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Contemporary art exhibition explored through videos with associated activities.

https://www.tulca.ie/education/primary/activities

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Lots of activities here

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Participant Group:
Children 8 - 10 years, online at home

Artists:
Vanya Lambrecht Ward, Anna Spearman, Martha van der Muelen

Funders:
The Community Foundation of Ireland

Reinventions: Library of Ideas

Welcome to our Reinventions project!

Are you interested in making new toys from old things? Below are 3 great guides to reinventing new things out of old materials that would otherwise end up in the bin.

How to get started:

1. Look at our 3 guides below and choose whichever Reinvention excites you most.

2. Have a look in the Library of Ideas for more inspiration if needed.

3. Start creating: make your own Reinvention using materials you find around the house and outside.

4. Share your Reinvention: email photos of your Reinvention to us at [email protected] and we will add them to the Library of Ideas.

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Reinventions: Library of Ideas - Kids' Own Publishing Partnership

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Participant Group: Children 8 - 10 years, online at home Artists: Vanya Lambrecht Ward, Anna Spearman, Martha van der Muelen Funders: The Community Foundation of Ireland Welcome to our Reinventions project! Are you interested in making new toys from old things?

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Fablefy - mindfulness for kids

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3 Minutes Body Scan Meditation - Mindfulness For Kids And Adults

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15 days of fun play-based activities to help children learn social emotional development, decrease stress and anxiety

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As a parent, you may feel stressed, worried, frustrated, confused, and disconnected from your usual sources of support. Your children most likely have similar feelings, although they may show them differently. It is important to remember that children look to adults for guidance on how to react to stressful events. Talking with children about their emotions, fears, doing relaxation activities with them, teaching them helpful coping strategies, and giving them a sense of comfort can help reduce anxiety. The following simple parenting tips, along with specific activities and games might help you calm down your children, learn how to manage their feelings, and help them feel more secure.

Most activities can be enjoyed with children from age 2 to 6 years, although some are more suited to the older children as well. We hope that both you and your children will benefit. Children will have ways to receive comfort, express their feelings, strengthen their connections with you and others who are physically distant. Children will learn age-appropriate ways of coping with what can feel like an overwhelming situation. Engaging in some of the suggested activities will help them to continue learning and developing healthy adaptations to the world around them.

Take the challenges and share your content on social media using hashtags #LearningAtHome #УчимеДома

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to get updates on the next challenge

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As a parent, you may feel stressed, worried, frustrated, confused, and disconnected from your usual sources of support. Your children most likely have similar feelings, although they may show them differently. It is important to remember that children look to adults for guidance on how to react to stressful events.

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Visual Carlow videos for at home activities

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Visual Carlow videos for at home activities

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Homemade is a new series of activities that you can do at home, with things that you might already have in your house.

Responding to themes, artworks and ideas that emerge from VISUAL's artistic programme, 'Homemade' creates activities for families and young people that can be easily happen at home, on your street, and in your neighbourhood.

Follow step by step videos and PDFs

Winter Crown

Download Winter Crown PDF

Winter Walk Collage

Download Winter Walk Collage PDF

Story Tree

Download Story Tree PDF

Winter Shadow Box

Download Winter Shadow Box PDF

Playdough

Download the Playdough PDF

Recycled Marker Inks

Download the Recycled Marker Inks PDF

Avocado Ink

Download the Avocado ink PDF

Notebook made from one page

Download the Notebook made from one page PDF

Wildflower Weave

You can share your creations with us on our social media channels using #VISUALHomemade, or email them to us at learning@visualcarlow.ie

About the Artists:

Clare Breen is an artist and Curator of Learning at VISUAL. Her practice has material, relational and pedagogical strands that inform and nourish one another. She incorporates a range of collaborative and individual artistic forms to produce objects, meals, conversations, exhibitions and collaborative workshops, that occupy a hybrid space between art and engagement. She is currently based in Carlow.

Siobhán Jordan is a painter and embroidery artist from Carlow. As an educator, Siobhán is particularly interested in helping encourage self expression and building confidence. Her workshops centre on the creative process and on using different materials and art process to encourage sensory exploration, examination of new skills and questioning of ideas. Siobhán has extensive experience working with educational leaders including The Ark in Templebar (A Cultural Centre for Children) and The Butler Gallery in Kilkenny where she was artist in residence at Scoil Naomh Bhríde, Ballyragget and NCAD, Dublin where she works part time as Soft Materials Technician.

www.siobhanjordan.com

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Homemade is a new series of activities that you can do at home, with things that you might already have in your house. Responding to themes, artworks and ideas that emerge from VISUAL's artistic programme, 'Homemade' creates activities for families and young people that can be easily happen at home, on your street, and in your neighbourhood.

