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Make and record journeys and adventures using journey sticks. Use journey sticks to tell stories of journeys and adventures.

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I'm really excited to bring you today's post, all about creating storytelling journey sticks with your kids. The amazing and uber-talented Jessica, from Collect. Make. Explore. is here to show you how to incorporate elements of your hikes, adventures and outings into beautiful physical storytelling devices. I love the lessons this project teaches - from being observant in nature to inspiring creativity in retelling the story of your adventures. This would be a great project to start this fall while the leaves are turning and there's lot of adventures to be had.

Fleeting anchor

How many times does something beautiful happen in life, be it simple or extraordinary, and you think to yourself, wow I wish I could hold onto this day a little longer? We may rembember the overarching feeling or event, but the little details eventually slip through our hands like tiny grains of sand, getting lost in the crevices of our minds. Wouldn't you love to have an intuitive way to access all the little details that make a day so magical? Like dew on the morning grass, the everyday moments of our family's journey shine brightly, but quickly get pulled back into the earth or sky - our natural narrative truly is our fleeting anchor.

Storytelling

The story we tell ourselves shapes who we become. If you want your children to learn to love and respect the natural world and better yet, to understand their part in it, it needs to be an integral part of their story. The lasting memories you create as a family can live on through the art of storytelling. We as humans are more likely to attach importance to a story when we see ourselves as a part of it. And when children are asked to recount the story of their daily adventures and explorations, they become active learners, leaders, and caretakers of their environment. Just like that, they understand in some basic way that their journey is shared with that of the world.

By using verbal and visual maps, we can more easily recount our days, and tap into those individual grains of sand that might otherwise get lost with the passage of time. Creating a journey stick is one way to poetically strengthen our connection to the natural world, as they intertwine person, place, and time. The most amazing thing about this method of remembering is it's ability to capture individual perspective and personal narratives. Something a standard map can't touch. When we look at a map we see the lay of the land, yet when we tell our story the land comes alive. I've made journey sticks with my little ones, ages two and four, while out on the trail. I'm excited to share our experiences with these storytelling tools with you and get you started making your own memory maps!

History of journey sticks

First, a little background on the journey stick for you. Aboriginal people in Australia used journey sticks to more easily recount their journeys to other people upon their return. They found a large walking stick, collected materials found along the way, and tied them to the stick in chronological order. Native Americans also decorated sticks to recount their journeys and tell about their travels. These sticks can be used as storytelling and navigational tools. The collected materials and markings have various purposes. Some things can be used as markers for natural features in the land, such as tree bark to indicate passing through the woods. While particular symbols carved into or painted onto the stick could show weather patterns, natural features, or events that took place.

Making your own journey stick

To start the process with your family, show your children pictures of journey sticks to familiarize them with the concept. Talk to your kids, show them pictures of journey sticks before setting out on the trail. When you go, be prepared - bring various colored string, scissors, and crayons on your hike. You can either create your journey stick at home after your adventure or while you are out exploring. You can make one journey stick for the entire family or individual sticks for each child, if they're old enough.

Make it part of the adventure to find the perfect stick. When we began our hike, our perfect journey stick happened to present itself right before the trail began. Once we had that, the kids played while I wrapped various colors of string on the stick to create layered stripes of color. For each part of our adventure that day we tucked little physical reminders of that part of our story under the string, creating a visual narrative. I used thin string, but would recommend yarn because it would be stretchier and easier to manipulate objects through.

You can alter the actual creation of the journey stick to fit the age group. Younger children, such as the toddler age range, may like to have sticky clear contact paper attached to a large piece of bark or cardboard. They can then attach their materials to this as they hike along to make their own version of a journey "stick". While older children may want to use a pocket knife or other tool to carve simple images into the wood. The most important thing to remember is to not push focus, but instead lead them with a gentle hand. Breaks from the project at hand are fine, come back to it when they are ready. It is a shared journey after all!

