Photo by Bill Roberts - see the 'Creativity and the Arts' book below
Dear Friend
Welcome to the Creative Care Package No. 9 - bringing artists and cultural organisations into your home or school to help ignite those little (and big!) imaginations.
Anyone been wondering where July’s bulletin was? Well, unfortunately it didn’t happen for a simple reason. In fact, this will be the last Creative Care Package that Earlyarts will send out. Because it is with great sadness that I have to announce the closure of Earlyarts (UK) Ltd due to Covid-19.
We did try to pay the bills with monopoly money but it seems our suppliers don’t operate on quite the same currency of playfulness. Nonetheless, we can celebrate an amazing 18 years of building our fabulous network (thank you all) and supporting arts, cultural and early years professionals and families to enjoy many creative adventures with their little ones.
During lockdown we have experienced some extraordinarily diverse and creative responses through the arts which have brought comfort, joy, reflection and community. And, to some degree, a semblance of normality, friendship and connection for those who have needed this.
What is abundantly clear to me is that this can only bring new and important changes to the ways we think about our cultures, relationships and educational frameworks in the future. And that the creative opportunities that could emerge on these new horizons cannot be grasped unless time and space is made available for them.
On my desk sits a tiny desert sandal worn by my youngest when she was two. Its other half was lost on a bike ride in a French forest and this one has stayed with me ever since. My daughter is now 16 and keeping it seems a little sentimental, but I can trace the shape of her tiny foot in the moulded foam and bring to life beautiful memories of our adventures together. Just as with Earlyarts, those former tentative steps over new ground have paved the way for more advanced journeys in the future, and I am looking forward to charting new territory both as a parent and as a professional. For now, I will take time to focus on my PhD research, exploring some beautiful treasures in dance improvisation and attunement methods that may be interesting and useful for educators, artists and families in the future.
So, as I sit here researching, writing and editing the final CCP, I am inspired, humbled and moved by the plethora of creative adventures and opportunities still happening despite (perhaps, because of) our economic, environmental, cultural and educational crises. I know that artists and educators are amongst some of the most resilient and imaginative people I have ever had the pleasure of working and playing with. It seems to me that the arts cannot be wiped out by the lack of funding or infrastructure for the simple reason that our imaginations are limitless (although clearly artists and cultural organisations cannot live by imagination alone) and because the arts open up depths of expression, community and connection that seem to reach beyond our problems or limitations.
So, without further ado, whether you are a parent caring for your little ones over the summer or an artist, cultural educator or teacher preparing for a new and very different term, I offer you a glimpse of the creative adventures still thriving and invite you to dip your toe in the water or jump right in to enjoy everything the arts still has to offer. As Grayson Perry said recently in The Guardian:
‘As we come blinking out into the light, now is the time to leave a space in our lives to make art, whether we join a choir, a writing group, a quilting bee, a dance class, set up a studio in the shed or make funny videos on our phones. Make a little nest for your feelings about being alive, nurture them that they may fledge and fly.’
Sending big smiles for all your little adventurers,
Ruth Churchill Dower
Earlyarts' Founding Director
P.S. WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THE EARLYARTS WEBSITE & EBULLETIN?
The plan is for the website to continue at least for the short term so that you can access the creative resources and Ruth’s book. As promised, Earlyarts will never sell or give away its mailing lists without your permission. The ebulletin may change as the IP is transferred from Earlyarts (ltd company) to Ruth Churchill Dower (sole trader and founder of Earlyarts) and we will update you on this in the next mailing. As always, you will be welcome to unsubscribe at any time if it stops being useful or inspiring for you.
For those of you who want to delve in deeper, this brand new book by Earlyarts’ founder, Ruth Churchill Dower, takes readers through the research behind early years creativity – where does it come from, could or should it be measured and what implications does this have for parenting, teaching and learning?
Plus practical methods for exploring different art forms, materials and creative learning environments.
Aimed at educators, artists, professionals and families, this book is an essential tool for anyone wanting to support children’s creativity. Earlyarts readers can benefit from a 10% discount with the link below.