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Sketchbooks! Drawing the Drawing Materials

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BeACreativeProducer 40 artist educators adults advice sheets After School Club anatomy animation architecture armature Art and Science Art Rooms in Schools Arts and Wellbeing Assemblage batik Book art Brilliant Makers casting Ceramics charcoal projects for primary children children drawing 6 to 12 children sculpture clay collage colour comics Community Arts

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If you're at home with children, this is a simple idea for a story making game that can be really fun and is a great way to connect and relax together.

Find or make a small bag and fill it with about ten or fifteen little objects or toys from around the house. You can put anything in it, but try to choose a few things that have archetypal qualities. Things like houses, animals, people, gnomes, fairies, witches, trees, bells, feathers or magic stones etc. It can also be good to steer away from recognisable characters as they tend to push children towards stories and characters they already know and that can limit their own imagination.

If you like sewing or drawing you can make a story mat like the one in the picture below. It's really just a few location prompts that can help the story move along. You could also use a few different coloured cloths or towels that might represent grass or water or fire or just follow your own imagination.

Settle down together with your story bag and get ready to begin. It can be really nice to have some magic words to say or a little ritual to do to bring every ones attention together. You might simply take a deep breath and shake the bag or you might ask everyone to blow or whisper into the bag and then say something like "The Magic has landed and so our story begins, once...."

At this point you ask someone to pick a first object out of the bag. This represents the main character of your story: The who. You might have picked a person or creature or you might have picked an object such as a feather. In this case you can discuss who the character might be. A bird? A man with a feather in his hat? A girl with a feather in her hair? The possibilities are endless.

You can then ask what, when, where, how and why questions before pulling out each new object. This keeps the story moving. But there are no rules. If a story is flowing and everyone is enjoying it, then go in what ever direction you want. It's all about having fun and being imaginative together.

Keep well and stay creative!

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If you're at home with children, this is a simple idea for a story making game that can be really fun and is a great way to connect and relax together. Find or make a small bag and fill it with about ten or fifteen little objects or toys from around the house.

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This pack contains three sections full of activities that guide teachers to facilitate STEAM-based learning through play, games development of design:

Section 1 - Rules & Games
In this section, students will explore the purpose of rules, the process of following them and the consequences of breaking them through simple, classroom-based games and activities. This section will support areas in the curriculum such as the Arts, Maths, Social, Environmental and Scientific Education, Physical Education, Social Personal and Health Education.

Section 2 - STEAM-based Game System Design

In this section, students will explore game design and develop STEAM-based skills to playing, inventing and designing their own board games. As well as STEAM subjects, this section will support other areas in the curriculum including Social, Environmental and Scientific Education, Physical Education, Social Personal and Health Education and Languages. They will learn about communication by looking at different languages and codes.
Section 3 - STEAM-based Board Game Projects
In this section, students will practice game design and apply their STEAM-based skills to board game projects. As well as STEAM subjects, this section will support other areas in the curriculum including Social, Environmental and Scientific Education, Social Personal and Health Education and Religious Education and Languages.

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Game Plan | The Ark, Dublin. Creative Arts Activities for Children

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This pack contains three sections full of activities that guide teachers to facilitate STEAM-based learning through play, games development of design: Section 1 - Rules & Games In this section, students will explore the purpose of rules, the process of following them and the consequences of breaking them through simple, classroom-based games and activities.

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Siobhán Clancy The Puppet Toolkit is devised by artist Siobhán Clancy, Artist in Residence on Helium's Fireflies Project at Temple Street Children's University Hospital and a Lead Artist on Helium's Two Suitcases community film project. Siobhán was one of the artists on the Puppet Portal Project, our first hospital residency programme (2009-2010). Children in seven hospitals across Ireland created puppets and shared their stories, performances and short films with peers in other hospitals via an online live video-link facility.
A puppet can be any inanimate object. It is up to the puppeteer to breathe life into it to make it seem animate and capture the attention of the onlookers. A puppet can be made from any material. For tips on materials and equipment when working in healthcare settings, check out 'What's in the case?'

Accessibility
Issues around access are more likely to be physical because when it comes to puppetry, it is easy to adapt activities around needs. Helium Arts subscribes to the social model of disability with regard to how we address disabling conditions experienced by our participants.

For an insight into social accessibility issues and how to deal with these, check out 'Connecting with Patient Experience: Participation - The Basics.' Some participants will have restricted mobility and/or movement. Choose objects or set ups that can accommodate these restrictions. Remember that through performance and play, puppets can offer a very effective means for the puppeteer to address the experience of these restrictions, to imagine opportunities for their accommodation, subversion or solution and to celebrate progression on the journey of recovery and wellbeing.