Tell your story

Later that night, I helped the kids use the stick to recount their hike to their dad. It was amazing to hear the details come pouring out in order as we touched each object on the stick from top to bottom! The shale from our initial stop at the creek was coated with a thin layer of dried mud. This reminded them to tell their dad about the large patches of cracked dry mud that they peeled apart at the creek.

Another part of our stick held a leaf from the woods where we found a giant toad sitting still as a stone alongside a log. The feather we found led to speculation on the bird it was from and made them remember the sounds we heard in the trees. And on it went until we finished the story of our day. I didn't write any of this down until writing this post, and looking at the objects, I too can remember the details of our day that happened weeks ago.

Add adventures to your journey

We've taken our journey stick to the beach, the forest, the field, and even little trips around the backyard or neighborhood! Each time little reminders stick with us upon our return. Love tracing and tracking the landscape this way. Little bits and pieces of memory are now displayed in the kids "garden" out back. We have a special ceramic vessel that our stick fits perfectly in, so there it lives, tucked within the dirt and leaves for when we need it next. Hope this has woven some inspiration into your day. And that you are moved enough to pick up a stick! Enjoy your journey!

Jessica is a mother of two, a professional artist, former art professor, portrait photographer, author, and writer at "Collect. Make. Explore.". Her family is on an every evolving journey to develop a more conscious lifestyle, which of course involves natural parenting. Upon having her second child she resigned from teaching to focus on folding together her creative pursuits and nature-led parenting. The outdoors has become both her studio and her classroom. A place to find solace, to learn, to explore, and to just be. All of these local adventures and sweet connections to the outdoors led her to write a small book, sharing the name of her blog,"Collect. Make. Explore.". If you are interesting in learning more about her book, artwork, blog, or day to day adventures in visual form, she can be found at any of the following social media sites.

instagram: @collectmakeexplore

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Creating Journey Sticks with Kids & the Art of Storytelling

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I'm really excited to bring you today's post, all about creating storytelling journey sticks with your kids. The amazing and uber-talented Jessica, from Collect. Make. Explore. is here to show you how to incorporate elements of your hikes, adventures and outings into beautiful physical storytelling devices.

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Discuss: The two grannies have some things the same and some things that are different. What are they?

How do the grannies learn from each other in the story?

Share what you like to do/places you like to visit/foods you like to eat/music you like to listen to. Which ones are the same as your friends and which are different?

We can learn so much from each other when we live and learn together. ARC Principle 1

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Richness of the child’s experience captured through using home language  with his mum in the setting

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Are there opportunities for children to have Mehndi patterns drawn onto their hands or feet, or to design patterns of their own?

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Mama's Sleeping Scarf, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

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Mama's Sleeping Scarf, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

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Discuss: Which colours are in the scarf and which fruits/vegetables are they compared to? What are all the ways that Chino uses the scarf in the book?

Which everyday items are special to you and why? What do you use to comfort yourself? Do you like to play with any objects that belong to a parent/carer/sibling? What do you do to get ready for sleeping?

Suggested Activity: Using scarfs or scraps of fabric, go on a walk and think of things your scarf could be. Which colours are in your scarf? Create designs onto fabric scraps. ARC Principle 1

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Discuss: What are some of the things mentioned in the book that can make us different to each other? Can you think of others? How does the girl feel at first about being different to people around her? What happens when the girl in the story starts to share stories about her life? She starts to find things that are similar to other people, and other things that are different. They start to find out about each other and realise that they all have differences and they are all unique.

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Read the story without discussing the questions provided throughout the text. Read it a second time, exploring the questions, allowing time to share ideas.
Discuss: Which words are used to describe the character’s experience as he travels to a new country? (Sad, exciting, boring, interesting, strange, new, safe).

When have you had experiences you would describe as sad, exciting, boring, interesting, strange, new and safe?

Look at the character’s face in different situations. How  do you think he is feeling?  What would you want to say to him to reassure and welcome him? How do his expressions make you feel?

Book title discussion: What do children understand by the word refugee? Whilst the word refugee tells us that people have made a difficult journey to leave a home country because they do not feel safe there, we must remember that they will have their own story to tell, and that they have the right to a name like everyone else.

