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Freckly, dishevelled and forgivably nostalgic newsletter, July 2017

Hey!

We have found ourselves in the middle of the most glorious summer imaginable, and boy are Hahahopscotchers having a lovely time!

First things first, let us tell you about the dates coming up this summer where you can come and play with us.

HahahopscotchAllyPally201622nd July 2017, Alexandra Palace Summer Festival, Alexandra Palace, Alexandra Palace Way, London N22 7AY
We will be leading our favourite Traditional Garden Games from 12-4pm at this fabulous all day festival. See you there!
http://summerfestival.alexandrapalace.com/

29th July 2017, new Camden Town Brewery launch
Camden Town Brewery, Enfield, London
We are tickled pink to be providing lawn games at the launch party of the new Camden Town Brewery, hic. Admission by ticket only, available at
http://www.camdentownbrewery.com/about/new-brewery/

8-10th August 2017, Claremont Landscape Garden, Portsmouth Road, Esher KT10 9JG
4 sessions per day, £5.50 per session – booking required, via Claremont. We will be running Georgian Garden Games with the National Trust at this 18th century landscape garden.
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/claremont-landscape-garden/features/princes-and-princesses-week-at-claremont-landscape-garden.

23-24th September 2017, Fenton House Apple Weekend,
11-5pm,
Hampstead Grove, Hampstead, London, NW3 6SP
£3.50 per child, drop in. We will be running Giggly & Greenfingered children’s gardening activities at this lovely autumnal event, growing something special to take home.
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/fentonhouse

If you can’t manage any of these dates but would like to enjoy a Hahahopscotch playtime, we would love to be invited to your summer fairs, corporate events or private parties, and don’t forget that grown-ups enjoy our games almost as much as children. We love being outside on a generous grassy lawn but can squeeze into a smaller corner if needed.

BattledoreandShuttlecockNew old game alert

We have a new old game! Battledore and Shuttlecock was the precursor of badminton, much loved by folk in the 18th century. Players knock a shuttlecock between themselves using small-headed rackets … it’s surprisingly tricky but trials have shown that mini-Hahahopscotchers are getting the hang of it pretty quickly!

What have we been up to?

Since the last of these extremely intermittent emails (so much more jolly to be skipping outside than chewing our pencils at a desk), we have been having so much fun, so do let us share some of the highlights.

Our Giggly & Greenfingered gardening sessions have been super-popular, allowing us to make hundreds of new gardening friends, all of whom have taken tiny pots of horticultural joy home with them. Many thanks to Canary Wharf, where we made mini Canary Wharf gardens, Fenton House where we had a blast planting autumn bulbs, and Borde Hill where we unleashed specially spooky plant pots upon the unsuspecting children of Sussex.

We have also been delighted to take our Traditional Garden Games to some utterly gorgeous locations, such as Gatton Park in Surrey, the Alexandra Palace Summer Festival in North London (back there July 22nd – see you there), gorgeous Borde Hill in Sussex, and the Vauxhall Trust St George’s Festival. As we reach more and more 21st century urchins with these special games, will there soon be calls to make hoop rolling into an Olympic sport?

YouTube fame(ish)

We are so proud to announce that with the help of a small modern IT goblin, even us old-fashioned Hahahopscotchers have managed to get ourselves a YouTube channel. Do take a look at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoHO82XTt_-s8yHOo_V6NdA to see some of our games in action.

Got a good cause?

We’re softies at heart so offer up to 2 free sessions each year for good causes who we would love to work with but don’t have the budget for frivolities such as sack races. Last summer we were pleased to be able to donate an afternoon of Traditional Garden Games to Bohemia Walled Gardens in Hastings, who opened as part of Heritage Open Days. Do drop us a line if you have a good cause but no pennies.

Something to play at home…

I’m back off out into the sunshine now, but thought you might like to have a go at this game from the London streets of the 1960s, reported in Children’s Games with Things, by fabulous Iona and Peter Opie, which can be called Scrubby, Four Square or Fish & Chips:

“You have four square and you have four people, one standing in each. You have two people over, in case anyone is out. You draw a ring in the centre and write OUT in it, and if anyone lets the ball bounce in the ring he is out. In square 1 you write PORK, in square 2 PIE, in square 3 FISH, in square 4 CHIPS, an in square 4 you write CHAMP as well. The person in square 4 is the champ. The champ bounces the ball and hits it to someone with both hands, and that person must hit it to someone else. You have to pat the ball with two hands, not one. If the ball bounces twice in anyone’s square they are out and one of the spare people goes in and everybody moves round one square except the champ who stays in in square 4. If the champ is out then the person in square 3 is the champ.”

