Licketyspit https://www.licketyspit.com/ Firing childrens imaginations Mon, 19 Oct 2026 16:25:57 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.1.4 https://www.licketyspit.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/cropped-top-right-logo-32x32.jpg Licketyspit https://www.licketyspit.com/ 32 32 143557081 Picnic & Play : CULTURE in GLASGOW https://www.licketyspit.com/picnic-culture-goma/ Mon, 19 Oct 2026 15:54:40 +0000 https://www.licketyspit.com/?p=21117 Discover what’s free to do with your family in our city! This October holiday Licketyspit families from Maryhill and Castlemilk hubs joined Picnic & Play CULTURE at the intriguing Glasgow Gallery of Modern Art also known as GoMA! GoMA is a fantastic free museum where you can go to discover [...]

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

This October holiday Licketyspit families from Maryhill and Castlemilk hubs joined Picnic & Play CULTURE at the intriguing Glasgow Gallery of Modern Art also known as GoMA!

GoMA is a fantastic free museum where you can go to discover exhibitions of paintings, drawings, sculptures, installations, videos, and digital art by artists from all over the world – including of course many of the most exciting new artists in Scotland. The people at GoMa want everyone to come and be inspired by art and to think and talk about it! They want GoMa to be place for people to gather, to learn and to share creative ideas.

At the very top of the Gallery, on the 5th floor there’s a fabulous Studio. All the walls are covered with paintings in the most beautiful colours. The view from the giant windows of the Glasgow rooftops is exciting!

We were welcomed by Chloe who works there. Chloe was great at telling us bits and bobs about the impressive building, the artworks and about the ways an artist’s imagination can get going…in fact….it turns out Storyplay is a perfect way to get everyone inspired to make Art!

We got in our circle to warm up, play a fun Name Game and a round of Funky Chicken –

‘My name is Evie and I like to paint’

‘My name is Abu and I play football‘

‘My name is Violet and I like to sleep’

‘My name is Arvin and I like animals’

 In the circle, Chloe asked everyone –

Have you ever done a drawing?

Have you ever painted?

Have you ever used clay or plasticine? Or taken a photo? Or filmed a video?

Well…if you answered yes to any or some of all of this questions…YOU ARE AN ARTIST!

And with this thought in our heads, we blew up a Magic Ball, opened the zippers, climbed inside and decided to go into the imaginations of the artists in GoMa…

Magic Ball, Magic Ball, take us where we want to go!

Ice cream balls existing with no cone

that never melt, never go old.

A giant foot that could be a sofa

Or is it the foot of a huge giant woman?

A cow that can also be – a vase

With golden udders and a colourful face!

Plates and cups engraved with the words

Of grown-ups and children who call Glasgow home

 A corner of kindness, respect, love and hope

With art made of clay or thread, glass or rope

 A tiny wee world surrounded by mushrooms

A piece made of shapes, wild colours and angles

A painting that looked like many people dancing

With a tiny baby somewhere smiling

 A circus sleeping, quiet in the night

A million ideas, questions, thoughts and chats

Our minds were bursting with inspiration!

We ran back to the Studio to begin CREATION!

 A HUMAN SCULPTURE? That concept sounds great!

Sculpture your Dad, your Granny or pet!

Mould your pal into any position!

Use dressing up to add definition!

Give your sculpture a name or a title

like ‘See you Next Year’

‘Funny Clown’ or ‘Daddy Rainbow’

 And after sculpting we drew about today

about our adventures with Storyplay!

Our Art Gallery felt double good

Here at GoMA – art, play, pals and food!

Nerea, Andre, Taz & the Licketyspit families

 

 

 

 

 

 

Licketyspit Art Gallery

‘This is when I dressed up and I was a sculpture, I was a clown, I put the floor because the colours around us are so beautiful… I put a lot of hats on. I am wearing glasses, and the name of the sculpture was the Funny Clown… I liked eating the food.. I would like to come back again…my second picture has 4 different pictures, the first has three eyes, the second has two eyes, then another two and another two…’

Haaris

‘I am dressing up my daddy as a sculpture; it was called ‘See you next year’. I haven’t been here before and I hope we can come back again, maybe even every day.

 On the second picture I drew all the things I put on my daddy’s head.’

Yulia

‘I made cups and plates and some faces, and I combined them with the colours of the ceiling and the walls of the studio. I loved the cups and the plates very much’.

