Season’s Greetings from everyone at Licketyspit!

As we head into 2026, we know that times are hard for everyone. Any contribution you can to make to this appeal will not only go towards funding our annual Winter Ceilidh for the families that we work with (old and New Scots alike) but will also help towards next year’s planned programme of work across Glasgow, so that we can continue to bring Storyplay (and healthy food) to the families most in need of our help.

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

You will receive

• Storyplay Training – learn to use the Storyplay toolkit of games, rhymes, songs and imaginary play activities and the methodology of how we play
• Experience working with diverse groups of families including refugees and asylum seeking families, in communities across Glasgow
• Understanding and experience of how Licketyspit engages online and in person, logistical know-how of running successful large group play activities
• Storyplay resources
• Experience preparing and serving community meals
• Experience participating in evaluation and planning
• All travel expenses covered
• Letter of recommendation

What we need from you

• Availability and reliability to attend training/induction sessions
• Availability to volunteer at a minimum of 3 family sessions over the next 6 months
  (These take place on Wednesdays (2.30-6.30), Thursdays (3-7), Fridays (3-7), Saturdays (10-4) timings may vary & can be adapted)
• Availability to volunteer at our Storyplay Festival Sat 3rd September 10-4
• Enthusiasm and passion about PEOPLE, PLAY, DRAMA and SOCIAL JUSTICE
• Respect for children’s rights and determination to treat children as equals
• Respect for cultural difference and inclusion

Become a Storyplay Champion today!

Previous Volunteers said

If you have any questions please contact creative producer, Ruby Zajac, on email above.

M: 07413 800 342 E: cfn@licketyspit.com

Read more about us

Licketyspit is a pioneering Scottish early years theatre company which has rooted its work in transformational drama-led children’s rights-based practice for twenty years. Our work springs from the connection between actors and children as ‘play experts’. Learning to consult children through play has led to a series of highly successful projects on a trajectory of discovery, which has coalesced as – Storyplay – a powerful and flexible children’s rights-based approach & methodology based on shared intergenerational imaginary play.

Storyplay is being used in education, community and arts and cultural contexts; to support refugees and asylum seekers; and as a child consultation methodology through ‘Have Your Say Through Play’. Licketyspit’s Children & Families Network (CFN) is at the heart of our practice. The CFN is an 850-strong community of families who share Licketyspit’s children’s rights ethos and want continuing connectivity and opportunities to take part in Storyplay. Licketyspit’s work is open to all, but the company prioritises its work in areas of high socio-economic challenge.

17th December 2021

In 2020, Scottish Women’s Aid (SWA) approached Licketyspit to explore a collaboration: ‘When I heard more about Licketyspit all I could think about was how few tools we’ve had (in WA) based on joy and play and love and excitement and art and music and all of the thing to allow us to express emotions and not only get them out but also share them in a really meaningful way with the people we love.’ Marsha Scott CEO SWA

In Feb 2021 Licketyspit introduced Storyplay to 30+ Women’s Aid Workers – who immediately understood how they could use this imaginary play-based approach and methodology – “(Storyplay is) a great way to create empathy and connect with a child …who may be unable to understand their feelings & responses / (of) helping Mums and children build a shared experience and address difficult issues” Women’s Aid Workers Feb ’21

SWA approached Scottish Government to support an innovative collaboration between Scottish Women’ Aid and Licketyspit. Last week the first Women’s Aid workers –from Wigtown to Shetland – completed an intensive 5-week online Licketyspit Storyplay Training programme – with flying colours!

Storyplay is not as easy as it looks. Learning to facilitate it is to embark on a journey of learning, self-reflection and bold experiment! The WA workers all described a similar experience, initially feeling out of their comfort zone, nervous and self-conscious, then increasingly relaxing and gaining in confidence. ‘At the beginning of the sessions I felt really quite scared… But I think we’ve all just coped really well with it. It’s really nice to see everybody’s confidence growing’. WA Storyplay Trainee’21

Taking play seriously in theory, as increasingly children & family professionals do, is different from being asked to play as an adult in practice, with your peers, and make it a core part of your engagement with children. Storyplay – which is often ‘silly’ & hilarious –  can at first feel counter-intuitive as your ‘job’. Storyplay training demands reconnecting with your ‘playful self’, revisiting memories of childhood play, learning to relax and take risks, immersing yourself in shared improvisations where you can “be anyone, go anywhere do anything!” while simultaneously unpacking how Storyplay works and what experiencing it can mean.