We hope to see you soon!

Linden x

linden@hahahopscotch.co.uk

Do please stay in touch by Liking our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/hahahopscotch or Following us on Twitter at @hahahopscotch

 

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Here’s the serious-face bit: you are receiving this having filled in a ‘keep in touch’ postcards, booked on one of our events, or given us your details for some other reason. We hope you will want to receive this newsletter as a way of keeping up-to-date with events we are playing at in your area, but all Hahahopscotchers know that life is too short for crossness, so if receiving this email makes you feel even the teeniest bit grumpy, please let us know and we will take you off the mailing list immediately.

 

 

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Newsletter wot we writ

Been a bit busy ironing our 3-legged race ties, but finally found time to scribble a newsletter for our subscribers, and thought you might like to see it too. To be added to the mailing list, please email linden@hahahopscotch.co.uk

HahahopscotchlogoFBFreckly, dishevelled and forgivably nostalgic newsletter, June 2016

Hey! Here we are in Summer 2016, and Hahahopscotchers are bouncing up and down with excitement at the season ahead!

New friends

MartinEmFirst things first, let’s introduce our two shiny new helpers – Em and Martin. Londoner Em has 106 children of her own and a background in nursery work, and Hastings-man Martin does great things setting up Pocket Parks for local communities. We are super-excited to have the both on board to help run our games.

Happy 300th birthday, Capability Brown

This year is also especially exciting for us as it marks the 300th birthday of our gardening hero, Capability Brown. This canny 18th century landscape designer managed to persuade half of England to replace their old formal gardens with his carefully designed pastoral idyll with undulating slopes of grass, serpentine lakes, and clusters of oh-so-natural trees. As a result, there are over 150 Capability Brown parks and gardens still ornamenting our fine country today – and most of what we picture to be English countryside is actually designed by Brown. You can learn more about this superstar in a fun film via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQm3fCJqg1g

In 2016 the world of garden history has decided to make a big fuss of celebrating Brown’s 300th birthday, with the Capability Brown Festival, which is without doubt the most family-friendly I have ever seen the world of garden history.

Time to celebrate Capability Brown, our hero!

Time to celebrate Capability Brown, our hero!

We have put together a Brown-tinted version of our Garden Galavant session, in which we use uniquely silly games to introduce children to the history of gardens. Moving trees, harassing aristocrats, battling Shakespeare… say no more! This will be run, alongside our Traditional Garden Games, at two very special events this summer – at Gatton Park in Surrey on 2nd August when The Gardens Trust (www.thegardenstrust.org) will be hosting Capability Brown’s Birthday Picnic (http://www.capabilitybrown.org/event/capability-browns-300th-birthday-picnic), and at Thoresby Park in Nottinghamshire on 23rd September (https://nottsgt.org/events/) when Nottinghamshire Gardens Trust will be holding a free Family Day to celebrate their relaunch.
We would simply love to see you at either of these days.

Come and play with us!
We are touched that lots of you have chosen us to entertain nippers at your children’s parties, but there are also lots of events this year to which the general public are welcome, and we would love to see you there.

18th-19th June 2016, Bloom & Grow Festival,
Canary Wharf, London E14 5AB
Join us for Giggly & Greenfingered children’s gardening throughout the day at this Festival, where we will be making Canary Wharf-inspired gardens to take home. This event is free of charge.
http://canarywharf.com/arts-events/events/bloom-grow-18-june-2016/?instance_id=

23rd July 2016, Alexandra Palace Summer Festival,
Alexandra Palace, Alexandra Palace Way, London N22 7AY
We will be leading our favourite Traditional Garden Games from 12-4pm at this fabulous all day festival. See you there!
http://summerfestival.alexandrapalace.com/