Rumaisa

‘Water and rain, and I’m in the picture as well, I am in the rain, jumping in the puddles. I really liked the food. I have a treasure chest in the house and I am going to be a pirate’ 

Violet

‘I drew the GoMA, I wrote ‘always happy’ and ‘we are all different’. I also drew the traffic cone statue outside the museum…I have been here before, when I was at my nursey and with my school. There was one picture that said fight negativity with positivity and that is why I wrote always happy in my picture’.

Arvin

‘I drew daddy as ‘Daddy Rainbow’ and planets and my name as the sun…I felt very excited when I was making it.. I make sculptures at home, and I do art that then I stick on a piece of paper, I loved the giant foot that was a sofa too. I will find a piece of paper and add a lot of detail at home and stick it on’

Evie

‘This is a rainbow, and this is my mother dressed as a strawberry, then my mum dressed me up like a carrot. I also drew a bird, a flying bird, and a tree with apples. You can make apple jam. I liked the ice cream’.

Mali

ABU –‘We did a challenge, we drew a face, then drew another one without lifting the pencil, then one with the our eyes closed and then one with the left hand…  CHLOE – ‘Abu did it with me. We also did a challenge where we were getting less and less time to draw the same thing’ ABU – ‘I saw a huge abstract painting and I didn’t like it; I could do that!!! That annoyed me a bit.’

 

Abu & Chloe
Visit the Porridge & Play Page
Come & Play!

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!

What’s Happening?

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

Volunteer with us

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

The post Picnic & Play : CULTURE in GLASGOW appeared first on Licketyspit.

]]> 21117 Picnic & Play : CULTURE in GLASGOW https://www.licketyspit.com/picnic-culture-zoology2/ Mon, 19 Oct 2026 14:40:45 +0000 https://www.licketyspit.com/?p=21084 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 [...]

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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.

What an incredible place to STORYPLAY – we had a warm up and we played a round of The Name Game as families had come from Maryhill, Cranhill and Bridgeton and is always good to remind each other of our names and then…

 Do you know The Funky Chicken?

What did you say??!!

We were at the perfect place for animal inspiration…

Annemarie came up with the Very Cheeky Cat

Gabbie was a Flying Xolotl

Heather created a Stompy Seagull

Maya went for the Fluffy Cat

Dressing Up got us all thinking about becoming Explorers with different specialities – which means that you are an expert at something – and so they became…

Explorer Cleopatra, Speciality: Crystals  – that was Gabbie!

Maya, Speciality: Dinosaurs and red pandas

James,  Speciality: Bears and under the sea

Explorer Marjorie Marbles, Speciality: magnificent creatures – that was Annemarie!

 

All these experts roamed around the Zoology Museum in search of knowledge, adventure and facts we could share with each other later –

Heather – the huge Tuna fish is real, but it’s painted and it was found in a fish market in Glasgow!

 Rita – I found that the python snake can grow up to 3 feet long and is the biggest in the world!

Gabbie – I found shells!

Malak – I found an Indian elephant!

Arafa – I saw a fish that I have seen in real life when I was a child in Sudan – the dog fish! We didn’t eat it, but we would dig a big hole and put water in it and get the dog fish there and sing a wee chant ‘Dog Fish! Dog Fish!’

James & Yulia – we found out that the big snake is the real scale of it!

Annemarie – I found out something that I didn’t like ..… it turns out that the colourful, beautiful butterflies are usually the male ones! The female is drab looking so they don’t attract attention to themselves so they can lay their eggs safely without being disturbed!

 Maya – I found out about the Elephant Bird and how it is a legend really – there wasn’t a bird as big as an elephant!

How inspired were our Reflective Drawings in such a space and how we laughed during the Licketyspit Art Gallery sharing our feelings about the Museum and our time there!

A fantastic Picnic & Play CULTURE day out in one of the very many FREE museums we are lucky to have in our city – where will we go to Picnic & Play next?

Sarah, Andre,Taz & the Licketyspit Families

Licketyspit’s Art Gallery

‘I drew my favourite things. One of the beautiful beetles and my favourite shell. The unicorn horn shell. I meant animals that live in shells. I found coral. I liked everything!’

Gabbie

‘This is a house and this is the people sitting on the carpet. They’re speaking and eating. Liked the ostrich.’

Mairiam

‘That‘s the snake over there. That’s the giant snake. They’re my favourites. Do you know the smiling snake?’