One of the participants on the Puppet Portal Project was undergoing neurological rehabilitation: he was in a wheelchair because his mobility was temporarily impaired, he found it hard to speak and therefore, express his feelings verbally, his understanding of language was impaired and he was suffering from short-term memory loss. At his first Puppet Portal session, his puppet didn't speak but it communicated by nodding and waving at the other puppets on the video link and at the end of the performance his puppet started singing softly. At the second session, he created another puppet and this puppet was shy but was able to whisper sentences. By the third session, he had created a puppet with more mobility and this puppet lived Under the Sea. In session four, his speech had improved and he created a puppet with superhuman powers who was able to fly made from latex gloves. By session five, he was recovering well and his puppets were getting more mischievous.

For participants that have reduced strength, select light materials that they can move easily e.g. muslin on a coffee stirrer or string. Another option is for the facilitator to supply light puppet material and create the puppets according to the directions of the participant, then rig the outcomes to a structure which the participant can manipulate easily by pulling strings (see below).

The puppet performance area can be built on any surface that is most convenient for the participant to play or perform on e.g. a bedside table on wheels, a tray that can be placed on a wheelchair, an easel etc. We once built a puppet stage for the surface of a trolley table using a self-assembled goalpost.

Alternatively, the facilitator can 'build' a puppet on their hand or foot directly using a sock, glove or slipper, adding all the features of a puppet according to the input of the participant and interact as the puppet develops. The puppet can be removed and replaced as and when the participant decides they want to play. This works especially well with bed or wheelchair-bound participants.

We also recommend incorporating medical implements into puppet-making. We have found these can be positive for a number of reasons. In many children's hospitals, paediatric staff have found it beneficial to indulge in this kind of 'animation' of inanimate objects to reduce anxiety around the use of equipment. For example, the Hickman Line which is inserted into children's bodies prior to chemotherapy treatment is called 'Freddie' and the staff chat to children about their Freddies and how they are helping. Beaumont Hospital has a handmade book created by a play specialist that describes the role of 'Freddie' through photos in a story format.

In Helium Arts, we incorporate medical implements all the time for these reasons:

- To make young people more comfortable handling the implements, talking about their purpose and asking questions if they have any

- To acknowledge young people's knowledge of what the implements are and to recognise their expertise in how best they can be used

- To nurture the sustainability of creativity by facilitating modification, story development and imaginative play with objects around them

- To make medical equipment feel like everyday objects and to support the relaxation of young people in their presence

The sterility of medical implement design can intimidate young people who are used to softer textures, brighter colours and appealing shapes. How they encounter these implements is usually part of a power dynamic in which they are the medical subjects of authoritarians such as nurses and doctors. The best bedside manner in the world does not change the fact that children experience these encounters as having things done to them which can be disempowering even when it is comforting. By putting the implements in their hands and allowing them to be repurposed, we aim to subvert this power dynamic in the mind of the young person and give them a sense of agency in the usage of the implements. This approach can facilitate humour and critique, all of which reinforce the intellectual authority of young people and helps to build their resilience, making them feel more confident and relaxed when they encounter the implements in other, less creative tasks.
Healthy Processes
As with any creative process, opportunities for self-expression can often bring forward very personal insights. Puppets are very particular because they allow the puppeteer to project their emotions and ideas and animate them. They also facilitate total fantasy and escapism. We recommend simply observing how a young person plays/performs and not reacting immediately to the outcomes, bearing in mind that the line between fantasy and reality in this artform is very blurred. For example, the very fact that puppets can be brought to life inevitably means they can be put to death and many murderous scenes will play out for no more sinister reason than a young person's desire to explore themes of power and their own agency in very simplistic terms. Professionals are advised to discuss your observations with staff who work closely with the participants according to a pre-agreed report process, particularly if you have any cause for concern. Parents meanwhile are encouraged to use your judgement and discuss any questions you have with your child after the experience before pursuing professional support.

It is critical that materials used in workshops with participants whose health is compromised adhere to the highest standards of quality and safety. Feathers, felt, fabric and other fun materials can easily spread bacteria through the accumulation of dirt or dust or simply through contact with naturally occurring oils from the body that become absorbed. Even paper is a concern because of its absorbency potential.

Follow these basic steps to avoid infection:

- Limit access to materials and tools by multiple users.

- Advise users (including yourself) to wash hands and use a sterilising hand gel before and after using tools.

- Wipe down tools with sterilising wipes before and after use.

- Thoroughly clean your storage for materials at the beginning of every day before use.

- Replenish art material stocks frequently. As this is likely to eat into budgets, it is advisable only to remove from packets as much as you feel is needed per interaction and not much extra.

- Where possible, return tools to containers that are cleanable such as jiffy bags and use them as little as possible in non-sterile settings.

- Use a vacuum or, for sensitive items, a handheld air pump to remove dirt or dust particles.