2nd August 2016, Capability Brown’s Birthday Picnic (with The Gardens Trust for the Capability Brown Festival), 11am-3pm
Gatton Park, Reigate, Surrey RH2 0TW
Children and grown-ups from Gardens Trusts and beyond are invited to come with a picnic and enjoy Traditional Garden Games, a child-friendly explore-tour of Gatton Park, and special Garden Galavant activities to see just how much fun garden history really can be.
Tickets are £8 grown-up, £8 child, £20 family (1 adult, 2 children).
Booking recommended at: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/capability-browns-birthday-picnic-tickets-25522968887?aff=ebrowse#tickets

28th August 2016, Vauxhall Gardens Summer Festival Sports Day,
Vauxhall Gardens, London SE11 5HL
Traditional Sports Day games, with commentary from the brilliant Freddie Rushton. Entry is free, so join us for sack races, British Bulldog, egg and spoon, tug of war and more!
https://vauxhalltrust.wordpress.com/summer-festival/

11th September 2016, Bohemia Walled Garden Heritage Open Day,
Bohemia Walled Garden, Hastings, East Sussex TN34 1ET
Sack races, 3-legged, egg and spoon, hoops… we’ll be playing all the favourite Traditional Garden Games in this fabulous historic kitchen garden!
http://bohemiawga.weebly.com/

25th September 2016, Nottinghamshire Gardens Trust Family Day for the Capability Brown Festival, Thoresby Park
Thoresby Courtyard, Thoresby Park, Nr. Ollerton, Newark, Notts NG22 9EP
Traditional Garden Games and the Garden Galavant to share the fun of very very very old gardens!
https://nottsgt.org/

1-2nd October 2016, Fenton House Apple Weekend,
Hampstead Grove, Hampstead, London, NW3 6SP

£4 per child, drop in
We will be running Giggly & Greenfingered children’s gardening activities at this lovely autumnal event, growing something special to take home.
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/fentonhouse

If you can’t manage any of these dates but would like to enjoy a Hahahopscotch playtime, do please bear us in mind for any summer fairs, corporate events (you’d be surprised at how well our games work for adults!), or private parties that you may be having. We love being outside on a generous grassy lawn but can squeeze into a teeny tiny yard or living room if needed.

Fame at last

Hahahopscotch was started by me, Linden, as a way of sharing my landscape historian’s love of gardens with the next generation. When not mucking around with eggs and spoons, I do have some quite sensible things to say, and was delighted to find a platform in The Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/gardens-to-visit/the-duchess-of-cambridge-opens-hampton-courts-magic-garden/) this Spring, commenting on Hampton Court’s mind-boggling new Magic Garden for children. The article talks about the princGHSChildren'sPlayLeafletcoveriples of providing for children’s play in historic gardens without resorting to better-in-a-shopping-centre play equipment, and allows me to make the point that opportunities for play can be weaved through a garden visit, rather than being stuck in the playground. If you’d like a copy of Beyond the Playground, the booklet I wrote on the subject for The Gardens Trust, do please email info@thegardenstrust.org

 

 

Something to make you smile…

Before we say ta-ra, allow me to share this fabulous painting with you, from which so much Hahahopscotch inspiration comes! (Pieter Bruegel the Elder, painted in 1560.)

Brueghel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We hope to see you soon!

Linden x

linden@hahahopscotch.co.uk

 

 

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We’ve gone Capability crazy!

Time to celebrate Capability Brown, our hero!

Time to celebrate Capability Brown, our hero!

It’s happening! No really, it is! Yes! No kidding! It’s 2016 and suddenly garden history appears to be quite The Thing, thanks to the Capability Brown Festival.

Ok, so that opening might have involved something of an exaggeration, but surely you’ll at least grant that this year the general public is relatively interested in historic gardens?

Capability Brown was the canny 18th century landscape designer who managed to persuade England’s movers and shakers that they wanted to replace their old formal gardens of topiary and geometric lines with his carefully designed pastoral idyll with undulating slopes of grass, serpentine lakes, and clusters of oh-so-natural trees. As a result, there are no fewer than 150 Capability Brown parks and gardens today that you really should see. In a nutshell, you know those bits of the English countryside that are simply too beautiful to be true? Well, they are … they don’t look that way by a happy accident of nature… Capability Brown made them, every last inch.