Rita

‘That’s the giant elephant bird and that’s the giant squid. Those two were my favourite. Maya said she wants to add the elephant’s skull and the crocodile to her picture.’

Maya

‘It’s a defensive bee. So basically, it can attack. It’s got a sword on this side and nunchucks on the other and a gun.’

Heather

‘At the beach there are 4 people. A ghost, a tiny person, an axolotl human person and a ball with a belt on. I enjoyed the silly birds. I found a crocodile.’

Yasna

‘That’s a bat and that’s a spider and a sea whale.’

Malak

‘A dragon. Six seven dragon.’

Abakr

‘A spider crab, Dad said.’

Yulia
Visit the Porridge & Play Page
Come & Play!

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!

What’s Happening?

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

Volunteer with us

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

The post Picnic & Play : CULTURE in GLASGOW appeared first on Licketyspit.

]]> 21084 Picnic & Play : CULTURE in GLASGOW https://www.licketyspit.com/picnic-culture-zoology1/ Fri, 16 Oct 2026 15:53:25 +0000 https://www.licketyspit.com/?p=21052 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 [...]

The post Picnic & Play : CULTURE in GLASGOW appeared first on Licketyspit.

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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 whistled a Singing Robin.

We played our Storyplay games, dressing up as scientists and explorers to roam around the museum to see what we could see! Learning fascinating facts, reading descriptions and observing creatures so close that our imaginations were running wild!

Not surprisingly our Licketyspit Art Gallery was  – phenomenal –

Aila – I made a snake, like that one over there in the corner, because I like the patterns. That’s the other snake I like. That’s the butterfly – Rose. That’s the croc. That’s the deer. I liked the squid cos it’s so big.

Abisha- I liked the snake because it was so big and it looked easy to draw. It’s going to rest up the tree and when something climbs up of the tree it can eat it. I liked the turtle because it was big. I liked the bee cos it was easy to draw. I liked the squid and the snake

 Mohammed. – I drew a bee cos when I was in the insects area , I found a bee and a butterfly, and I decided to draw both. I enjoyed the animals, I like looking about at the animals and reading the facts about them.

 Evie – This is the butterfly and the narwal. It’s all the different colours. I drew a colourful one instead of a white one. It’s my mum, dad, me and my cat. The sun. I liked all the inspiration and the butterfly I saw in the drawer.

Violet – This is a ladybird and that’s a cat. That’s a pattern and the sun. That’s a cat. That’s the ocean. I liked the butterfly.

Arvin- I put some of the animals, like in the forest. Fish. Anteater. Ostrich. Bird droppings. The Onyx. I liked when we were looking at the animals.

Mali- Butterflies with colours.

Aleen- A sad bee. It has a broken antenna. It’s me. That’s a big one. It’s this one.

Scott- A snake called Alan who’s a part-time postman. A moth and a Lacewing.

Lina- Butterfly and Ladybird.

Qurrat- The snake was fascinating for me as it can swallow a whole human. The squid and Mother earth. The turtle. The museum.

 At the end of the day Lina said – ‘I found this place wonderful! I felt like I was watching National Geographic ‘Animal Kingdom’!’ and Ghada said – ‘I enjoyed with my sons. All was fun and a new place to explore about animals and little insects kept in side drawers! It was really fantastic and amazing to find out such a great museum in Glasgow Uni. A huge thanks to Ruth and Licketyspit for this nice day. And the food was delicious!’

Evie said ‘I had a fun day! and her mum Emma and Dad Scott said –‘We had an awesome day’. Another Mum said‘Imaginative, fun and amazing. Kids love it. So do I’.

Violet and her Mum Claire said – ‘Fun! We love the animals!’

This was a fabulous day out in one of the very many FREE museums we are lucky to have in our city – where will we go Picnic & Play next?

Sarah, Andre,Taz & the Licketyspit Families

Licketyspit’s Art Gallery

Visit the Porridge & Play Page
Come & Play!

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!

What’s Happening?

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

Volunteer with us

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

The post Picnic & Play : CULTURE in GLASGOW appeared first on Licketyspit.

]]> 21052 Porridge & Play MARYHILL is back at CCH! https://www.licketyspit.com/maryhill-march-2026-1/ Fri, 04 Sep 2026 11:25:22 +0000 https://www.licketyspit.com/?p=19572 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 [...]