ARC Principle 2

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Are signs, symbols, letters, shapes and patterns from different cultures and languages on display to explore mark making in a range of cultures, languages and religions?

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Discuss: Which animals needed a safe place to stay? Why did they need a place to stay? What did the mouse say each time an animal asked for help? All the animals were different but they all needed a place to stay, just like people. Some people in the world today are being made to leave their homes and find somewhere safe to stay. How might they feel? How did the animals in the book feel? All the animals work together as a team and bring the different things they are good at. Have you ever worked with friends to build something together? How did it make you feel? Mouse welcomes everyone to the great big happy house. How can we make people welcome when they come to Scotland looking for a new home? How do we make people welcome in our nursery? Suggested Activity: Outdoors, using loose parts and natural materials, work in groups to build new homes for the animals in the story. Think about their size and shape and what they might need.

ARC Principle 2

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Discuss: What are the objects that the animal has taken in the suitcase? Is there anything surprising?

How is the animal feeling after the journey? What do you think the journey was like? Why?

What do you think about what the animals did to his suitcase? Why did the animal need more teacups in the end?

Suggested Activity: Pack a suitcase. Provide images, objects, artefacts and suitcases/bags/backpacks. Explore packing a bag to go to a new place, thinking and talking about what you would bring and why. Which other things would you like to put in? Make models or images of other things you would like to pack. Which things do you need and which things do you want? Is there a difference? How do you feel about setting off?

ARC Principle 2

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Discuss: What happened to Rosa when she was walking home? Why was the boy’s mother so angry? What did Rosa do? How do you think she felt? Have you every had to stand up to an adult? What were some of the ways White and Black people were treated differently when Rosa Parks was little? What do you think about this? When Rosa grew up, she started to stand up to the way Black and White people were treated differently. What were some of the things she did. What happened when she took the bus and refused to get out of her seat? How did her actions make big changes to the way Black people were treated? At the end of the book, she says that ‘I hope you will always stand up for yourself’. Has there been a time when you have had to stand up for yourself? Did any changes happen when you did?

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Race Cars is a children’s book about white privilege created to help parents and educators facilitate tough conversations about race, privilege and oppression.

Race Cars tells the story of 2 best friends, a white car and a black car, that have different experiences and face different rules while entering the same race.

Filled with bright, attention-grabbing illustrations, a notes and activities section at the back helps parents, guardians and teachers further discuss these issues with children. ARC Principle 7

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Race Cars by Jenny Devenny, Charnaie Gordon | Waterstones

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Buy Race Cars by Jenny Devenny, Charnaie Gordon from Waterstones today! Click and Collect from your local Waterstones or get FREE UK delivery on orders over £25.

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the Wall in the Middle of the Book, Jon Agee

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the Wall in the Middle of the Book, Jon Agee

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Discuss: What does the knight in the story expect the ogre to be like? What do you expect ogres to be like? Why? Where do you get your ideas? What is the ogre really like in the story? What does he do to show you this? How do you feel at the end of the story? Have you ever made up your mind about a person before you have got to know them? Has anyone done this to you? What can we learn about why it is important not to form ideas about people without getting to know them?

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Discuss: What does it mean to speak up? Who speaks up in the book? What does Rocket do to speak up about the library? What happened because Rocket stood up with her friends? Is there anything that you would like to speak up about? What could you do? What changes would you like to see happen?

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Copyright free instrumental music from all over the world. Global themes include African, Arabic, Chinese, Indian, Italian, Irish, Japanese, Latin, Spanish.

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Free Music For YouTube Videos & Creators * Uppbeat

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Download the best copyright-free music for YouTube, TikTok, streaming, social media, podcasts and more. Create a free account & start downloading for free now.

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A parent plays outside with staff and children singing a popular Farsi children’s song about throwing and catching a ball. The parent wrote the song in the nursery's bilingual song book.

