TARP!

Making the most of a blustery day with some tarpaulin and some very energetic children.

Kids In A Box

Cardboard boxes are great. Fact. They're even better when you can fit a whole child in them!

Dressing Up

Our neighbors at Theatre Peckham are moving whilst their space is being renovated, they had a big clear out and were kind enough to donate to us lots of weird and wonderful objects. They also gave us a few bags of brilliant dressing up clothes which the kids were really enthusiastic about.

We had princesses...

Skeletons and vampires...

and chefs...

It was a joy to see how the act of wearing a costume had such an impact on the way the children were playing. There was an element of freedom beyond what we normally see, the children were able to become someone else entirely and role play so naturally.

A group of girls created a whole narrative around their costumes and played together for the entire after school session, hardly interacting with an adult at all the whole time they were there.

We also had a team of chefs...

Who worked together in a methodical but messy way to make chalk dinners...

Our staff got into the spirit of things too, here's our happy Play Local elves joining in the fun!

Gender roles were simultaneously adhered to and challenged, with a little girl in a flowing red dress aggressively sword fighting a scary skeleton.

We also had sword fighting lions...

 

Sword fighting chefs...

A frog...

...who became a lion frog...

...then a dead frog skeleton...

...then finally a super scary frog gorilla skeleton chef!

It's easy to underestimate how the simple act of dressing up can help you let go and enjoy the world of make believe. The kids are experts at doing this, so it's nice to now have a big box of dressing up clothes for when they want to become something else for an hour or so.

Thanks again to Theatre Peckham for their kind donations.

The Floating Chair

Just a quick post today to share this fun idea with you. Once again, a lot of tape is involved! (We really should find a tape sponsor...)

A member of staff and one of our young people set about seeing if they can get a chair to float...

It worked!

The kids enjoyed hanging out on the chair

Which was just a little way off the floor

It was also good for a little alone time too!

Play Pieces: October

Here's the latest installment of little moments from the Play Local project. Lots of fun was had, we even were lucky enough to take a group to the London Play Awards during the half term holidays. Here's our overview of what's been happening throughout October:

We decapitated angry frog

Worked very hard as a receptionist

Fitted ourselves into a football bag

Were a bit dramatic...

...and very happy to sit in a cardboard box

Used more tape

Posed in a stack of tyres

Created a time vortex

Decapitated a bunny and cable tied it back together

Ran races

Tied up the chef

Cleaned the windows with a water gun

Used the time vortex as a garden hose...

...with limited success

Made a ladybird from wool

Then used the wool in more mischievous ways...

...which ended in this rather pretty creation

Finally we were very excited about going to the London Play Awards!