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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 new and not so new LOVED dressing up in the Licketyspit way – we don’t dress up in a costume to be just one character, we take old clothes and we combine them to transform ourselves into many different guises and today we were PIRATES!

Meet Pirate Potato, Pirate Carrot, Pirate Pizza, The Clown, Pirate Piano, Pirate Alloa, Pirate Strawberry, Captain Seas, Captain Purple, Captain Precious and the world famous ARRRRGGH Captain!

We scrubbed the deck and aye aye’d to our hearts content – A Haaa!

Then we sat round our big great table full of delicious fruit and bread and cheese and we enjoyed a tasty Carrot & Coriander soup.

A fantastic first session for the current Maryhill Hub families who left home smiling and wondering where they could go next on a Flying Balloon…

See you all next week!

Andre, Ruby, Virginia & Taz

Maryhill Art Gallery!

READ SOME OF THE ARTIST’S COMMENTS FROM THE LICKETY ART GALLERY:

We’re trying to fly up in the balloons, I saw some ducks that are swimming, 4 ducks.

Thrishitha

happy dog. I enjoy with the costume one and the balloon

Rohini

this a boat and spiderman, he’s going to work. This is speed! This is a turtle swimming.

Shriyansh

this is the balloon, this is a heart, this is like 10, this is 8, this is the rainbow, this is not me. THIS is me

Xiya

stars – princess miss berle

Arushi

rainbow (climb the rigging ladder!), a whole sunny adventure

Mali

me – looking for my friends

Waheed

ok so this was when we were playing the pirate game and I wasn’t a pirate I was a king, that’s my cloak and I got one of the pirates and blood was coming out.

Zac

so that’s mum and that’s a frog and that’s a shark and zac has already been eaten. That’s me I’m on a ship; I’m just getting on it. I liked being a pirate – Pirate Potato!

Zoe

me! with a purple balloon) me, ‘my brother’, mummy, dad and granny!

Yulia and Penny

it’s me and it’s mummy, cars, don’t know where we’re going!

Violet

That’s me, that’s maya and that’s the dressing up box, that’s a window

Rita

In Partnership With

Visit the Porridge & Play Page
Come & Play!

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!

What’s Happening?

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

Volunteer with us

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

The post Porridge & Play MARYHILL is back at CCH! appeared first on Licketyspit.

]]> 19572 Maryhill Storyplay Games – The Exhibition launch! https://www.licketyspit.com/summer26-gamesexhibitionlauch/ Thu, 20 Aug 2026 11:29:16 +0000 https://www.licketyspit.com/?p=20751 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.   [...]

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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, everyone got to see all the brilliant giant and small photographs all over Community Central Hall!

“This place is amazing like you get to play with your mum and your dad or anyone that’s in your family playing these games has helped me find out that I can do more stuff than I think I can do. Being with your friends and your family is great”  – Child

“It also the place that everyone can feel belonged to this community and emotionally relieve the stress and feeling lonely. Even children can make new friends, also the adults can meet new people which help them to improve their language skills, make them confident in their daily lives. I feel super confident with others, they become part of my family!”  – Parent

A most excellent launch of a fantastic Exhibition that continued until the 15th of August for the public to enjoy.

We hope this unique Exhibition can have a further life and share this celebration of children, families, play, multi-culturalism, optimism and joy with even more people!

Thank you from us all at Licketyspit!

Visit the Porridge & Play Page
Come & Play!

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!

What’s Happening?

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

Volunteer with us

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

The post Maryhill Storyplay Games – The Exhibition launch! appeared first on Licketyspit.

]]> 20751 MARYHILL STORYPLAY GAMES 2026! https://www.licketyspit.com/summer26-storyplaygames/ Thu, 20 Aug 2026 10:06:50 +0000 https://www.licketyspit.com/?p=20726 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 [...]

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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!

Visit the Porridge & Play Page
Come & Play!

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!

What’s Happening?

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

Volunteer with us

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

The post MARYHILL STORYPLAY GAMES 2026! appeared first on Licketyspit.

]]> 20726 Too wet and windy for the seaside – let’s build a seaside here! https://www.licketyspit.com/picnic6-summer26/ Mon, 17 Aug 2026 09:32:33 +0000 https://www.licketyspit.com/?p=20691 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! [...]