Anyhow, in 2016 the world of garden history has decided to make a big fuss of celebrating Capability Brown’s 300th birthday, and so has gathered together to offer you the Capability Brown Festival. Researchers are poking around in dusty archives to find out every last jot of information about Brown, there is fresh work to research the 21st century threats to his precious landscapes, and of course, there are oodles and oodles of irresistible opportunities to visit Brown parks and gardens and get up to some serious fun.

For me, this year is particularly exciting because it is without doubt the most family-friendly I have ever seen the world of garden history. At last!

Trembling with excitement, I have put together a Brown-tinted version of our Garden Galavant session, in which we use uniquely silly games to introduce children to the history of gardens. Moving trees, harassing aristocrats, battling Shakespeare… say no more! This will be run, alongside our Traditional Garden Games, at two very special events this summer – at Gatton Park in Surrey on 2nd August when The Gardens Trust will be partnering Hahahopscotch to host Capability Brown’s Birthday Picnic , and at Thoresby Park in Nottinghamshire on 23rd September, when Nottinghamshire Gardens Trust will be holding a free Family Day to celebrate their relaunch.

We would simply love to see you at either of these days, and do skip over to our Diary page – www.hahahopscotch.co.uk/diary – to see the other events in historic gardens we are running this year.

Lsignature

Linden x

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Freckly, dishevelled and forgivably nostalgic newsletter, June 2015

Currently we are trembly with our own importance at having produced the first Hahahopscotch newsletter. We thought our blog followers might like to see it too, so here it is. If you’d rather receive it via the email mailing list, just drop us a line at hello@hahahopscotch.co.uk

HahahopscotchlogoFBFreckly, dishevelled and forgivably nostalgic newsletter, June 2015

Hey! This is Hahahopscotch’s first newsletter, and we are very squirmy and excited about it, especially having even written it on a computer rather than with crayons. All our fingers and toes are crossed that at least one of you Hahahopscotchers reads it!

19th century writingsmall

We are utterly thrilled to find ourselves needing a newsletter! 

Hahahopscotch was born only a few years ago when landscape historian Linden Groves decided to stop nagging other people to get children interested in gardens and history and to jolly well do something about it herself instead! And here we are now, changing the world one bounce at a time via a heady mix of sack races, seed planting and, of course, a healthy helping of jelly babies.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAAre you on the very edge of your seats wanting to know when you and your children can next enjoy a bout of Hahahopscotch?

Do please please come and help us celebrate Open Garden Squares Weekend at the Brunel Museum, Rotherhithe, on Sunday 14th June when we will be in the gardens playing Traditional Brunelish Games such as Isambard Kingdom Brunel would have enjoyed in the 19th century. Organised by the brilliant London Parks and Gardens Trust, Open Garden Squares Weekend is a fabulous opportunity to get out and enjoy some of London’s lesser-known open spaces, so do pop along and join us. Our games will be a 45minute burst of energy from 3-3.45pm for £5, and booking is recommended at www.midnightapothecary.designmynight.com

Then we are delighted to be back at the fantastically raucous Vauxhall Gardens, Vauxhall, for their Summer Festival on 11th and 12th July, when we will be treating all and sundry to free games and a taste of garden history, thanks to the splendid efforts of the Vauxhall Gardens Trust. Details at http://vauxhalltrust.org/

After that we will be skipping off for private party bookings during the summer so the next chance to catch up is in October when we will be returning to the gorgeously gorgeous Fenton House in Hampstead for Apple Weekend on 3rd and 4th October 11-4.30pm for drop-in Giggly & Greenfingered gardening fun where for only £4 children (or the young at heart) will be able to make and sow a unique pot of pea shoots to keep them topped up on their 5 a Day. Details in due course at http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/fenton-house

 

 

Giggly&GreenfingeredpartyJan15fbDon’t forget you can book us for your own party

If you can’t manage any of these dates but would like to enjoy a Hahahopscotch playtime, do please bear us in mind for any summer fairs, corporate events (you’d be surprised at how well our games work for adults!), or private parties that you may be having. We love being outside on a generous grassy lawn but can squeeze into a teeny tiny yard or living room if needed.