- If a tool cracks or breaks, place tape over the area to prevent cutting/scratching risks. Replace the tape after each user. Replace the item as soon as possible.

- Wash any cloth-based materials immediately after use.

- Bring materials in unopened packages into isolation wards and leave them behind to avoid cross-infection.

Puppets are centuries old and have delighted many inter-generational audiences. Neither the humour nor the performance style needs to be limited to youth audiences. After all, Punch and Judy shows were originally intended for adults but later adapted to be more appropriate for children in the Victorian era. Spitting Image was a British television series that modernised puppetry as an effective form of political satire. Sesame Street used puppets as a means to capture the attention of all ages in the development of literacy skills and is one of the most successful examples of educational entertainment.

Reminiscence is an approach to work with older participants that draws on memory and historical narrative. Puppetry is useful in this field as a means of connecting to the past through personification, costume and the oral arts such as singing, storytelling and poetry. Reminiscence also might incorporate the use of old photos and other media, memorabilia, souvenirs, recipes and more. Karrie Marshall recommends the use of puppets in dementia and gives strategies for using puppetry in daily care and step-by-step instructions for making puppets in her publication, Puppetry in Dementia: Connecting with Joy and Creativity (2013).

Puppetry is an artform that is incredibly close to play and as such is provides a very fitting entry point for a lot of children into the arts. One of the differences between puppetry and play is that where play is free-form, puppetry is usually more structured and involves repetition through rehearsal and performance. The use of props and prompts in performance support the memory skills required in story-telling. The rituals of performance like curtain up, the traditional placement of audience and the bow at the end provide a structure for learning about and subverting traditional artistic formats. For older children and teenagers, puppetry for film tends to interest them most. They seem to get most enjoyment from tabletop puppets or stop-motion animation puppets.

Whoever the audience may be, puppetry offers a great medium for self-conscious participants (and their parents) as it shifts the focus off the story-teller(s) and places it instead onto a puppet(s). In health contexts, this can be helpful for anyone self-conscious about the effects of their condition on their bodies, with these temporary or long-term attributes positively integrated in the characterisation of a puppet to entertain and educate. Storytelling methods can be combined with rehearsal techniques to build confidence in performance and draw in audiences with compelling narratives.

There are many different ways to devise stories collectively. Good warm up activities include:

Two Truths and a Lie
Each participant in turn tells everyone 3 things about themselves. One of these things is a lie and the others must guess which one.

Wally's Wallet
Everyone donates one thing from their pockets/bag to put into Wally's Wallet. In turn each participant draws an item and builds on a story about Wally and what he has done with each item.

A variation on this exercise is 'What's in the Bag' where each participant draws something from a bag of random objects and must continue a story told by the person before that incorporates the new object.

Fortunately-Unfortunately
In turn, each participant starts a sentence with fortunately or unfortunately that is a continuation of a story told by the person before.

A Day in the Life
Participants describe the events of an invented character's life hour by hour over the course of one day.

Toss the Dice
(similar to howRory's Story Cubes work)
Participants can draw symbols onto each of the 6 facades of one or more cubes. Then in turn, they must roll the cube(s) and tell a new part of a story inspired by the symbols on the top face of the rolled cubes.

Retell a Classic
Participants choose a well-known fable, fairytale or myth and retell it as it might have unfolded if it were set in a different location, time or with alternative characters.

Prompt Cards
Each participant can write one word on a card(s). They then take turns drawing a card and using the word to inspire the next part of a story.

We also love to use the exercises in Augusto Boal's 'Games for Actors and Non-Actors' to create performance content for puppets. Our favourites include 'The Hannover Interrogation', 'Allegory Rehearsal Style' and 'Long Beach Telegram'. Forum Theatre techniques developed by Boal offer great starting points for critical reflection on social themes related to health, identity, power and autonomy.

Puppets provide:

- Fun physical exchange

- Play and self-expression opportunities

- Humour, originality and spontaneity

- Real and online interaction (via live streamed or documented performances)

- Enhanced perception

- Channels for creative energy

- A forum for artistic expression and production

- Enhanced memories

- Opportunities to develop relationships

- Promotion of diversity

- Broadening of knowledge (of self, abilities and artistic processes)

- Prevention of feelings of isolation

- Enhanced experience of transitional spaces

Over the years we have made many different puppets using lots of materials. Our favourites involve found materials from the environment around us. Here are our top ten puppets:

1. Rattle puppets - insert beans or seeds inside a container and decorate with a puppet face. Use the rattle as a mode of communication.

2. Rod Puppets - build a puppet that can be placed on the end of a long rod at a right angle and moved across a stage easily.

3. Glove Puppets - build a puppet on a sock. This one will require fabric glue or another strong adhesive. Be careful when choosing your adhesive in case of toxic fumes.