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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 created a beach and we set our picnic blankets down and then we Dressed Up for a Beach Parade – lead by Andre we showed off our fab creations made out of bits and bobs and old colourful clothes.

We swam and chilled and surfed and played in the waves of our silky Sea and we turned Andre, Nerea and Taz into Sand Sculptures we could mould and change and shape in whatever way we could imagine!

We even turned the grown-ups into ponies that the children could all have a  pony-ride!

We had lots of nice picnic – eggs and cheese and hummus, tomatoes and cucumber, bananas and grapes then hot chocolate, muffins and biscuits. Yum!

Free play had people drawing together, writing in different languages, running and sliding around and chatting and chilling like a big bunch of pals on a day out but…IN!

Don’t you love it that even in bad weather Storyplay can brighten the day? WE DO!

So even though this was our last Picnic & Play of this Summer we all felt happy and grateful for having such lovely friends to Storyplay with.

I wonder what the Autumn will bring…

Andre, Nerea, Taz & Maryhill Families

 

 

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With Storyplay friends from Maryhill!

Community Central Hall, August 2026

That’s a WRAP!

Thanks to all Licketyspit Families for another brilliant Summer of Storyplay!

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]]> 20691 Bad weather? Nae bother! A Picnic indoors, a fashion show and a birthday! https://www.licketyspit.com/picnic5-summer26/ Mon, 17 Aug 2026 09:01:41 +0000 https://www.licketyspit.com/?p=20678 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 [...]

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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 becomes the next ‘It’! How we all ran and laughed!! It is a great game to practice strategy and speed!

Then Sayeda suggested ‘Train Tag’ – in this Tag game we all become a ‘train’ and must move together to avoid being tagged by the person who is It. A fantastic way to get everyone working together as a team!

We also played ‘Bear and The Honey Pot’ a game that makes everyone concentrate and listen first and laugh and laugh after!

We tucked into our tasty picnic sitting on the ground on big picnic blankets surrounded by the Storyplay Games Exhibition – that many of us were in!!

Children drew and ran around!

Mums dressed up as pure fashionistas!

We ate delicious birthday cake that Prisca had brough brought and we sang Happy Birthday to Samuel and wished Happy Birthday to Abu whose birthday was the next day!

So even when the sun doesn’t shine – Storyplay can!

Andre, Sarah, Taz and  Licketyspit Families

 

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With Storyplay friends from Castlemilk , Cranhill & Maryhill!

Community Central Hall, August 2026

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]]> 20678 A trip to Balloch and a dip in Loch Lomond! https://www.licketyspit.com/picnic4-summer26/ Mon, 17 Aug 2026 08:36:49 +0000 https://www.licketyspit.com/?p=20663 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. [...]

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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 they had a brilliant time climbing up into the trees!

On the way back we had fun on the bus – if you take a wee bag of fun with you any trip becomes entertaining – we drew and read books, we played Snap and also we practiced some magic tricks with a wee pebble from the Loch! What fun things would you pack in your Bag of Fun??

Weeeee! What a LOVELY DAY!

Sarah, Andre, Virginia, Taz & Bridgeton & Whiteinch families

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With Storyplay friends from Bridgeton & Whiteinch!

Balloch Country Park, July 2026

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]]> 20663 Picnic & Play Summer’26 – family trips & outdoors Storyplay! https://www.licketyspit.com/picnic1-summer26/ Fri, 31 Jul 2026 15:59:27 +0000 https://www.licketyspit.com/?p=20618 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 & [...]

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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 sand in our sandwiches!

The blustery day and the sea had made everyone very hungry for our baguettes, cheese,  hard boiled eggs and tomatoes, cucumber, grapes and hummus, Leena’s delicious yogurt carrot dish and later muffins – from Rasha’s Cupcake shop!.

We ran and we chased

And we danced and we played

And we sat to chat

Before some of us discovered a marvellous playpark!

Graeme & Andy were ready with the buses to take us home to Bridgeton – quite a lot of us slept all the way there!

We saw horses and ponies on the way back too – well, some of us did…Abakr & Mariam had a wee nap instead and Arafa, Ghada & Lina chatted all the way home!.

The water was salty

The seagulls so naughty

The sand was sticky

The  chocolate warm!

Oh how we love a day at the seaside with our Bridgeton pals!

Virginia, Sarah, Taz & Bridgeton Hub Families

With Storyplay friends from Bridgeton!

Troon Beach

July 2026

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