Back in January we ran a Games & Gardening party for a ten year old birthday, and look how beautiful the pots we made still look, months later (Thanks to the kind mum for thinking to send us the pic!)

 

A little something to keep you going

Time to sign off, now, but before we go, here’s a little marble game called Pyramids that you might want to try at home, taken from my gran’s treasured copy of Winifred Wilson’s Playground and Indoor Games for Boys and Girls of 1910:

“In pyramids, the marbles are piled up into a cone, and a circle drawn round them. Every time one is hit so that it rolls out of this circle, it belongs to the markman who effected the movement. Whoever takes a shot has to pay a marble for the privilege. Sometimes several roll out of the circle, when he has them all.”

 

Thank you so much one and all for your support as we grow from a tiny seed to a slightly less tiny seed – it is very much appreciated.
Linden x

linden@hahahopscotch.co.uk

Do please stay in touch by Liking our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/hahahopscotch or Following us on Twitter at @hahahopscotch

 

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Waist-High World

This week two of my children have been given hearing aids by the marvellous NHS. It’s been striking that adults have tended to greet this news with a sympathetic sigh, whilst children have tended to exclaim ‘awesome’ and get down to the business of seeing what they can do. And the wearers of the aids? These boys, aged 4 and 10, think they are simply fantastic!

This has reminded me that children don’t always perceive things in the way us grown-ups do.

So let’s move away from hearing to another sense – sight. Back in 2012 I crouched down next to our beloved hearingly-challenged toddler in order to make myself heard above traffic noise whilst waiting for the Green Man, and was unexpectedly bowled over by the view…

…wow, the world is BIG!

Kind of exciting, kind of scary, kind of …. different from my usual adult perspective!

This revelation inspired the launch of Waist-High World – a collaborative photography project between me and my offspring. Basically, they take photos, and I marvel at how familiar situations look completely different when seen through their eyes!

Like all the best things in life, Waist-High World is first and foremost a fun project, but it also gives the kids a sense of freedom, importance, pride and creativity. And it’s given me a whole new understanding of the How and Why behind the workings of their amazing minds!

Last spring we had the opportunity to go on one of the trendy new London buses. I suggested the children take photographs to record the moment, but it turns out they were looking at smaller details than I had expected – stairs, floor, seats!

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Time to play, time together, time to remember

The best moments are for sharing

The best moments are for sharing

 

Laughing, exploring, admiring, learning, celebrating, imagining, racing, jostling, striving, mooching and simply messing around … all the important bits of childhood are so much better when they’re shared.

Sure, there’s plenty of room for those necessary moments of quiet, solitary reflection, but we’re sociable folk by nature, and no more so than during our earliest years.

Ringaroses

Coming together for a game of Ring a Ring a Roses, early 20th century

Childhood friends – you can’t beat them. Some may stay with us until adulthood, maturing though gap years and stag weekends to build a bond for life. Others may be fleeting, an unexpected burst of fun and friendship in the park one day, never to be repeated. But you can be sure that both will make lasting impressions on young minds and are the stuff of precious memories.

Hahahopscotch runs traditionally-inspired play sessions and each lasts for less than an hour, so children are brought together for little longer than the blink of a twinkly eye. But there is something truly magical about the way that they arrive as strangers, to be transformed during the hurly burly of sack races, merriment of egg and spoon and comradery of tug of war into a group of playful allies.

HahahopscotchOrangesandLemons

Oranges and Lemons … and a gaggle of chums

Our Hahahopscotchers may never see each other again,  but for 45 minutes they come together as a giggly wriggly team and that’s a wonderful, memorable experience that is definitely special for being shared.

Some times are simply better spent together.

T2B_6

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Hahahopscotch goes hoopy!

We have hoops!

We have hoops!

Happy hoopy days, Hahahopscotch has taken delivery of some brand new wooden ‘Victorian’ hoops.

You know the things I mean – think ringleted child with knickerbockers and stern governess, think lovely garden terrace with child and hoop running along it., think hoop being obediently controlled by child and stick.

Hoop rolling is surely one of the oldest games we have – even the Ancient Greeks and Romans had hoops!

 

And just look at my all time favourite painting, of a whole street of children playing in 16th century Holland … hoops!