Storyplay is a rigorous practice. Facilitators need strong foundations. Few adult professionals other than actors are required to learn scripts! But word-perfect play-scripts, songs and rhythms free the Storyplay facilitator to read the room and attend to the multiple needs of a diverse intergenerational group, to think on their feet and adapt, for only then does this work become, as it consistently does, utterly irresistible and foolproof.

But Storyplay is a powerful deeply human emotionally engaged way of people being together which is as therapeutic to learn to lead as it is to experience –‘I think it’s just such an untapped thing we have like, playing and breathing and…it’s such an untapped resource we don’t use!’  WA Storyplay Trainee’21

‘I think you can really go into your imagination and you can go anywhere with it, there’s no limits!’  WA Storyplay Trainee’21

Storyplay is anchored in reciprocity, equality, fairness. The idea that everyone is creative and has something equally great to bring to the ‘game’. Our rock-solid belief is that we all need what children need – to know we are seen, heard, valued and included. Everyone wants and needs to play because playing with others is essentially about belonging – to your family, your community, society. The feelings we experience through Storyplay are real feelings! We are free to relax and enjoy being and exploring ourselves and our amazing collective imaginations.

The value of intergenerational drama-led play or as we call it – Storyplay – is not yet fully recognised. What we see happening among the parents & children we play with, is that in a safe nurturing inclusive space, we can enable Storyplay to be a catalyst for all of our participants to overcome barriers to full participation, to relax and  increasingly nurture themselves and each other; to build their self-esteem, confidence, social skills and strengthen their relationships.

As actor-pedagogues, we know that everyone wants to be included and storyplay with us – even when it might appear otherwise. ‘Play’ as a word and an activity is not given enough weight as a therapeutic tool away from the world of therapists. Many adults have let themselves be persuaded they are not ‘creative’ or ‘good’ at drama. But when we talk about children’s rights and needs and accept how vital play is for every child, we must surely enable and support every children’s professional – and parent – to become a Play Expert. The wonderful thing is that this is easily within all of our reach. We adults have all been children! Storyplay is about reconnecting with our playful selves. And like exercising a muscle – it’s about practice.

‘I felt lucky, happy, grateful and energised!  Also, couldn’t help thinking about future possibilities.’ Women’s Aid Storyplay Trainee ’21

Block Two Women’s Aid Storyplay starts in January when WASP Trainees working alongside Licketyspit actor-pedagogues will begin the first Storyplay deliveries with parents & children and a new co-hort of Women’s Aid workers will begin to train in Storyplay!

Find out more about Licketyspit in our 2020/21 Annual Report

Family Page

Click below to go to the family page about Storyplay online sessions with Women’s Aid and Licketyspit.

Your Storyplay Champions!

Read a blog from Big Porridge & Play Online:

Hear from families & professionals:

All you need is your imagination for a Magical Christmas!

Some of our fantastic families won’t be getting a present this Christmas so we would like to be able to give them a some presents from US ALL!

We invite YOU to join our Dressing-Up Challenge to make a fantastic & hilarious costume out of anything you can find around the house or office!

Then if you can, donate to our Christmas fundraiser. 

1)  Dress yourself up in a fantastic & hilarious costume made out of anything you can find around the house or office! 

2) Take a picture and share it with us tagging @LicketyTweet or Licketyspit on Facebook with the  #xmasdressup

3) if you can, donate to our Christmas fundraiser here.

Lickety Dressing Up tips with Effie

The Lickety Gallery

26th November 2021

Click on the image below to watch the film

The Lickety Gallery

BUILD Installation

We were also included in an installation built in the Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh using Lottery balls an objects representing different projects funded by the Lottery.

