The juniors have completed workshops in puppet making, clay, sculpture, scrap metal music, dance and drama
September - December 2004
11 th September
9 th October
13 th November
Splat! Xmas Party 2004!
Splat! 2006
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During the three months leading to Xmas SPLAT! was asked to be involved in a project with PVA Media Labs. This was with funding from First Light , who wanted to look at the way in which children view 'work'.
Children are avid consumers of films and potentially each one is a filmmaker of the future. Joining together training and education, First Light is an new project backed by Lottery funding from the UK FILM COUNCIL, dedicated to fostering film culture for young people from all backgrounds.
Children present: George, Scott, Luke, Rachel, Adien, Mia and Sheldon.
First session with animator Jim Price
from PVA media labs working on his project looking at the way children view ‘work’.
Much excitement was planned for the session, Splat! had bought lots of cameras and we were ready for photographic mania. Jim had planned a session where we looked at ‘work’ and what it meant to us. We were going to take photos that would then be put together on a computer to make a animation.
We asked ther children what work was, what things did work? Was it something that you could enjoy, was it easy and did you have to get paid for it! We started off with a discussion and then talked more about the things that we thought of as work. There were guide dogs and rescue dogs as well as the fact that our mouths and hands work and that, as Luke pointed out, our brains are working all the time, even when we’re asleep! Jim wanted to know if we thought that dogs on farms worked and if so how do they get paid and if not, why do they do it? There were some hard questions to answer and the children came back with some interesting ideas. The farm yard conversation led to Rachel producing some great imitations of the animals that you may find there. Sheldon suggested that trees work very hard because they produce oxygen and apples.
We then had to go outside with our disposable cameras and look for things ‘working’. We started off down the street and found that it was full of things working. Cars, people, planes, fire engines, petrol stations, ants, bees, flowers, trees producing oxygen, launderette, swim shop, dog walkers, chip shop and of course us. Phew! George noticed a wasp that had been caught in a spider’s web; this was quite hard work on both sides! The spider was trying to eat the wasp and the wasp was trying to get away and sting the spider. George thought that we should set him free, a nice idea but angry wasps are never very grateful! We left them to battle it out having taken some photos. Jim had a great time recording things to put in his animation and he seemed to think that he’d worked quite hard too! Did anyone take a photo? After all that work we all wanted a drink and biscuits. Last on the list of things to do was a quick game with the bikes which Scott insisted on.
Puppetry and theatre with Joe Gladwin
After such a successful session with Joe the previous week we were pleased to have another puppetry session. The children were still working with the theme of work, but we had to create a shoe box theatre and decorate the inside so that we could create characters that the children could manipulate.
We started by making some simple puppets. Eve liked making the characters and drawing the faces on the finished puppets. We then started some discussion on what work was like for different people and the children created some great stories. The most memorable for me that day was Ryan who chose to describe his character ‘Bob the truck driver’ in detail using Maggie’s office as a base for his busy business. My part was to play the fork lift truck driver, and I had to fit in with the story line. This was directed by Ryan and recorded by Jim. We had to stop ourselves creating a whole hour’s worth of drama on his theme alone!!
It was soon time for break
It wasn’t long before we had to have a small break in the garden to play a game of football. It’s great to be able to enjoy fine weather in October. The boys spent time trying to organize a game football but there was only time for a small session.
Eve and Rachel both enjoyed taking advantage of the fine weather and spent a long time chasing each other around the climbing frame. After the break we had some filming to do and there was hurried sticking to be done to get the theatres ready for it.
Jim helped us use the camera and the computer to take photos which we then printed out so that we could create characters to use within the theatre that we created. The photos were great fun as you could then have a series of characters that you could then use to create a story.
Thomas and his theatre
Thomas created a great series of characters and spent a long time with Jim to record the fight scenes. Jim wanted to know, why given the chance, they always recreate fight scenes. He had to keep reminding them that their characters were only paper and not great in heavy fight scenes.
Eve and Rachel had fun working with Joe to make some puppets and design the box theatre. They both enjoyed taking advantage of the fine weather and spent a long time chasing each other around the climbing frame. It wasn’t long before we had to have a small break in the garden to play a game of football. It’s great to be able to enjoy fine weather in October.
Luke, George, Joel, Scott and Joel.H.
Nick White and PQTC.
Well, what an eventful day! I arrived in the nick of time to find that we had lots of children but no artists. We had thought long and hard about how to make the session creative for Jim. We thought that we’d have Nick to create a story line with the children for the animation. ten o'clock came and went and by now I was a little anxious!
I texted the artists…
I shouldn’t have worried, as we had the table football to keep the children amused and they were more than happy to start an impromptu match.
It was a close game and I don’t know who won!
My phone jumped into action, would you believe that they had both overslept. Nick apologized profusely and promised he was well on his way. Jim was forgiven as things had been a little hectic - so we gave him the week off!
We had to hold the fort! Tim Hender from the Children’s Fund was here to have a look at the project so we decided that what was needed was a giant game of connect four.
This led to a photo lesson and some great portraits!