 Children's Games, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1560


Children’s Games, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1560 

But there is a shock! Rolling a hoop with a stick turns out to be much harder than it looks in all those pictures. I unpacked mine with great delight and scampered off with it expecting to display great urchin proficiency … but no! The hoop has a mind of its own and is not at all the obedient slave I had expected, and the stick is no where near as all-conquering as it looks.

Some serious hoop rolling practise lies ahead!

 

 

We shall be unveiling the Hahahopscotch hoops this autumn, but in the meantime, I shall be practising frantically!

(Come and have a go with our hoops – Hahahopscotch Traditional Autumn Garden Games, Ardkinglas House and the Woodland Garden, Cairndow, Argyll, Sunday 27th October 11-145am, £4.50/child – http://www.ardkinglas.com/9/35/Whats-On-/at-Ardkinglas.html)

 

 

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Let’s get crafty

Confession time … I’m a craft-phobe.

Impossible gorgeous crafty creation from Ella Betsy Boo

This is disappointing, because craft is super-great for children’s development, making a huge contribution to their hand-eye coordination, artistic expression, concentration and problem solving skills. And they do so love it, too. Sigh, but I can just never get the glue in the right place, or care sufficiently about the details, or sit still long enough.

Fortunately, help is at hand, because brilliant Katy Stoddard from ella betsy boo is coming along to the next Hahahopscotch session at the Brunel Museum (1st September, 2-5pm, London SE16 4LF) and will lend her artistic talents to make it a special craft-themed day!

So, our Traditional Garden Games session (2pm) will include an opportunity for the children to make their very own bunting and flags, Adventures with Brunel (4pm) will see Katy turn her hand to homemade and very authentic Brunel costumes for each child, and Giggly & Greenfingered (3pm) will be all about scarecrows. And once I knew scarecrows would be involved, even I relaxed.

Scarecrows I can do – they’re outdoorsy, permissibly messy, and there’s no right and wrong way. Hurrah! And then, through the medium of the scarecrow, the craft penny finally dropped for me… Katy is making beautiful scarecrows using all of her enviable crafting skills. But there is no other way to get a scarecrow. You can’t buy one – it is inherent in their very essence that you need to make it yourself. (It’s funny, the centuries have seen most things go from being homemade to shop bought, but scarecrows seem to have risen above this and remain bespoke, private creations.)

Now I get it. Craft isn’t simply about impossibly artistic people making lovely gorgeous things. It’s also about Making It Yourself, a concept with which I am familiar and comfortable. As a principle to pass onto your children, making things yourself is a longstanding human skill that is both sensible (saving money, being self-reliant) but also fulfilling (taking pride, developing a Can Do attitude).

And one thing is for sure, I’m going to treasure my homemade ella betsy boo bunting!

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If you go down to the woods today (yup, it’s time for a Teddy Bears’ Picnic!)

 

“That’s the way the Teddy Bears have their picnic”

 

 

I was determined not to start this blog entry with the words ‘if you go down to the woods today’ but that is simply impossible.

Hahahopscotch is going to be playing Traditional Garden Games  at Wicksteed Park’s Teddy Bears’ Picnic (apparently, they’re hoping to break the world record for over 35,000 bears!) and ever since I found out, those words have been sticking in my head with even more tenacity than jam on small people’s fingers.

 

We recently held our own little Teddy Bears’ Picnic (an intimate affair involving only 3 children and a humble 24 bears) and it was such a hit with even my surely-soon-to-be-grown-up-and-sophisticated nine year old boy that I was moved to ponder the attractions of this pleasantly silly pastime.

1)   The magic of a ceremony

The ritual of choosing loved bears to invite, of transporting them and the picnic to a destination (even if it be the back garden), spreading out the rug and arranging any foodstuffs somehow adds sparkle to what is essentially a process of eating a sandwich in the outdoors with a cuddly toy. Suddenly,  you have created a magical occasion.

2)   Being the host with the most

Most of a child’s time is spent being orchestrated by a grown up – where to go, how to sit, what to eat …  and whether it’s ok to have sticky fingers. But during a Teddy Bear’s Picnic, the child takes on the role of host, overseeing the situation and calling the shots (“At six o’clock their Mummies and Daddies will take them home to bed ’cause they’re tired little Teddy Bears” … how often do kids get to make that decision?!).  How splendidly empowering! There’s not much can beat the wonder of seeing a child absorbed in making sure their bear is comfortable, of offering round the juice, and of making sure the entertainment is up to scratch, whilst you sit back and enjoy the moment.

