#getcreative

i’ve recently been part of a team of derby museum facilitators working at the derbyshire county council’s #getcreative event for children and young people.  used to working outside or in derby museums to run loose parts sessions, working in county hall, matlock was going to be in part a cpd event for me.

the loose parts session based upon the derby museums’ steam tots programme started the day off with complimentary creative / making activities throughout the room.  in the afternoon was an older age group making an electronics project with several complimentary activities.

reflecting upon working in an empty office i can say that with a few tweaks of the furniture the space turned out to be a really good one for the 8’s and under to play and explore the loose parts.

we had time on saturday to set up.  i was seeing the room for the first time and it didn’t take me long to adapt the steam tots session plan to the available space.  i positioned the loose parts as small pockets of parts for the children to discover.  this would also greatly be appreciated by any transport schemas that we might have with us on sunday.  i easily had enough parts for the space,  our earlier visit to the derby play and recycling centre had proven to be a real success.

on sunday we knew each session would be for 25 people, split between children and young people and their adults.  for the size of room this number was spot on.  each session was for two hours and reflecting upon it we had enough things to do to provide the participating children and young people with a full two hour experience for both sessions.

the cpd aspect for me came from the placing the familiar session in to an unfamiliar setting and working with children with tools i had not previously observed to build an understanding of prior to their using tools.  i drew on my forest school background to do this and it created a safe place to work and let their abilities and enthusiasm set the pace at which they worked.

before the event started one of the team said it would be a rewarding day.  for me a really unexpected reward was a boost to my belief in my own abilities.  i’d gone into the day feeling a little uncomfortable and it turned out to not be so, quite the opposite in fact.  i’m looking forward to the next opportunity with derby museums to do something that takes me out of my comfort zone as i see this is the point at which i respond and #getcreative.