Perhaps it was the fact that they had help from a grown up! They had to finish the game before they were allowed out into the garden to enjoy a beautiful day on the assault course before tea time arrived!
We had tea early to make full use of Nick’s arrival. Nick has a fantastic way of creating drama pieces.
The children were still discussing the idea of work and looking at what jobs may involve during the course of a day. Fortunately, they all agreed that Artists work hard! Interestingly everyone agreed that being a footballer would be boring after a while - all that training and not a lot of fun! They all liked the idea of being a fireman. George wanted to play the drums, so watch this space for the first splat! band! We acted out some jobs including a lorry driver which Scott liked the idea of.
And then it was time to go...!
Artists - Nick White, Janna Edwards, Claire Hicks, Andy Kirkby and Tiago Gambogi
Maggie Garforth and Nina Squire.
Jim Price – animator.
The children have been working with PVA Media Labs to make an animation on the theme of ‘work’. PVA had been funded by First Light to make a small animation on the theme of work and gave us artist and animator Jim Price. He worked with the children over the three months to take photos of ‘work’ and make those photos along with the children’s views on ‘work’ into an animation.
Just some of the photos that the children took.
We started with the display of the animation, Jim had kindly brought the photos that the children had taken and I managed to make a display in 30 mins… phew!
The animation was fantastic and we hope that we have the opportunity to work with digital media again. The children were fascinated not only by the images but also by Ryan’s fantastic story line which was the theme for the animation. He’s a star! We all agreed that Jim must have worked very hard!
George with Jim admiring the animation. We dicided he deserved a cup of tea!
This year we had a different format for the party, traditionally it’s a Splat! party but this year we invited all the other projects at the Children’s Centre to join in our party. It seemed a shame not to invite the parents along to see the raffle and animation so we opened our doors for parents and children to drop in from eleven o'clock onwards. There were mince pies and a selection of goodies. Yum! We had to keep Nick away from them as he’s got a little weakness for them!
We’d invited Tiago, Janna,Andy, Claire and Nick for the festive celebrations! The artists had all brought along different activities for the children to join in with. Janna came prepared for the children to make festive fairies and Xmas trees,
Claire cards making and Xmas hats,
Andy made a scrap drum kit and some fantastic festive guitars and
Nick and Tiago had plans to make a Xmas bonanza panto and, I suspect, a sneaky game of footie!
We had lots of visitors and it was a wonderful chance to chat both children and to parents about what effect Splat! has had on their children during the last few months.
Brinley was making a guitar with Andy, he commented, ‘ Splat! has helped me make new friends and I especially like the leaders who help me do new things. Andy’s helped me make a guitar; he’s helped me a lot!’.
Brinley’s Mum and Dad were near by and mentioned that they wished it was more than once a month.‘He’s given respect which has given him more confidence, he looks for Splat! on the calendar and really looks forward to it!’.
Evaluation is very important to the continuation of our Splat! project and we are always keen to hear positive feedback from our children and parents. I was pleased to be sat at the table when Mat and Tim were asked by Keith, the evaluator, what they would be doing if they weren’t at Splat!,’ I’d be watching TV at home which is boring on a Saturday. We live in a flat so we can’t always go outside. We get to play at Splat!’. Tim said, ‘the best thing that I learnt at Splat! is how to play with people and make friends!’.
It should be noted that Nick is playing a paint tray guitar made by Andy Kirkby....you saw it here first!
It’s always great to get feedback as positive as that and that’s what we hope we achieve with the project. Tim and Matt’s Dad said he was really pleased that they go to Splat! and that they look forward to it every month, ‘there’s so much on offer and they get to mix with other kids, they sat still for half and hour because they wanted to go to Splat! early!’.
About half way through there was a very loud announcement from Nick and Tiago that there would be festive songs and games in Room 2. They came out with Ryan in front and banging a loud drum to get our attention. A special speech from Ryan got us all listening and we all went through to the room to start the songs. It was great fun and a game of zip zap boing…! had us all warmed up!!
Ryan was very busy but managed to stop for a while to tell me that the best thing about Splat! was ‘it was good fun for getting messy and splatty!’. The Children’s Fund had sent some of their children evaluators along to help with the evaluation process. This helps as the children are able to make the questions more accessible and conversations are more relaxed. I was able to sit in with Tom as he talked to one of the evaluators. His first words as he sat down were, ‘ I love it here!’. He went on to mention that the reason that he enjoyed coming back was that there were people that he had made friends with that he enjoyed coming back to see. Tom also enjoyed the photography and would like to do some more. His Mum was able to comment on the huge change in both his confidence and his mood when coming to Splat!, ‘He’s always keen to get to the session on time!’.
Other highlights of the session was Tiago’s jumping session on the trampoline and of course it wasn’t long before Nick wanted a game of football! It was a beautiful sunny day and there were whoops of joy as the lads raced out for a quick game!
Had Santa lost something?
We were all glad to see that Santa hadn’t forgotten us and he sat patiently by the door as all the children left and had a present for us all!
It was then nearly time to leave. There wasn’t much food left nd the children all seemed to have enjoyed the activities. The artists all lent a hand to the clearing and it was soon time to say good bye! A great session to end the year!
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