Swish, Swoosh, Splosh!

Hello!

Last week I shared a few activities that are available in Southampton for young children at my favorite places, City Art Gallery and my Local libraries this Autumn. Today we went to the City Art Gallery to watch 'Swish, swoosh, Splosh!' that I mentioned in that post! 

I am so happy that we went! The day was not inviting at all, as it was really raining,  so it was so much inviting to stay in and just slumber around... However, it is not always that we have an aooportunity to go for free to the theatre, so we gathered the wellies our umbrellas and adventured outside and off we went, to the City Art Gallery! And I am so glad we did! This show was really educational activity besides entertaining. It ticked all the things it advertised it would do, plenty of interaction, makaton, multi sensory play and it really taught the children about the dangers of plastic to the ocean life.

Unfortunately, I was not able to take many pictures of the event, firstly because there were loads of children there... and secondly because my children were inquisitive and  asking for my attention... Still, I was able to get some quick shots:

The decoration was simple but effective, there was not doubt that it represented the sea! Both Kidos quickly made the connection, and were able to follow the story and all that was happening. The was a clear connection of colours used in the set, although subtle. All plastic and human things were orange, while the rest was mostly blue and green. Even the actors when portraying human roles where using the black t-shirts with human splashed in orange... When portraying the animals, not only they were using the puppets as they would dress up in blue and green outfits.

The event started by offering the children little paper fishes for them to colour, that would later on be part of the set:

This was an excellent activity to start the show, as it engaged us, the audience as part of the show preparation!

The story was really simple, the main characters were Olive the turtle, Blue the sting-ray and Dotty the fish, all puppets and really cute puppets! They all lived in the coral reef and attended the coral community centre for several activities!   These activities were all opportunities for the actors to engage with the audience, there was Bingo!, Zumba, and a Quiz. All the children were eager to answer and participate in everything. 

During the show there was loads of music, and if it was cheerful and happy when the main characters were happy, the tone changed to a little more eerie when any form of plastic made an appearance in the coral. Both my children quickly learned that the animals were in really danger when the plastic was around, the could misunderstand it for other animals, and be trapped in the nets. This story shows all this through the use of the puppets. Olive the turtle got caught in the net left by humans...And only humans could help Olive in the end. Children quickly volunteered to help the turtle, and lift the net! They also helped to clean the ocean off the plastic. The actors also used makaton when telling the story, so I was also to pick up some sign language. 

The story was simple, and I know that my children were understand the dangers of plastic. On the way home they were still talking about it! The event also gave the audience several ideas and activities to do with the children re-using plastic, as making little fishes out of plastic bottles, or kites out of plastic bags.

Overall this was a good event! Hoping that the City Art Gallery will be offering more of these!What about you, how did you spent Saturday?

Looking for activities for your children to do in Southampton?

I have a few suggestions... I hope you find them useful!

The new academic year has started and alongside so did my search for activities to do with the kidos. Not everyday we have free activities available as #RailOpenDay... ! 

I am always looking for different activities for my children to do, as diverse and nearby as possible! And.... that don't put a hole in my wallet... With Autumn, even though the splashing on poodles is a favorite pastime for them both, there's a limit to do this and we do have to diversify and find activities to do indoors. Having two kids with different ages, as my oldest will reach 6 this year and my youngest 3, keeping both entertained and busy can be a challenge. And again, I have to be sensible budget wise. It can be expensive to go to enjoy soft play everyday... However, I do have some go to places that can offer activities for heir different needs and preferences, and mostly that are free or not so expensive! One is my very own favorite, my local library!

I have been creating a schedule with weekly offers from my local libraries. I have discovered for a while now that  local libraries were offering 'story times' and 'rhyme times' for the children. 'Rhyme time' is designed for the younger ones, it's basically a singing group for children younger. 'Story time' as the name is indicative, a story is read by a staff member or a volunteer to the children attending the session.  These singing and reading activities are pretty handy when I am feeling uninspired about what to do with my little ones particularly during raining days since they are happening indoors. 

Since the library also has other spaces for reading, drawing and even playing, even if one of the kids is not so much into the session there are other things for them to do. In the meantime  I also can also find some new reads for me! win-win!  

I am sharing this schedule on my post and I hope you can find it helpful:

Library Activities

Do keep in mind that I found these schedules at the Southampton city council website, so if you are using it, do check with your local library beforehand. For my local library they were correct, but I cannot be certain that they are for all libraries. Also, bear in mind that unusual circumstances may force some sessions not to happen.

These sessions are free to attend...., and they are also  great to meet parents with children similar age as your kids. Most people who attend these Rhyme and Story sessions do so regularly, so in no time you can find yourself chatting with other parents.

The city art gallery is my other favourite go to place for activities to do with my children. During the Summer we went there for several artistic activities! That was where the Big drawing event happened too.