3)   Pizzazz of Place

It doesn’t matter where you choose as a location – garden, park, meadow or living room floor  – because for the duration of the Teddy Bears’ Picnic it will be transformed, by the unstoppable power of imagination alone, into ‘The Woods’ where “beneath the trees where nobody sees they’ll hide and seek as long as they please”. Who knew that there might be a swarm of bees hiding behind the telly, or that in the corner of your garden there might be a lonely woodland cat wanting to join in, or that the local playground contains so many invisible but magnificent trees?

Apparently, the Teddy Bears’ Picnic lyrics were written in 1932 by an Irish songwriter, Jimmy Kennedy. Perhaps these two remember the occasion…

So next time you’re out for the day, or even trapped indoors on a rainy afternoon, do please consider inviting along a stuffed but splendid friend!

(Hahahopscotch will be at Wicksteed Park’s Teddy Bears’ Picnic on Saturday 29th June – http://www.wicksteedpark.co.uk/events.aspx?eid=1416&eDate=29/06/2013)

 

 

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Hahahopscotch is off to the Chelsea Fringe

This half term break we’re doing a couple of rather jolly play days in honour of the fabulous Chelsea Fringe Festival and as I’m telling everyone else, there’s no reason why you should be last to hear.
(Excuse the smug smile btw, but we bagged the No1 slot for Top 10 half term activities!http://londonwithchildren.co.uk/top-10-half-term-activities-in-london-for-children/)

The Chelsea Fringe is the upstart little cousin (complete with an impertinent sense of humour and grass-stained knees) to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Over the years I have come to find the grown-up Show a little too polished and rather hard to relate to (children are as welcome as a dandelion in a lawn), whereas I couldn’t resist the Chelsea Fringe’s ‘have a go’ attitude …  so here we are!

On Sunday 2nd June Hahahopscotch will skip off to the Brunel Museum in Rotherhithe, London, to hold hands with Lottie Muir as the Cocktail Gardener and entertain nippers with a set of three wriggly play sessions whilst their parents sip exquisite plant-based cocktails in the museum’s roof garden.

Here we will be running:

2pm: Traditional Garden Games: sacks, egg and spoon, and particularly paper aeroplanes
3pm: Giggly & Greenfingered: a very special gardening session in honour of the Chelsea Fringe Festival, where we will be creating our very own (miniature) show gardens. Gold medals will be awarded, à la Chelsea Flower Show, and participants can take their gardens home with which to impress grandparents and neighbours alike.
4pm: Adventure with Brunel: this time we will be looking at trains, with a giant train construction project. Choo choo!

Sessions will amuse children of all ages, and cost £4.50 each or £12 for the afternoon. No need to book, but places are not unlimited!

This gorgeously lovely afternoon is a regular first Sunday of every month booking, but for Chelsea Fringe it has been given a cheeky twist – as well as the children’s gardening homage to the RHS Show, Lottie will be serving a new cocktail tested by no less than Alan Titchmarsh on t’Chelsea Show telly!

http://www.chelseafringe.com/event/midnight-apothecary-2/

Come and have a Chelsea Fringe bounce at Coram’s Fields on 28th May, or Brunel Museum on 2nd June (Photo: Paul Debois)

On Tuesday 28th May I’m running Hahahopscotch’s Traditional Garden Games at Coram’s Fields in Bloomsbury, London. Coram’s Fields is a brilliant little park, run by a charity for hundreds of years as a sanctuary for children in our capital. Originally, in 1739, it was part of a Foundling Hospital for children who really had nowhere else to go, but now it’s more simply a lovely family-friendly space in the middle of a bustling city.

My nerdy landscape historian aim is to prove that children can be entertained in a sensitive historic environment such as this, much in the manner they have been for centuries, without relying on modern and often ugly play equipment. But the children will of course be oblivious to this, just knowing that they’re having fun – sack races, tug of war, wheelbarrow races … do come!

http://www.chelseafringe.com/event/hahahopscotch-traditional-garden-games/

 

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