4. Stick Puppets - this is a smaller version of a rod puppet using upright lollipop sticks and felt or card. They are handy for 'Punch and Judy' type stages where they can pop up and down.

5. Finger Puppets - take a piece of card and cut out two holes to fit index and middle fingers to be the legs of the puppet. Outline the shape of a puppet around the holes and decorate. These puppets are especially good for football and dancing-themed shows.

6. Marionettes - create a jointed puppet operated by strings from above the performance space. Light materials are recommended for these puppets.

7. Wrist Puppets - these puppets are great for any performer with limited mobility in their hands and/or fingers. Part of the performance can be building the puppet on the participant, following their directions on what decorations to use.

8. Giant puppets - these puppets are similar in size to the performer and might incorporate the performer's own body e.g. the arm or feet of the puppet is the performer's arm or feet.

9. Tabletop Puppets - these are like stick puppets or card puppets that are placed flat against a backdrop on a horizontal surface. The action is viewed from above looking down. The backdrops, which are two-dimensional, can have skewed perspectives or use layers to give the illusion of space and three-dimensionality. This works especially well when recorded on video.

10. Shadow Puppets - these puppets consist of cutout shapes in card that typically perform behind a paper or cloth that is back lit so their shadows are projected onto the performance space.

Bringing a puppet to life can be done in small stages and is lots of fun. Try the following out when you have built your puppet:

Make the puppet perform a breathing motion, rising and falling gently with breath.

Make the puppet 'wake up' i.e. roll, move, stretch, yawn, smack tongue against teeth, open eyes/make eye contact with audience, jerk awake, shake out.

Make the puppet do exercises - touch its toes, do star jumps, do scissors jumps, jog on the spot, do yoga poses etc.

Make the puppet walk - choose different kinds of gaits e.g. stroll, canter, dash, race, sidestep, dance, drag feet, jog etc.

Practice different expressions/gestures and tones of voice according to moods e.g. sadness, happiness, excitement, joy, anger, despair, boredom, indignation, fear, surprise, shock, calm, impatient, giddy etc.

For professionals, before you embark on any project it is useful to have a support system built into the delivery of your initiative focused on the wellbeing and creative development of the participants.

Previous projects we have coordinated have involved some or all of the following personnel (depending on the scale of the project):

Artist

Artist Mentor

Project Manager

Line Manager

Healthcare Co-ordinator (key point of contact within hospital / healthcare setting)

On-site healthcare staff (e.g. play specialists, hospital school staff, nurses etc)

Documenter

Independent Evaluator

Planning typically requires the following:

Clear statement of Project Aim

Breakdown of Project Objectives

Overview of Anticipated Outcomes

Details of an Evaluation Strategy

Details of a Publicity Strategy with key dates for drafting/design, sign off and publishing of content

Often the items listed above will need to be outlined in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the information and approval of the health partner that will co-produce or facilitate your project. The MOU should also refer to your Health and Safety Statement, Consent Process, Infection Control Guidelines and Child Protection Policy.

Reflection is a very important and useful process to develop on artistic experiences. Everyone participating in puppetry can take time to reflect and then follow up:

- Discuss what worked and what didn't (or what was most and least fun)
- Consider what themes, ideas and processes emerged
Documentation of Work in Progress
We recommend that you document the work-in-progress and find ways to share it in order to increase the 'moments of celebration'. Gathering feedback from observers of the process is a good way to motivate participants in their progress and to create a build up to the final performance or screening.

For more information about documentation see 'Connecting with Patient Experience: Participation - The Basics'.

We have outlined each stage of developing a puppetry performance so the process can be replicated by all interested in trying out this art format.
Stage 1: Pre-Production

Allocate roles and outline the responsibilities involved in each role

Draft a contract for participation (e.g. Listen to one another etc.)

Draft consent forms if the performance will be documented

Brainstorm a story theme

Outline the main events of the story through improvisation or by using a storyboard

Improvise or write a script

Rehearse the story and adapt as ideas for improvement are developed

Gather materials for construction of puppets, props and stage

Gather equipment required for documentation

Design and send invitations/put up posters to attract an audience

Perform a 'tech' rehearsal to make sure that lighting, stage design, sound design etc. work on cue and to ensure that all equipment is tested and ready.

Stage 2: Production

Perform a 'preview' and invite audience feedback

Incorporate feedback in adjustments to the performance

Perform again

Stage 3: Post-Production
Edit any documentary footage using appropriate applications. We recommend the following:

Edit photos with Photoshop Elements (a more affordable version of Photoshop). Make PowerPoints or slideshows with Google Slides. Share images online using Flickr (private albums can be created).

Edit audio with Audacity (a free sound editing application). Share podcasts using SoundCloud.

