee, or any type of clothes we have and we wear them in interesting ways to create all sort of characters!

This week at Porridge & Play we all became Castlemilk Grannies.

And what an stupendous collection of Grannies we were!

 Anusha was Granny Hungry who likes to eat humans – Dangerous Granny! Poppy was Sporty Granny who really likes running – Fast Granny! Ammar was Granny Greg who really likes going – Busy Granny! Rumaisa was Granny Skeleton who enjoys scaring people! – Naughty Granny! Abu was Cooking Granny who likes making cakes – Delicious Granny! Haaris was Mr Coin who likes swimming in a pool – Not even a Granny! Caroline was Funky Granny who loves shopping and going to the Bingo – Leisure Granny!

All that playing always makes us hungry so after doing a bit of Reflecting Drawing to draw about what we’d liked best today, we sat down to lovely fruit, cheese, bread, boiled eggs and tomatoes and we all enjoyed a chilled meal together chatting and sharing!

After food the Licketyspit Art Gallery saw everyone telling each other about their drawings. We all cheered and clapped – which makes us all feel great about ourselves and our friends! HURRAY FOR PORRIDGE & PLAY!

See you all next Thursday for more adventures and fun at Castlemilk Library!

Sarah, Taz, Nerea, Virginia and the Castlemilk Hub Families

Licketyspit Art Gallery

Discovering what’s free to do with your family in your city!

We are very lucky to have fantastic museums and cultural venues in our city and many of them are free!

Picnic & Play is all about taking Storyplay out in the world – we sometimes go to beaches, other times to lochs or parks but we also love to go to museums!

Picnic & Play in Glasgow is all about families taking local public transport to travel to enjoy Storyplay and a delicious picnic with Licketyspit at one of our wonderful Glasgow Museums – we have been to Kelvingrove Galleries, Gallery of Modern Art, the Tall Ship and this Easter we are having brilliant Storyplay at the Riverside Museum – the museum of Transport!

Since Picnic & Play is all about exploring other places through Storyplay we thought that makes us STORYPLAY Explorers! And so our intrepid families imagined themselves beautifully with the help of Dressing up and turned themselves into a very vibrant bunch ready to discover all sorts of things using our Magic Ball…

Magic Ball, Magic Ball

Takes us where we want to go!

Whooooooosh!

A Magic Ball Adventure poem

Explorer Sandwich Hat, Explorer Pine Man, Explorer Shoes and Explorer Paris Artist,

Explorer Plotato , Explorer Blue Dragon, Explorer Ruby & the Archaeologist

Explorer Cristal,  Explorer Lily , Explorer Dog and Explorer I See…

Together they make – a Storyplay Explorer Team Extraordinareee!!!

We landed on a beach but we were washed away

It was a bit too much to resist such a great wave!

We found a big ship but somehow, we were bigger

How will we all fit in?!!!

Just blow up this balloon, blow it up and you will shrink!

Anusha’s fab idea was a brilliant tip!

Cause we all blew a balloon and we all became small!

So tiny happy us enjoyed a cool ship trip

Until a massive Giant appeared on the scene!.

He said – Have you ever travelled by means of giant palm?

We said, ‘We haven’t, no!’ – as we climbed onto his hand!

But how can we go back to our normal size?

‘There is an old machine that can help you all with that’

We fought a fierce fire and rescued trembling Ruby,

We went by train with Amjad and that was also groovy!

And then we flew up high on a hot air balloon

And we looked down from the sky

And felt as high as the moon!

We looked at all the countries, the countries of our pals-

Spain, Poland, Scotland

Nigeria, Pakistan,

Iran, Iraq and England

We saw them like a map!

And so away we flew after exploring lots

To have a lovely Picnic and to draw all of our thoughts!

Ruby, Andre, Taz & Whiteinch, Castlemilk, Maryhill, Govan & Cranhill families

Licketyspit’s Art Gallery

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

Discovering what’s free to do with your family in your city!

We are very lucky to have fantastic museums and cultural venues in our city and many of them are free!

Picnic & Play is all about taking Storyplay out in the world – we sometimes go to beaches, other times to lochs or parks but we also love to go to museums!

Picnic & Play in Glasgow is all about families taking local public transport to travel to enjoy Storyplay and a delicious picnic with Licketyspit at one of our wonderful Glasgow Museums – we have been to Kelvingrove Galleries, Gallery of Modern Art, the Tall Ship and this Easter we are having brilliant Storyplay at the Riverside Museum – the museum of Transport!

Since Picnic & Play is all about exploring other places through Storyplay we thought that makes us STORYPLAY Explorers! And so our intrepid families imagined themselves beautifully with the help of Dressing up and turned themselves into a very vibrant bunch ready to discover all sorts of things using our Magic Ball…

Magic Ball, Magic Ball

Takes us where we want to go!