“‘This thought-provoking book is an essential, much needed read. Ruth balances knowledge of the crucial importance of creativity in early years with practical, motivating methods to inspire, challenge and improve practice.’ ”
1. Music and Singing
i) The fabulous Interactive Music Making course is now open to teachers and practitioners who would like to use a child-oriented musical approach to support attuned relationships and strong communication. Due to the current budget challenges, IMM is offering free places through their fantastic Award Scheme, plus £650 to cover/travel AND a free set of instruments! The award is offered to the setting and allows any number of educators to attend for free. Application DEADLINE 21st AUGUST! Don’t delay, apply here: http://www.interactivemusicmaking.org/. Sign up to the IMM Mailing List for info on the next course and Award bursaries here, if you can't make this one.
ii) The mad and lovely Dot and Bernard are appearing on Shabang! Time TV – a new, live YouTube workshop, freely available for inclusive education settings and schools. From Wednesday 9th September, Shabang will be sharing original songs from their vast repertoire designed to be signed and used in special education classrooms, alongside ideas for tasks and art projects. The themes for each session will be available in advance to help with planning, downloadable from www.shabang.org.uk. Subscribe to their YouTube channel here: https://bit.ly/shabangtimetv.
iii) Director of the award-winning Make The Paint Dance, Megan Jowett, is set to keep families singing, moving, making and shaking through her Friday Workshops that aim to increase access to music and art and improve participants’ wellbeing. As well as delving into the imagination of your little ones, these workshops are great for listening and movement skills and growing confidence and creativity through musical exploration. Join in here: https://www.makethepaintdance.com/free-friday-workshops or enjoy Megan’s awesome Birdsong Mashup – a community-inspired musical interlude featuring real bird songs and inspiring children: www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfGV-2_oVCM.
iv) The super Soundwaves are delighted to a practical zoom workshop packed with ideas and resources to use in Early Years music. Featuring two outstanding music specialists - Zoe Greenhalgh, (Note Weavers) and Rachel Thame (Moor to Sea Music Collective), this is an opportunity to learn the most appropriate songs, rhymes and activities to develop babies’ and children’s musicality. Free to those based within the South West, or £10 for those further afield: https://takeart.org/event/the-soundwaves-network-sounding-board-via-zoom-1.
v) Prepare to set sail on a musical voyage with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra’s Sea, Voyages & Hope. This series of workshops will introduce children to making music, taking part in warm-up exercises, and rehearsing two nautical songs to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower’s pioneering voyage. From learning to compose and performing sea shanties to a curated night-time playlist there is plenty to occupy busy minds, supporting families during lockdown, enhanced by free music education resource packs: https://bsolive.com/projects/bso-young-explorers/.
vi) From the acclaimed children's theatre makers, Goblin Theatre, comes The Goblin Podcast featuring original musical stories for the whole family to enjoy wherever you like. Their stories are full of catchy new songs and a lot of fun that will inspire the imagination of all ages. From The Legend of the Jazz Penguin (a musical adventure about a little Penguin looking for her sound) to Hey Diddle Diddle (a celebration of nonsense based on the nursery rhyme) the stories and music are made with a variety of talented actors, musicians and writers. Enjoy your weekly podcast sing-a-long here: https://goblintheatre.co.uk/podcast.
vii) Jessies Fund is a small charity who specialise in creative music making for children with special needs, complex needs or life limiting illness, giving them the opportunity to express themselves through creative music making. Whilst it isn’t possible to take the sessions to special schools, hospitals or respite centres, all families can explore their fabulous, interactive, sensory music sessions here, featuring their highly skilled musicians, signers and singers: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuxkEo5oEam_Na8_9me4XFg.