Edit video with YouTube Movie Creator, iMovie or Windows Moviemaker

You may like to burn the documented footage onto discs or copy it onto USB drives to share with participants, always ensuring the necessary permissions are in place.

You may also consider submitting the content to exhibition opportunities or festivals, with consent in place to do so.

Below are some handy links for more tips on using technology in your project!
Digital Photography
For tips on digital photography using a mobile phone or camera see:
https://digital-photography-school.com/digital-photography-tips-for-beginners/
For post-processing images, navigate to this tab on the same site:
https://digital-photography-school.com/post-production/ Digital Videography
For tips on digital videography, check out the Vimeo Video School:
https://vimeo.com/blog/category/video-school Internet
Good advice on using social networking tools can be found at www.webwise.ie

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Siobhán Clancy The Puppet Toolkit is devised by artist Siobhán Clancy, Artist in Residence on Helium's Fireflies Project at Temple Street Children's University Hospital and a Lead Artist on Helium's Two Suitcases community film project. Siobhán was one of the artists on the Puppet Portal Project, our first hospital residency programme (2009-2010).

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A whole host of stories read beautifully with illustrations from the books. If you go to https://www.storylineonline.net/
there are teacher notes for each book.

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'Hey, That's My Monster!' read by Lily Tomlin

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'Arnie the Doughnut' read by Chris O'Dowd

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https://www.twinkl.ie/resources/english-medium-schools-republic-of-ireland/reading-comprehension-worksheets-roi-resources-junior-senior-infants/reading-comprehension-worksheets-roi-resources-junior-senior-infants-visual-art

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St Brigids Cross tutorial

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Making a St. Brigid’s Cross - an Easy Step by Step Guide

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A manual of experimental walks to experience our surroundings in different ways.

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Backwards Walk:
Walk backwards for fifteen minutes through the city.

Balance Walk (Leaning Duets by Trisha Brown):
Find a partner, join hands and maintain a balance by tilting away from the other in an angle, composing a V, while the edges of your feet meet in the center. Take tentative steps in the same direction.

Barefoot Walk:
In the middle of winter, with ice or snow on the ground, find a place in public a few hundred meters from a warm inside environment. Take your shoes off. Walk until you start losing the feeling of your connection to the earth, then walk inside. Have towels and mildly warm water waiting for your feet.

Blind Walk:
Start in a place that is unfamiliar. One person is blindfold; one person guides. Start walking. The blindfolded person tries to make a loop back to where you started walking.

Diagonal Walk:
In a public space, walk only diagonal lines to get to a place 1km away.

Ever Walking Walk:
Pick a place across the city. Make your way, use public transportation to get there if you want. Do not stop walking no matter where you are - in the subway, while waiting etc - until you arrive.

Estimation Sound Walk:
In groups of two to five people, ask one person to stand still and close their eyes. Ask the others to stand next to the person with their eyes closed. Ask them to say here. Counting their footsteps, ask them to walk some distance away from the person standing still with their eyes closed, and then to stop. Ask them to say here again. Note, the person saying here should say the word with the same volume as they said it the first time. Have the person with their eyes closed guess how far away they have gone and to point to where they are.

Estimation Walk Pick something around you and guess how many footsteps it would take between where you are standing and that thing. Walk that number of footsteps to that thing. Keep doing this for some time.

Estimation Walk (Time Your Space):
Define a distance (300m; to the tree over there). Establish a slightly unreasonable amount of time to walk there (3 min; 30 minutes). Walk without stopping. Do now look at a watch as you walk. Try to arrive on time.

Extended Body Walk:
Make a simple prosthetic device (out of cardboard) to fit onto a particular part of your body. Attach the device. Set a destination relatively far away from where you start. Walk there.

Fukashi Walk:
Pick a word or characters which has some significance to you. With a group of people, try to walk those letters or characters in a large scale and in a public space. Walk those letters or word over and over until you become the word you make.

Lay Down Line Walk:
With a group of people, lay down in a long line, head to toe, in a public space. Starting at the head of the line, ask the last person to stand up and run or walk to the other end of the line and lay down. Ask the new last person to stand up and walk or run to the end of the line. Repeat this with each end until everyone has walked or run at least three times.

Map Walk:
Copy a map from another city. Use that map to find your way across the city you are currently in. Referring to the map, ask strangers where you are and to help you find the place you need to find.

Measure Walk:
In public space, pick something at eye level or below, that is within easy walking distance. Estimate the size of that thing using your fingers and arms. Hold that measurement with your fingers or arms and walk to that thing. Keep doing this for some time.

Net Walk:
With a group of people, ask everyone to extend their arms out at full length. Ask everyone to space themselves so that their fingertips are just barely touching the fingertips of the people next to them. Trying to maintain this distance, walk through the city for ten minutes.