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Bookbug's audio/video library has range of songs and rhymes in other languages including French, Spanish, Punjabi and Polish

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You can find songs and rhymes to suit different moods or times of day. Try a range of songs and rhymes and discover your child's favourites!

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Our children will experience a curriculum that meaningfully recognises and fairly represents the rich and diverse communities in Scotland and beyond.

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Our children will understand and enquire into Scotland’s role in historical world events, including trans-Atlantic enslavement and colonial histories, and their continuing impact today.

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Or children will learn about and investigate past and present events in a way that amplifies under-represented perspectives and stories.

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Our children will feel safe and confident to co-design their curriculum from their personal perspectives and those of the wider world.

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Our children will be critical thinking global citizens that challenge discrimination and prejudice through an understanding and awareness of the behaviours, practices and processes that create injustice in the world.

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This year our Cultural Heritage Focus was India. My K-3rd grade students each had a more structured lesson while the 4th-6th grade students chose their starting point. Kindergarten students learned about the Holi festivals in India.

First, we watched this news video:

I asked the students to think about what it would be like at the Holi festival and imagine they were in attendance. The students drew a self portrait and some added a friend or family member with them. The students traced the drawings with sharpie and then we added color, which was the most fun part. As soon as I saw pictures of the colored powder being thrown at the Holi festival, it made me think of powdered tempera.

Students placed their drawings in boxes, used dry paintbrushes dipped in powdered tempera to sprinkle color on top, then we sprayed with water to activate the paint. When the projects dried, I "fixed" them with hairspray.

Powdered tempera is super cheap and pretty brightly colored.

My first class used crayons because I was thinking it would create a resist. I always forget that Kinders have a hard time pressing hard enough with crayons, especially at the beginning of the school year, to create a good resist. We switched to just sharpie line drawings in the next class.

Students did need supervision while applying the powder. Some wanted to just dump a whole bunch in one spot so I had to give reminders about sprinkling and spreading it out.

Watercolor paper would have been preferable to the drawing paper which wanted to curl as it dried, but I was able to flatten the artwork pretty well.

We have a bunch of powdered tempera left. While I don't like painting with it as intended, I think there are some good possibilities for the sprinkle and spray method!

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This year our Cultural Heritage Focus was India. My K-3rd grade students each had a more structured lesson while the 4th-6th grade studen...

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Our children will learn the difference between individual and systemic racism, their impacts, and how they intersect or connect with other types of injustice.

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Our children will be supported to reflect on positionality, privilege and power, and to unlearn bias, prejudice and divisiveness.

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Our children will learn that everyone has a right to be safeguarded from racism and discrimination, and will be empowered to challenge any infringement of this right.

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Our children will be empowered to bring about new ways of being together in the world by valuing and promoting empathy, solidarity and shared humanity that is often disrupted by systemic racism.

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Games that support Cooperation and Compassion

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Games that support Cooperation and Compassion

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These can provide opportunities for children to make calls to friends and family in their home language, expressing their thoughts, describing their day or sharing feelings in a language that may not be spoken widely in the setting. What can others learn from this?

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Learn about the History of Different Instruments

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Learn about the History of Different Instruments

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Can children learn about the history of different instruments and then experiment and try to create instruments of their own? Could they use beaters or spoons and pots and pans, like in the video, for example?

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Making Sounds and Instruments using Different Materials, Objects and Resources

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Making Sounds and Instruments using Different Materials, Objects and Resources

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Encouraging children to make their own instruments, indoors and outdoors, can help to avoid assigning instruments and music to certain groups. Providing a wide range of resources enables children to use materials they may be familiar with and to try out and experiment with those that are new.

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Are there opportunities for children to come together, make music in their chosen ways and experience the power they have to make and enjoy music together?

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Visits to the local environment can help to foster a sense of belonging and community. Developing a sense of place brings security and children may choose to take some responsibility for looking after it. Repeated visits to the same place over time can help them to identify changes, natural and manmade.