2. Art, Design, Materials and Mixed Media
i) Over the summer, artist Darrell Wakelam has been putting one art project on Twitter every day just using tape, scissors and recycling stuff that we would have lying around. Each little project has two images, one showing some detailed photos of the result and one that is a step by step 'recipe' card. Search for the tag #ArtJumpstart at https://twitter.com/DarrellWakelam, or download all 50 of them from www.darrellwakelam.com and disappear into recycling heaven.
ii) The wonderful Lakeside Arts have received a message that they can't decipher, some strange symbols keep appearing on our screens and a sound is playing... are they any codebreakers out there? They need help from all amateur detectives with drawing equipment and recyclable materials to solve four mysteries to get to a mysterious place: https://www.lakesidearts.org.uk/take-part-learn/inwithlakeside/undiscovered-island.html.
iii) The multi-talented Little Angel Theatre are back with a whole range of puppets to create, animate and have their stories brought to life. Whether you prefer shadow, stick or paper-plate puppetry, there is enough here to keep every child from boredom – and most adults too! https://littleangeltheatre.com/online-shows-and-activities/. Whilst immersed in your new puppet creations, why not watch their latest, beautiful shows here: https://www.youtube.com/thelittleatheatre.
iv) Super ceramicist Ammie Flexen of The Clay Mill art school together with the fabulous Kathleen Yore of Odd Doll Theatre are creating two ceramic flower installations in Dewsbury and Huddersfield in August. Families and children of all ages are invited to create models that show their favourite outdoor spaces in lockdown and share their stories online so that the artists can incorporate your garden stories into their installations. Watch the videos for ideas and join in here: https://www.facebook.com/Kirkleesgardenstories/.
v) The wonderful Deborah Riding from Tate Liverpool and Kerry Walsh from Clifford Holroyde school have got together to bring you a Creative Summer Sketchbook Challenge for teachers and families to take part in over the summer holidays. It aims to support reflection, creativity, mindfulness and mental health. You can access the first of the six challenges here and then dive in with the other five: https://www.culturepool.org/offers/creative-summer-sketchbook-challenge-week-1/.
vi) From the award-winning Nimble Fish and cultural education organisation, A New Direction (AND), comes a treat for parents, teachers and artists alike: Creative Wellbeing at Home. This new suite of online resources focusses on wellbeing, balance, leadership and creative connection through the arts to help you through these challenging times. Have a go at these activities to help you take stock and recalibrate: https://www.anewdirection.org.uk/what-we-do/schools/creative-wellbeing-at-home. Whilst adults are immersed in this, why not introduce your children to AND’s Summer Arts Boredom Busters: https://www.anewdirection.org.uk/blog/summer-arts-boredom-busters-take-off?
Photo by Ammie Flexen for Earlyarts
3. Dance and Movement
i) After working with the fab team at Edinburgh University on their Move2Learn research project, it is great to see the results of this research put to good use in their new STEAM Charades Covid19 card game. Each playing card helps young children to use gesture or language to talk and learn about the Covid pandemic in a safe, diverse and engaging way. The cards can be used stand-alone or as part of a charades game, downloadable for free: https://www.de.ed.ac.uk/steamcharades_covid19.
ii) Tremendous dance trio, Claire Pring, Jo Cone and Louise Jaggard have created a fabulous, socially distanced, creative dance book. Making a Move is an easy-to-use collection of 30 dance lessons for all teachers and dance artists focussing on well-being and collaborative dance with young (KS1 and KS2) children. To move beyond equipment-based PE and get creative without the hassle of cleaning everything afterwards, download your book here: https://dev.doodledance.org.uk/making-a-move-book/.
iii) The lovely team from Movement Works are running a series of movement sessions for children with additional needs, including Rhythm and Rhyme, Autism Movement Therapy, Yoga with Dance for Early Years, Developmental Dance Movement and Sensory Yoga based on the Yotism Method! Book on and join in here: https://bit.ly/3fZlpFW.