Periphery Walk:
Put your hands out to your side until you see your hands disappear. Keeping your hands at the boundary of your peripheral view, and keeping your head pointed straight while focused on your sides, walk through a part of the city.

See Walk:
With a route in mind, use a mirror to orient yourself in reflected space. Walk the route by looking into the mirror to see where you are going.

See Walk, Double Reflection (A Two-Person Variation):
As performed in See Walk, use a mirror to reflect on where you are going. In the two-person variation, find where you are going using someone else's reflection. Self-organize a choreography of slowness and seeing so that each person is simultaneously holding the other person's way of seeing, where you are looking, where you are going, and how you get there together.

Silent Walk: With a group or alone, walk through part of a city without speaking for at least 30 minutes. While walking, give continuous and focused attention to the loudest sound you hear around you by looking in every direction in which you hear something.Slope Walk:
Start on the top of a slope. Look down the slope trying to see it as level. Walk down the slope as if the slope is level.

Slow Walk:
As a group, walk very ,very, very slowly for 15 minutes in public. Feel your weight on the ground. Feel your balance shift. Feel each part of the slow motion as it is distributed though your entire body. Don't forget to breathe.

Smell Walk:
Start some distance from where you need to go. Find your way by hitchhiking on different smells you encounter. If you lose one smell, ride on another until you arrive. Allow detours.

Sound Walk (Circle):
Start standing in a circle in a public space. Walk away from each other along different radii while saying "hello" to the people standing across from you. Keep walking your radius and screaming hello until you can no longer hear a "hello" from anyone in your circle saying hello. Walk back to the center saying hello.

Sound Walk (Line):
Line up a group of people. Saying the word 'hello' to the person on both sides of you, stretch the line by increasing the volume of your "hello" as you move away from each other. See how far you can walk in audible range of "hellos" on both sides of you. If the line breaks, move closer to the last "hello". (Find a way to see and measure the whole sound line.)

Straight Walk:
Starting as a group in public space, each person picks a thing at some distance away. Try to walk in a straight line to that thing and back.

Take a Stand Walk:
Sit down while traveling on a form of public transportation. At some moment on the way, take off your shoes. Stand up in the place you are asked to sit. Keep standing there for some time while just being yourself.

Your Attention Span Walk:
On your way to somewhere else, focus on something around you. Look only at that thing. Think about nothing other than that thing. Let all other thoughts pass through you. When you arrive at that thing, pick another thing to focus on. Keep doing this over and over for some time.

Please send documentation of your walks to the Institut für Raumexperimente:
institut (at) raumexperimente.net

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Walk Manuals | Institut für Raumexperimente

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Backwards Walk: Walk backwards for fifteen minutes through the city. Balance Walk (Leaning Duets by Trisha Brown): Find a partner, join hands and maintain a balance by tilting away from the other in an angle, composing a V, while the edges of your feet meet in the center.

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A four part youtube series from Music Residency Galway connecting kids with ConTempo music quartet.

Wk 1: https://youtu.be/sMtDHm4OMVo

Wk 2:
https://youtu.be/Jf5ZjZHuTMY

Wk 3:
https://youtu.be/XDTe50O0kuc

Wk 4:
https://youtu.be/Sibgavm5xKk

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Choice of 10 activities

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Downloadable Book

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The Covid-19 pandemic is a considerable source of worry for children and families, and young people are having to cope with big changes at home and at school. In response, Children's Books Ireland, in partnership with Jigsaw and ISPCC Childline, is launching Mind Yourself - the Mental Health and Wellbeing Reading Guide today (Monday, October 5th 2020).

October 10th is World Mental Health Day - an international event that promotes mental health education and awareness. A recent UNICEF report found that children and young people in Ireland are struggling with their mental health, with Ireland placing 26th in the survey of 38 OECD countries when it comes to the mental wellbeing of children. As readers, we know the comfort books can provide during a difficult time and there is robust evidence to support this: reading for pleasure can have a positive effect on mental wellbeing, can build empathy in children and young people and is positively linked to better outcomes in later life.

The Mind Yourself reading guide is a resource that can be used by adults - parents, guardians, caregivers, teachers - to support and educate young people in relation to mental health and wellbeing. The guide contains reviews and recommendations of over 400 books for children and young people from birth to age eighteen and is designed as a 'first-aid kit' for worries, sadness, loneliness, anxiety and any number of feelings that a young person may want to explore. Mind Yourself also contains mental health and wellbeing information from Jigsaw and ISPCC Childline, including tips and coping strategies for young people and advice for adults on supporting children to build resilience. The guide is available free of charge through every library authority in the Republic of Ireland and a digital version of the Mind Yourself Reading Guide can be viewed or downloaded here. Should you wish to purchase a copy of #MindYourself please click here!