Whooooooosh!

A Magic Ball Adventure recalled by Poppy, Jesé, Deon, Zara, Taz, Kim & Caroline

When Poppy opened the Magic Ball’s zipper she shouted – ‘ITS A FOREST!!!’.

The trees were big and beautiful but suddenly Sarah and Mateo got grabbed by tree branches! Sarah was trapped in a tree embrace, and Mateo was being dragged by his leg!

‘Quick! Let’s get out of here!’

So, we ran away and found a great big train, which nobody knew how to drive, until Kim said – ‘I got this’. So, we held on tight and off we went. Let me tell you…good try Kim but her driving was rather bumpy and quite fast!

As we stopped, a man with a problem appeared – ‘And what kind of problem do you have?’

• ‘A pizza problem! I need all this pizza, and I have no clue where to get any!’
• What about MAKING some pizza?’ – a fabulous Italian Pizza Chef had the solution!

We told the Italian Pizza Chef that we were good helpers and off we went to her incredible Moving Kitchen – where the oven, the microwave and the fridge keep moving about making our Italian Pizza Chef rather confused and very lively!

We went to town with our ingredients – tomatoes, pepperoni, pineapple, cheese, onions, Indian flavours and even a wee bit of a potion that helps you see the sky closer!

And so with much freshly made pizza we had enough to feed the dinosaurs of the Man with a Pizza Problem and to have a right big slice for ourselves too – result!

After our pizza making, we took another train, this time the driver was Poppy and she was excellent! She took us to the beach in India and oh how we swam!

There we bumped into a group of teenagers who joined us on our travels by bus, this time to Africa! We took the subway to go to a big dancing party – we threw some cool shapes and enjoyed some funky moves, took some cool portraits, to remember our excellent adventure and then, actually quite hungry, we drove back to have a well-deserved Picnic.

All in all, a fantastic big adventure with great pals at the Riverside Museum!

See you all soon!

Andre, Sarah, Taz & fabulous Castlemilk & Whiteinch families

Licketyspit’s Art Gallery

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

Discovering what’s free to do with your family in your city!

We are very lucky to have fantastic museums and cultural venues in our city and many of them are free!

Picnic & Play is all about taking Storyplay out in the world – we sometimes go to beaches, other times to lochs or parks but we also love to go to museums!

Picnic & Play in Glasgow is all about families taking local public transport to travel to enjoy Storyplay and a delicious picnic with Licketyspit at one of our wonderful Glasgow Museums – we have been to Kelvingrove Galleries, Gallery of Modern Art, the Tall Ship and this Easter we are having brilliant Storyplay at the Riverside Museum – the museum of Transport!

Since Picnic & Play is all about exploring other places through Storyplay we thought that makes us STORYPLAY Explorers! And so our intrepid families imagined themselves beautifully with the help of Dressing up and turned themselves into a very vibrant bunch ready to discover all sorts of things using our Magic Ball…

Magic Ball, Magic Ball

Takes us where we want to go!

Whooooooosh!

A Magic Ball Adventure narrated by Storyplay Champion – Arvin (aged 9)

We got out of the magic ball and we saw a wild boar but luckily we got away into a pack of trees.

Then we went out and explored. We saw old travelling things and then we decided to travel by dinosaur! Yeah, we found the dinosaurs!

We went back in time. But luckily the dinosaurs weren’t really mean so they let us live. We got them food and we were allowed to ride on their backs!

They flew in the sky and when we landed we saw someone had opened a shop for accessories at home. It was the grand opening so we went in and we took pictures because there was a big old camera and we had a drink of a lemonade of different flavours, as well.

My lemonade looked like normal lemonade but it tasted kind of funny.

 We took some pictures in there and after we explored some more we saw a woman that had opened a cafe so we went to the women’s cafe and we got ice cream. I chose strawberry for my ice cream flavour but when I tasted it, it didn’t taste like normal strawberry! It tasted like raw onions!

We went on a bus as well –  we were on a bus and there was a flying baby outside the bus which looked like Cyrus quite a lot!

We exited it and we saw the Loch Ness Monster! We were in Loch Ness! In the Loch, I had a giant boat that everyone could get on.

 When we got on, we saw the Loch Ness Monster. Everyone had to be very silent and quiet, very sneaky and stealthy because the Loch Ness Monster was going to attack. And after that we went to the subway and we went to Stirling and after that we went through an old subway that was built in the past. And the driver was very thin and it was Waheed!

After that, everyone was hungry ready to enjoy some food so we travelled by car. Mr. Crab, the explorer, was driving – he looked very much like Shriyansh!

So we came back with Mr.Crab Shriyansh driving and we enjoyed our Picnic!.

See you again soon!

Andre, Ruby, Taz & the Marvellous Maryhill families!

Licketyspit’s Art Gallery

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