Birdsnest Theatre visited two Yeovil schools performing their inspiring and engaging theatre show - Blown Away and then hosted an interactive workshop exploring small worlds, adventure and what you can create with a duvet, pegs, string and a soft toy!

Local school children at both Fairmead Special School and Oaklands Primary School enjoyed the opportunity to watch the engaging piece of theatre about a story of a young boy who goes on an adventure of flight. The story explores friendship and the power of the imagination. Over 120 children helped the main character throughout his adventure and at the end of the show the children were asked to draw anything that they saw, felt or images that filled their own imagination.

Teachers expressed their enjoyment of the performance, the participation and watching the children’s reactions.

Teachers and those working in Early Years settings were then invited to a training opportunity to explore some of the themes from Blown Away. The workshop included looking at the relationship between the story, space and materials.
Teachers from Fairmead Special School, Oaklands Primary School and Oaklands Pre School, Yeovil College Children’s Centre, Nunny Pre School and Marsh Lane Day Nursery all worked together to form their own mini installations including narrative, characters and imagination!

The participants expressed their enjoyment in widening their own imagination and learning new skills in taking everyday objects and creating mini worlds. Objects including pillows, duvets, pegs, string, soft toys, torches and paper were all used to create four different worlds and contrasting adventures!

Everyone had great fun creating their mini worlds, characters and stories and the workshop created many thought provoking ideas in using play and story telling to take back to the classroom. For more information on InspirED at Take Art and to find out about more events in early years click here.