Tarsila Krüse, creator of the original Mind Yourself artwork, said:
When asked to create an image for the Children's Books Ireland Reading Guide 2020 covering the theme of mindfulness amidst a global pandemic, I was, like many, inundated with emotions and feelings. Excitement, fear, happiness and anxiety all at the same time and I wanted that to show through my work. Being a book lover who finds solace, discovery, learning and growth in books I began drafting numerous ideas to express both looking inwards as well as outwards through a book, but none of them felt quite right. Then a sparkle of an idea struck my mind. I'm learning Irish and there's a lovely curiosity in how feelings are expressed in the Irish language - a person doesn't "have a feeling" but a "feeling is on" that person - it is something that exists outside the body, that comes and goes like the wind. That helped me develop the idea that WE ALL carry around feelings and emotions, and much like clouds they sometimes hang right above us. Some are fleeting and light, others are full of thunder and power, therefore I created plenty of those feelings and emotions clouds that we all have. I chose to create a non-gender specific character, a lovely dog who is carrying feelings around and processing all of its emotions with a book. That's what I want everyone to know: books are an absolutely wonderful tool to understand and process our feelings, those curious clouds we carry around, so we can discover, explore, learn and grow inside and out.

Elaina Ryan, CEO of Children's Books Ireland, said:
Mind Yourself was born in a pandemic and is published during an unprecedented time as children and young people return to school following a period of isolation. We want to recognise the very valid feelings that may arise during this time and to provide support for adults who may need a way to start a difficult conversation with a younger person, perhaps by reading a story aloud with them, by leaving a book on their bed with a note or by giving them this guide with a book token to find their own way through it. As always, we want our guides to enable children and young people - with the help of a family member, carer, teacher or librarian - to find the right book for them at a particular time, and if they're struggling, to tóg sos le scéal or lighten the load with a book.

Dr Joseph Duffy, CEO of Jigsaw, said:
In Jigsaw we offer a listening ear, give expert mental health advice and support to young people, parents and guardians, and schoolteachers - and do our best to be there when young people need us most. But we know that there is always so much more that can be done. More young people we can reach. And to do so we need to work together as communities, as partners, and as friends. Working together with Children's Books Ireland on Mind Yourself - The Mental Health and Wellbeing Reading Guide is another creative way of doing this, of reaching and being there to support the mental health needs of even more young people across Ireland. We know from our Read Your Mind project the power of reading as therapy in supporting mental health and wellbeing. The power of stories and words in helping guide and support both adults and young people. So, we are really excited to be part of this fantastic project.

Caroline O'Sullivan, Director of Services for ISPCC Childline, said:
ISPCC Childline is delighted to be included in Children's Books Ireland's Mind Yourself - The Mental Health and Wellbeing Reading Guide and to provide guidance for children, young people and parents/carers on building resilience and looking after their mental health,' said. 'Reading is an important activity for children and young people, it can provide an escape and allows our minds to be creative which can help in boosting our moods. Childline receives over 1,000 contacts a day every day from children and young people across Ireland on childline.ie and our volunteers help make sure every child and young person in Ireland always has somewhere they can turn.

Children's Books Ireland would like to thank each and every one of the 140 Mind Yourself reviewers, the 9 section editors, English language proof reader Emma Dunne, Irish language proof reader Shanna Ní Rabhartaigh, designer Fintan Wall, and illustrator Tarsila Krüse. Thanks also to the following advertisers for their support: Hachette Children's Group, Michael O'Mara Books, The O'Brien Press, An Gúm, Nosy Crow, Gill Books, Walker Books, Butler Sims, Andersen Press, Bloomsbury Children's Books, KPMG, and An Post.

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The Covid-19 pandemic is a considerable source of worry for children and families, and young people are having to cope with big changes at home and at school. In response, Children's Books Ireland, in partnership with Jigsaw and ISPCC Childline, is launching Mind Yourself - the Mental Health and Wellbeing Reading Guide today (Monday, October 5th 2020).

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Selection of videos to choose from on YouTube

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Suitable for age 7yrs + with help of an adult

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Suitable for junior classes

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Junior class activity linking learning with shape and colour exercises -indoor or outdoor game

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Suitable for junior classes

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Suitable for junior classes

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Links to a series of 4 workshops that myself and another theatre artist created for Backstage Theatre in Longford during the first lockdown. It is for children to create puppets using recycled materials they would have at home, and then to create characters and a little puppet show to be recorded and sent to someone they are missing. Each workshop is 10-12 mins long

Workshop 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hfp44Z8o_v4

Workshop 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QOT8p9dO0E&t=9s

Workshop 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBJdEl9W48I

Workshop 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJolhY2UBgg&t=2s