October Holiday Activities

We were delighted to return to work with two groups of families through our Holiday Activities and Food programme this October. Through this programme we deliver a range of creative learning activities, visits to creative and cultural sites across the city and healthy meals for all participants.

Our programme is different to most providers in that ours is specifically aimed at families who are seeking asylum or have refugee status and are currently in temporary accommodation in the city. 

This October we delivered seasonal activities, the first day with each group was spent drawing, painting and mask making! With discussions of Halloween but masks of all kinds being made including: butterflies, love hearts, rainbows and our favorite wrestling masks! 

It was so nice to return to work with the families after spending the summer with them. Many of the children had grown, developed new skills, become more confident and made new friends within their buildings. They instantly remembered us from the summer sessions and children and families alike were happy to see us back with more activities and days out for them to get involved with. 

‘Thank you both for your big hearts and for bringing joy to our flat. Your kindness and efforts to help the kids are truly appreciated, even if my son thinks he's too old to play, he is only 9’ 

- Parent, Burrows Court

‘ Thank you so much for coming and offering these experiences to our children, it really means a lot to my two children, they miss you when you are not here and really look forward to seeing you again’ 

• Parent, Burrows Court 

' Please, can you come everyday, and take us on more trips? We love it when you come here!' 

- Child, Burrows Court

On the second day each group visited Green’s Windmill and Science Centre! The team there welcomed us to the site and led brilliant bread baking workshops. Children of all ages and parents enjoyed this experience together. The staff delivered workshops for each group, giving them more of an opportunity to learn new and explore existing skills, and an understanding of where food comes from and how ingredients are sourced and produced. 

The children learned about the milling process of the flour that they used for baking, that happens inside the windmill. The activity was particularly pertinent for families from one of the sites, as these families are not able to cook their own meals and instead meals are provided for them daily. In the workshop parents and children worked together to prepare and bake their own bread. Children mixed, shaped and baked their bread - creating all sorts of shapes, words and patterns, some wrote their names, with others made stars, footballs and volcanos! While here they also learned about the history of the Mill and explored the Science Museum, Windmill and Community Garden. 

We played ‘Go find it’, hide and seek and football In the Community garden to get some fresh air and run around. Some children particularly enjoyed looking at the Jelly Ear fungus that was growing in the garden and made up stories about the logs listening to our conversations using the fungus as ears.

Back inside we painted each other's faces with monsters, film characters and favorite animals. Children were excited to have their faces painted and were even more excited when they could paint each other's faces for Halloween or just for fun! 

We only had a short time with the families over this half term but it was lovely to see them all again and see the changes in the children. We have now started a regular after school club with one of these groups, as part of our Creative Sparks Programmes, so we are looking forward to seeing them every week during term time and then again in the holidays over the coming months!

We already can't wait to return with our Holiday Activities and Food programme in winter when we have a special festive surprise for all of the families!