For Licketyspit they included a tiny person flying with a balloon!

Our Board member Alison went to see the installation in Edinburgh.

Licketyspit wants to spark a children’s rights-based play revolution! Storyplay for the Planet is part of our wider work in Glasgow, the first Storyplay City!
See Big Porridge & Play and Storyplay City to find out what else we’re doing nearby.

What is Storyplay for the Planet?

A series of Storyplay & Have Your Say Through Play sessions for families with 3-12 year olds in East Centre Ward.

Licketyspit will deliver sessions in schools, nurseries and online for communities across the East Centre Ward to support confidence, parental engagement, relationships and children’s rights.

The school groups will receive an introductory Storyplay session, followed by a Have your Say Through Play session to support the children to express their thoughts, feelings & ideas about Climate Change using imaginary play.

These sessions will be a chance for families to explore the issue of climate change and share their feelings about it creatively, elevating children’s voices and demonstrating the power of imagination to find solutions to the greatest collective challenge of our time!

We might encounter melting polar ice, or deforestation in Brazil, put a stop to heavy traffic in Cranhill or plant trees in Barlanark. The adventure will present challenges and as a group we’ll overcome them using the power of our collective imagination!

We might end up in a river clogged with rubbish, or slipping on melting polar ice…What will we do to stop it?!

A book of stories…

We will also be holding 4 Storyplay Café sessions online, where families can help us make the stories from our Storyplay adventures into a book!

We’re have a book launch which will include Storyplay games and a Lickety Gallery, for all participating groups. Children and parents/carers who develop the book will be supported to host the launch as Storyplay Champions. WATCH THIS SPACE!

How do I take part?

If your school or nursery is keen to host a session, please ask them to get in touch!

We also have some online play sessions for families across the ward to take part in. The first one is on Friday 19th November at 4.30-6pm, on Zoom.

Email rhianne@licketyspit.com to sign up!

We will be advertising the book creation cafes to participants at our school, nursery and online sessions.

This project is supported by Glasgow Life as part of Phase 3 of the Artist in Residency programme. Fine out more here.

The additional online sessions are supported by Glasgow Life in association with Bloomberg.

What is Storyplay?

Everyone, of all ages, loves to play! We need to play! Play is at the essence of being human. When we play imaginatively with other people there are no limits and no mistakes, just endless possibilities. Licketyspit and our children, families and colleagues have got a recipe and a list of ingredients that make imaginary play an easy, wonderful and inclusive part of every day. We call this Storyplay.

Licketyspit has been developing Storyplay with Glasgow families for over 15 years. From LicketyLeap sessions in nurseries to Storyplay Schools programmes in primaries, to Porridge & Play in the community and Picnic & Play in museums and parks. The Glasgow Community Fund is supporting Storyplay City sessions for families across Glasgow.

25th October 2021

This autumn, we were delighted to make a film about Porridge & Play Online as one of 13 Stories of Resilience commissioned by Refugee Action.

Working on Zoom has produced a wealth of wonderful video clips of Porridge & Play Online throughout the Pandemic. Lead Actor-pedagogue, Iona Zajac, was able to cherry-pick from these in order to edit together a 5-minute film to provide a window into the essence of this amazing project. The narration, recorded by Storyplay Champion children, draws on child consultation sessions to capture what the project has meant for them.

We were delighted to be able to share our families’ experiences of Storyplay during the pandemic, alongside such an important group of projects.

People who succeed in getting to the UK to claim asylum against the odds have already shown great resilience and courage, but faced with our brutal Asylum system, their sense of relief and hope can often be short-lived.

Watch the film here

The Home Office needs to do much more to meet the material needs of people seeking asylum. The basic human rights to food, shelter, clothes, school, digital access and transport are not sufficiently met and many charities do vital work to fill the gaps.

The pressure of these needs also has a huge impact on mental health and wellbeing – in limbo, isolated and disempowered, anxious, overwhelmed, bereft of family and friends and often also traumatised.  That’s why it is also so important we meet people’s need for a sense of self-worth, intrinsic human value, self-respect, sense of possibility and human connection.