4. Museums and Galleries
i) Imagine what would happen if some rare animals kept in the basement of a natural history museum came to life, got dressed up and escaped for the day in order to to ‘re-wild’ themselves? Experiential museums designer and artist, Lucy Carruthers together with sound designer, Dan Savage, and animators, Silver Machine Studios, have created a beautiful film of these animals‘ extraordinary adventures. Commissioned by Scarborough Museums Trust, you can watch the whole series of Animal Archives: Re-wilding the Museum here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-gck0CM7gVFcsZHMAIcDw/featured and enjoy their summer holiday crafts activities here: https://www.scarboroughmuseumstrust.com/summer-holiday-programme-resources/
ii) 72 years ago, the ship Empire Windrush arrived at Tilbury Docks, Essex. Children, families and teachers can discover how London was changed forever through this fabulous online resource from the Museum of London. Listen to oral histories from children of the immigrants, watch a slideshow of the Caribbean revolutionaries who ended slavery and look through the lens of Charlie Phillips, a groundbreaking photographer who made visible the lives of Black Londoners: https://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/museum-london-docklands/windrush-stories.
iii) The fabulous Orleans House Gallery is offering a new series of online workshops to explore their paintings and sculptures with families and settings called See Saw @ Home. Designed for under-fives and a carer around the visual language of aesthetics – line, colour, shape, texture, pattern, design and composition, mass and volume, and balance – See Saw @ Home activities are carefully designed for little ones to develop curiosity and skills in looking, communication, coordination and creativity: https://www.orleanshousegallery.org/learning/families/see-saw-home/.
iv) The National Gallery invites you to join them on a creepy crawl through the collection. Can you spot some of the bugs and creatures hiding in their pictures? They have searched for some of the tiniest animals in their paintings and unearthed the stories they tell. Enjoy the quest to find the best creatures in all of history! https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/stories/a-creepy-crawl-through-the-collection.
5. Story and Role Play
i) The fabulous children’s theatre company, Branar, have turned their forthcoming shows into a wonderful repertoire of Pop-up Poetry for Lil’ Peeps. Four Irish writers and artists have created new poems and nursery rhymes, animated by artist Maeve Clancy, to bring the musicality and rhythm of poetry, nursery and nonsense rhymes to very young children. Parent and educators are welcome to enjoy these beautiful offerings with their children at www.branar.ie/popup-poetry.
ii) Awesome storyteller, Kevin Graal, is back with another fabulous animated tale as part of De La Warr Pavilion’s play circle. There was a little mouse - a tickle-rhyme for babies & toddlers; Run, mouse, run! - a beautifully illustrated story by author-illustrator Petr Horáček; Tadin - a fun rhyming song about parts of the body: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBmEcNTJPqM.
iii) Award-winning, experimental children’s theatre company, Theatre Rites, has teamed up with the Spark Arts for Children to present Talking Rubbish – a show that helps us discover how to make the most exciting bunch of new friends from all the things we throw away, including puppets, models, pets, friends, robots, rockets. Join the characters of Talking Rubbish here and explore their Recycling Creative Learning Toolkit at the same time: https://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/leisure-and-culture/libraries/summer-of-fun/talking-rubbish/ or catch up with The Spark’s huge range of children’s activities here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6y0fdfvKOI-H-QPnS5haxg.
iv) The wonderful M6 Theatre Company are streaming ten brand new monologues, or Coronastories, written by for young audiences in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Enjoy these 10-minute stories of love and life in lockdown: https://m6theatre.co.uk/latest/coronastories/. Our personal favourite is the beautifully written and performed Bird Behaviour!
v) Multi-media creator, writer, researcher, lecturer and film-maker, Peter Hulton, has created a fabulous storybook and online resource for young children and families to explore together the richness of writing and mark-making through the feeling body and mind. The Magic Lantern Alphabet encourages children to enjoy the strokes and movement of the letters by tracing them to create the story and unlock natural encounters (perfect for touch screen tablet or iPad) helping children to feel and visualise the foundational features of hand-writing. Enjoy tracing your stories here: www.magic-lantern-alphabet.co.uk.
vi) Finally, if you are looking for an excellent way to spend screen time together, look no further than the online children’s adventure, Select A Quest! Written and performed by Olivier-nominated Pins and Needles Productions and award-winning writer Bea Roberts, this interactive theatrical experience will take you through the heart of the Freaky Forest to meet Bigfoot, mutant plants and a swamp monster who works in HR plus many more in a vibrant mix of mystery, silliness and fun, all for one objective – to find the magic whistle before nightfall: www.selectaquest.co.uk.
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The Creative Care Packages are also available on Earlyarts Blog if you want to catch up on previous issues.
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