This Autumn term the City Art Gallery is  offering every third Saturday of the month the 'Mini Monets' club. This is happening from 11Am to 12PM on the 21st of September, 19th of October, 23rd of November and 21st of December. However, these sessions are not free and you also need to Pre-Book. The 'Mini-Monets' are sessions for children from 2-6 years, where they can explore the gallery and get messy! I am trying to go to these sessions for some time with my youngest. 

Once I am able to attend, I will write on my blog about our experience! These sessions are designed for children to explore, they will be using lots of materials and methods to create art pieces. A plus about this is that I don't have to clean up any mess my kid made afterwards! My youngest is quite keen on experimenting with paints, the  messier he gets the happiest, so  I am expecting these sessions to be perfect for him. I am becoming more reluctant in enabling this messy play at home, mostly because of either the huge amount of cleaning I have to do or the huge amount of control I have to do, to prevent the art play to get out of hand. So, I am really excited to try these sessions with him. I always endeavour to enable his creativity and since I am aware that I am not allowing the paints out as much with him - they are pretty much hiding at the moment - these sessions are a great alternative to enable his 'artistic flair'.   

If your child is older, the City art gallery is offering 'The Young ones' sessions, for children from 7-13 years. They can discover several art techniques as monoprinting, wire working, clay, mixed media and more. These sessions are happening from 10:30Am -12:30PM on the 28th September, 26th October, 16h November, 14th December and 11th January. Dress for mess in either session! These sessions are not free unfortunately, and pre-booking is essential. Find more here.

The City Art Gallery is also offering a one-off event on Saturday, the 12th October, from 11:00AM to 11:45AM: 'Swish, Swoosh, Splosh', theatre for children under 6 years. This event is free to attend, however you need to Pre-Book.  I am quite curious about this theatre experience, and will definitely attend with my youngest. It is advertised a 'playful multi sensory exploration of life underwater and the positive ways in which we can reduce plastic in the ocean'.  I am  quite curious and excited about how this will be materialised as a children theatre play. Find more here. 

I hope these events helped you and you children! Do you have a favourite go to place to have some fun with your kids? Do let me know!

Our half term: We went on a bear hunt!

How was your half-term? I know this was a couple weeks ago, but it has been really difficult to sit down and update my blog. Nevertheless I am catching up more often than use to!

Our half-term was spent at home, but we were able to do a lot of activities... The local libraries and our local art gallery were offering diverse holiday activities for both toddlers and young children. I do try to be creative and to come up with crafty things for both kidos to do, but if I can have the fun and have less mess up to clean up afterwards, the better. So we went to our local library, we read lots of books... And for crafty things we went to our local art gallery and made some pinatas! However,  our favourite activity was attending for the very first time the Nuffield childrens' theatre, which was featuring until the 2nd June 'We are going on a bear hunt'!

The kidos absolutely loved the show, and to be honest so did mummy! The activities and the excitment began even before the show. The Nuffield theatre prepared an actually 'bear hunt', a treasure hunt really. We could ask at the ticket office for a map to look for bears around  Highfield Campus. My oldest was so excited to follow the map and find the bears! My youngest, its just fun to run around tailing his older brother! The actual 'bear hunt' was a fun way to release some energy before the show! And it was also educational, not only had my oldest to read a map, as the bears had letters and we had to form a word. And after finding all the bears and the missing word, it as theatre time!

The show was really engaging, with catchy songs  -  which until today are sang 'we are not, not not, not not scared!'

The dog was absolutely delightful to hear sing, extremely funny  and so very expressive therefore it became instantly the favourite character for both kidos: wof...!

I was concerned that since my youngest since he is only two, that staying for almost an entire hour watching a show might be too pushy, particularly since he is really active. However, as the show was full of surprises, splashes and so engaging that the  hour went on a flash, and both my oldest and youngest were attentive following the show. The actors  began by asking what does a bear look like, which every kid was so excited to answer and explain... The contributions were dutifully noted... Nobody has seen a bear live did we? 

 Every now and then in the middle of the show we could hear a bear roar. A footprint was also found! All kids were eager to let dad, girl and boy about it! This kept my kidos inquisitive, so where is the bear? Did you see the footprint? Mummy did you hear a bear? Unsurprisingly, the best part for both was when we finally met the bear. My youngest screamed with delight when the gigantic Teddy Bear made his appearance on the stage.... He could not stop saying 'Its a bear' 'Its a big bear' 'Muuuuummmy its a bear' he was so happy! 

We all loved this show... And we are definitely going 'On a bear hunt' when given the opportunity again.  Here is a sample of the show:

Since we enjoyed going to the theatre so much we are also making plans to watch another show! Actually, it was the kids that when seeing the 'Gruffalo' said that wanted to see that show as well! And we most certainly will!

xx