This is what I believe the Stories of Resilience project is about.

It’s about finding ways to nurture and befriend refugees and people seeking asylum. And creating opportunities for them to be seen, heard, respected, recognised, loved and valued for who they are. It’s about giving them opportunities to rebuild their resilience, sense of self-worth, possibility and hope.

For Licketyspit, resilience is not about masking problems, it’s about nurturing survival and the capacity to thrive and connect. That’s what we do in Storyplay, a way of playing together which is all about who we are – not what we do or don’t have. And about reciprocity, as human beings of equal value who need each other to thrive and survive.

Stories of Resilience is a UK-wide storytelling project celebrating how UK community organisations and people in the immigration system got through the pandemic, together. These stories were pitched by recipients of RAP funding – the Respond and Adapt Programme established by Migration Exchange, NACCOM and Refugee Action in April 2020 and funded by the AB Charitable Trust, Barrow Cadbury Trust, Comic Relief, Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, Migration Foundation, Blue Thread, Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, The Rayne Foundation, Unbound Philanthropy and Lloyds Bank Foundation.

29th September 2021

Licketyspit and Scottish Women’s Aid are excited to offer a free place on to our upcoming Storyplay training course to member Women’s Aid groups across Scotland.

Following a very successful introductory session in February, Women’s Aid Storyplay Scotland will provide in-depth Storyplay training to Women’s Aid Workers to use Storyplay as an additional approach in their work with mothers, children and young people recovering from domestic abuse.

Storyplay offers a children’s rights-based approach to social interaction and relationship building through structured, joyful, imaginary play.

This highly developed, tried and tested approach and toolkit will support workers to work with mothers and children together, nurturing creativity, confidence, relationships, confident parenting, physical and mental wellbeing, resilience, love and happiness.

Training will be led by Licketyspit’s Artistic Director Virginia Radcliffe, alongside skilled Licketyspit Lead-Actor-Pedagogues who will train you and support you in sessions with your clients. Evaluations of the Storyplay approach demonstrate that this is an empowering approach for participants and workers . Storyplay demonstrates  a consistently high impact on children and adults’ confidence, social skills, emotional literacy and resilience, and use & knowledge of language and introduces a rich way of playing that mothers and children can build into their lives.

Workers will learn to facilitate a wide range of Storyplay activities, including group imaginary play, games, rhymes, songs and reflective drawing. You will also be supported to put this learning into practice and provide a rich new experience for your clients.

Women’s Aid workers will receive a link to sign up for this training opportunity via Scottish Women’s Aid.

Virginia Radcliffe, Artistic Director at Licketyspit:

“Storyplay nurtures creativity, confidence, social skills, friendships, emotional literacy, family and community equality, resilience, language, integration, multi-culturalism, confident parenting, physical and mental wellbeing, love, happiness and positivity.

“Facilitating play like this is not as easy as it looks. It takes time and work but develops life-enhancing, life-long skills which we hope will have a real positive impact both for you and for the mothers and children you support.

“Licketyspit is privileged, excited and confident about embarking on this bold and innovative collaboration with Scottish Women’s Aid professionals from across Scotland.”

Dr. Marsha Scott, Chief Executive of Scottish Women’s Aid:

“This programme is an innovative and creative resource that is designed to assist mothers and their children recover and rebuild after experiencing domestic abuse.

“We are really excited to be working with the Licketyspit team in one of the few programmes out there that works with mothers and children congruently in a way that grows confidence and nurtures the relationship, but is also engaging and creative.

“This is sure to be an incredible tool for Women’s Aid groups across Scotland in supporting women, children and young people recovering from domestic abuse.”

A Storyplay Champion Mum:

“It really has a good impact on them, it really really helps them, its helped them to communicate with other friends through the programme. They are able to do a lot of things, they are able to have confidence in their selves again. They really enjoy every bit of it.” Mum, Cardonald, Porridge & Play Online

Read a blog from Big Porridge & Play:

Hear from families & professionals: