Freewheeling events in 2002-2003

WEEK 1 – Mon 28^th July-Fri 1^st August 2003. 10.00am-12.00pm

Dunsford Village Hall

 Activities: Circus skills, Felt making, drama games, puppets out of scrap, craft session.  

 Evaluations done on the Friday with a total of 18 people.

 COMMENTS:

Monday: Circus skills

It was really fun and cool. This was an excellent workshop, lots of fun for all ages, thank you. I liked the Diablo and the show best.

Tuesday: Felt making

I loved today because I got wet messy hands. The best part of today was getting all soapy. I enjoyed making your own felt for you to take home.

Wednesday: Drama

I liked the family photos. I really enjoyed today, I thought it was fun. The parachute was the best. I really liked the idea of the story with sound effects and sculpting the people into things.

Thursday: Scrappy puppets

Good fun and very engaging and relaxed. I loved the morning as the children could use their imagination to make something to keep. I really enjoyed making the puppets, good fun. I liked the puppet show.

WEEK 2 – Monday 4^th August – Friday 8^th August. 10.00am-12.00pm

Kingskerswell Parish Rooms

 Activities

 Evaluations done on the Friday with a total of 26 people.

 COMMENTS:

 Monday: Circus skills

I did not like balancing the plate because it kept falling, but I was also not good at it, but thanks for a good day. I hated juggling. I liked the peacock part and plate spinning and the show at the end. I liked just about everything.

Tuesday: Felt making

I liked making my own felt, I really enjoyed today because we got all messy.

Wednesday: Movement and clay.

The exercise I thought was a bit tiring. I found exercises extremely boring. I enjoyed the clay modelling, I like making my snowman.

Thursday: Scrappy workshop

I enjoyed everything, I liked making the rain tube. I had a great time.

Friday: puppet making

See jam jar evaluations above.

Photos...Puppet making and felt making

WEEK 3 – Mon 11 August- Friday 15 August – 10.00am-12.00pm

DENBURY VILLAGE HALL

Activities:

 Evaluations done on the Friday with a total of 22 people.

 COMMENTS

"Inspired, this will fuel Finlay’s imagination for the rest of the year!"

"I loved the stories and banging the drum."

"I liked making up my own story today."

"Excellent stories and fantastic teller"

"It was wicked and the stories were great"

"Stuart has really enjoyed the whole week, he says Clive is a really good storyteller."

"My son will never go to anything, but he loved this week, it was good to see him participating."

"I enjoyed acting out the stories it was really fun."

"We had a lovely time."

WEEK 4 – Monday 18 August – Friday 22 August

Ogwell Memorial Hall 

Activities:

 Evaluations done on the Friday with a total of 7 people.

 Comments: 

Monday: scrappy workshop

I liked it because it was all made out of junk. I liked it because you can do what you want. I liked it because you can make stuff

Tuesday: Felt making

It was fun doing the pictures and I liked seeing the colors really liked it but my wool sheet had lots of holes. I liked putting the soap on best. I think today was great, I liked the soap and because I love art and I loved this. I think that the felt thing is a really good idea. I like making things, I had an excellent time. I liked it all especially making it all soapy and getting it wet.

Wednesday: shadow puppets

I liked doing the puppet show best. I thought this day was brill. I loved making my sea horse and watching everyone's show. All of the helpers were very friendly to me. 100% brill. I think it was great making the shadow puppets.

Thursday: circus skills

I liked doing the spinning plates. I liked everything. I liked the spinning plates, but I thought Monday and Tuesday was much better.

Friday: drama games

Loved the exploring of their senses, brilliant!! I liked the staff and teachers today, I had a great time, I think the whole week was brilliant, I would recommend it. I liked where you act the picture. 

Photos... at Ogwell 

WEEK 5 – Tuesday 26 August – Friday 29 August

Christow Community Hall

Activities:

Evaluations done on the Friday with a total of 20 people.

COMMENTS

"I liked doing the play. I liked music making. It was great. I liked everything thank you. Great fun. I think it was really fun."

"The venue is big and modern but soulless."