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Some Guidance on Making Trips at Early Level Meaningful

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Some Guidance on Making Trips at Early Level Meaningful

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Making trips out meaningful - Early Education

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A reflection based upon rich and varied experiences of taking young children out into the Wider World by Kathryn Solly, Early Education Associate. Beginnings There is a big world out there waiting for us all. As a toddler I was taken for rides in my child seat on my father's bike to the local pond [...]

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Discuss: Why do you think people want to touch Aria’s hair? How do you feel reading this story? How do you think Aria feels in the story? What is the problem in the story? What should happen instead? Has something like this ever happened to you? How did you feel/how does Aria feel? What things does she try to do to stop people touching her hair? Who finds a solution? What is the solution in the end? What does this show us about what we can do if people touch our hair or bodies and we don’t want them to? Do we always have to be polite? What are some of the things we could say if someone did this to us?

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Exploring Different Building Shapes and Materials

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Exploring Different Building Shapes and Materials

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Food, Food, Fabulous Food engages with themes of multiculturalism, sharing and eating well. The simple story, available in 20 different languages, is set on Multicultural Food Day, a day when children are encouraged to bring in foods from their cultures. The story shows the processes of growing, shopping, preparing and sharing many different kinds of food.

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Mantra Lingua is a UK based publisher of award winning multilingual education resources. We provide innovative, user-friendly solutions to the specific challenges facing teachers and students within the classroom, and at home. Our PENpal technology supports EAL, MFL and SEN students in particular and is also proving invaluable in the mainstream school market.

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Is a range of skin tones and items provided in puppet theatres so that children can tell their own stories? Can children create their own puppets so that they can see themselves represented and included?

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Do children have opportunities to have their say and take positive action about things they care about in their local community?

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Nursery kids launch campaign against dog fouling

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DETERMINED nursery children have launched a campaign against dog fouling in their local area.

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Do discussions in the snack area explore where different foods come from? Why are some grown in Scotland and why do some come from other places? How do they get here?

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Discussion notes for celebrating difference through Elmer:

https://www.prindleinstitute.org/books/elmer/

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Gypsy Traveller Community Guidance and Resources: Using Persona Dolls 

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Gypsy Traveller Community Guidance and Resources: Using Persona Dolls 

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Find guidance on using persona dolls to support anti-racism in the Early Level Setting.

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Video clips for children demonstrating how to make meals and snacks from around the world.

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My World Kitchen

Talented young cooks take over the kitchen and celebrate their heritage by cooking some very special recipes. We find out where these dishes and ingredients come from along the way.

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Talented young cooks take over the kitchen and celebrate their heritage by cooking some very special recipes. We find out where these dishes and ingredients come from along the way.

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Encourage children to explore different viewpoints from the air, water or earth, for example climbing high, hanging upside down, getting down low, standing in a puddle. Encourage children to think about what the world looks like for different creatures and from different perspectives.

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Adults can supports talk about Ramadan and enable children to share their thoughts and opinions.

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Are there opportunities for adults to connect to children’s lives and co-construct their experiences, such as visiting the Mosque? 

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Creating a skin colour chart can be useful and adults can support discussions around this. 

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Adults can actively support children to talk about their skin colour. More children can join in and a rich, responsive display can be created.

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Ensure diverse scripts ( eg Arabic, Mandarin, Ukrainian) are available for all learners to explore. In this example, the child always selected her language script (Arabic) and proudly rushed to show her dad when picked up. 

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This child is curious about different languages and knows that her friend speaks Urdu. She often returns to this in her play, and a short interaction about languages between the two friends was heard.

“I think it’s O ( Zero). Child E

I don’t know it in Urdu. Child H

Does your mum know? Child E

I don’t know yet. Child H

We can ask her. When does she pick up? Child E

Maybe my mum does know. I’ll call you when she picks me up. Child H

Do you know Tricia? ( to adult)”

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Are scripts available as an every day resource? This learner had a strong sense of self. She often role played, talked and made marks in her home language script. 

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This child referred to number script to record her counting in Arabic.