 Freewheeling Further

Summer 2003

 Play Days

Held every Wednesday of the summer holidays from 12.00pm-4.00pm. On each day a large marquee was put up to house children's workshops and performances. The Native American Tipi, which contained a quiet space with books and toys, soft cushions, rugs and beanbags. Two bouncy castles and various other side activities.

 We had a team of 7 playworkers and 3 young volunteers who were on site at 10.00am to set up. They ran workshops, gave out information, did evaluations, gave out balloons and then packed up at the end of each day.

 At various venues we worked in collaboration with Surestart Teignmouth and Dawlish, Mini Surestart Buckfastleigh and Homestart. Zero14plus also attended most events with balloons and a badge machine.

 Day 1 – Courtenay Park, Newton Abbot

 In the marquee we had childrens workshops: clay modeling and badge making by Tepee, kites and wind socks by Sara Roberts, toy making from ‘Bob and Bob Jobbins’ and craft by Steve Newton (http://www.artworksplus.org).

Performances:

This was our busiest event of the summer with about 500 children attending throughout the afternoon.  Homestart had laid on some coaches from Buckfastleigh and Teignmouth, our two local Surestart areas, so this helped to boost the numbers.

Everyone worked flat out until almost all the materials had been used up.

A great start to the summer.

Photos - Courtenay Park, Newton Abbot

  Day 2 - Dawlish Warren 

This was National Play Day, so we worked in conjunction with Surestart Dawlish and Teignmouth, who also donated 1,400 to the day. We had a similar line up as above, plus Catherine White doing some sea sculptures with the children on the beach and Devon @ Play came with their painting factory.

Surestart provided play activities for the under 5’s with sand, water, sticking activities, they used the tipi for a sensory area. We also had a wonderful stall of fruit from the healthy living campaign.

It was one of the hottest days of the year and we were expecting thousands of people to be heading for this popular holiday resort. However many people were passing by on their way to the beach, so throughout the day we had about 350 children come through.

The beach resort staff were very helpful with the technicalities of providing water and electricity, tables and chairs and the stage.

Tepee and Surestart work very well together, and have organized quite a few events now, so everything went very smoothly.

 Some Photos...

Day 3 – Victoria Park, Buckfastleigh

 This was a smaller park in a small town, in an area of social and economic deprivation. Although there had been a few family fun days locally, this would be different because it was free, and totally child focused. At this one it was felt that the workshops should take precedence, giving children the chance to participate fully.

Workshops: clay modeling, badge making, scrappy days workshop, toy making, an outside weaving enclosure from Living Colours and a drumming workshop by Drum Crazy.

Performances: 2 circus skills and magic shows from Roddick Entertainments.

 The day had a slow start, but gradually picked up. The local holiday play scheme attended and in all we had about 200 children throughout the afternoon.

 Some Photos of the day...

Day 4- Ashburton Recreation Ground, Ashburton

 This is a play area that is very tucked away in a town slightly bigger than Buckfastleigh. It could not be seen from the road, and people who were not local found it hard to find. Access for people delivering to the site was a bit difficult. The toilets in the park had been vandalized and were closed to the public, and the refreshments van due to come didn’t turn up. We also had a performer who didn’t arrive, so we filled in with some extra drumming sessions. The workshops and activities were the same as for Buckfastleigh.

We did wonder if anyone would find us in the park, but word had spread and we had about 150-200 children at the event.

There was some feedback about it not being advertised in the town, but posters had been put up in shop windows and on notice boards. Posters were also sent to the Ashburton Family Centre and the Town Hall.

Photos of the day...

Day 5 – The Den Teignmouth

 Our last event was on Teignmouth sea front, (where National Play day was last year)

This again had the same line up of activities as Buckfastleigh and Ashburton, with the addition of The Really Wild Encounter.

We had about 300 children to this event, some holidaymakers, but mostly people who had heard about it from Surestart or our previous events. Some came who had been attending the play activities in Denbury and Ogwell.

The day went very well, and although quite windy was very warm.

Some photos of the day...

And finally...

If you would like a Freewheeling session in your area, or your play club, contact Tepee to discuss your requirements.   

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Last modified: October 02, 2008