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Children and staff can collect food packaging to add to the home corner. This can lead to high engagement and discussion, resulting in the creation of personal shopping lists.

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A parent adds to the nursery's bilingual songbook with her child, who is very motivated to sing and mark make with parent.

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This is the book of the moment in one setting! The book cover and author photo make a powerful visual statement about diverse texts. A Youtube link of the author reading his book could be shared with all families. This approach challenges settings to carefully reflect which authors and texts are given visibility throughout the year and why.

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Youtube link to author reading the book.

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Can the hairdresser/barber shop area be more reflective of children's lives? This area has had lots of engagement by children. Families can be asked to demonstrate styling, comment or contribute.

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This child is writing numbers in Urdu. She checked with her mum what zero was. She was very motivated and persisted with this over a substantial time. There was lots of discussion with friends at the table over “ZERO” in  children's languages.

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"I’m doing my black hair like my mum has. Do you know that? She puts her hair under her hijab but it’s still black like mine and so shiny." 

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Does the range of tools available for mark-making encourage children to explore and make sense of the world around them?

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Children here are playing cooperatively in the home corner, talking about their new babies. How do we make sure dolls and resources are representative of our families and wider Communities? 

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While writing a shopping list, this child made links between her recent past in Nigeria and her new home in Glasgow. The adult as a play partner is crucial in fostering a sense of belonging through natural talk. What experiences and interactions could follow on from this discussion?

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Using magnifiers to identify changes in nature over a period of time, to see diversity in nature and to get to know nature in your local community.

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Are there opportunities for children to cook and eat outdoors? This can lead to discussions about different cooking and eating cultures and practices.

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Are there opportunities to look at seasonality of different foods such as strawberries or pumpkins in Scotland? These discussions can broaden this out to the global food culture which some children have an awareness of, such as mangoes from South Asia available every May/June from World Food shops. This is a provocation for rich talk and part of some families' food culture and is a good opportunity to involve families.

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Your Fantastic Elastic Brain book introduces the concept of neuroplasticity and a growth mindset, to challenge people’s internalised stereotypes about their own intelligence (e.g. common stereotypes for Black girls) and to challenge people’s internalised assumptions about other people’s intelligence (e.g. White children assuming only White people can be scientists).

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Read Aloud: Your Fantastic Elastic Brain | JoAnn Deak, Ph.D.

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Toys and Games to Challenge Gender, Racial and other Stereotypes

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Toys and Games to Challenge Gender, Racial and other Stereotypes

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Welcome to the toy box revolution! #ToyLikeMe™ is a creative collective celebrating diff:ability in toys and calling on the global toy industry to positively represent 150 million kids with disability and different worldwide.

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Mantra Lingua: Multi-Lingual Picture Books

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Mantra Lingua: Multi-Lingual Picture Books

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Dual-language resources for bilingual children and parents and for the multi-lingual classroom. Bilingual books for children | Mantra Lingua UK

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Mirrors & Windows: Developing anti-racist education through books

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Mirrors & Windows: Developing anti-racist education through books

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Mirrors & Windows: Developing anti-racist education through books – Highland One World

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Books have the power to shape the way children see themselves and the world. They can act as mirrors that reflect what we know about ourselves and the world we live in. They can also act as windows into worlds and experiences that are different to our own.

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Mochara Goes to Nursery: Free picture book translated into 5 languages about ups and downs of Mochara's first day at nursery and reassures children about what to expect.

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Mochara Goes to Nursery: Free picture book translated into 5 languages about ups and downs of Mochara's first day at nursery and reassures children about what to expect.

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‘Mochara Goes to Nursery’ is available to all refugee and migrant children. Distribution of all Welcome to Scotland packs are arranged directly via local authorities, who should get in touch directly with the EIS to notify them of numbers required. There are 5 versions of the book, each containing a separate translation into the languages below –

French

Polish

Arabic

Dari and Pashto

Russian and Ukrainian

For more information, please contact John Harris in the Education & Equality Department.

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To celebrate Refugee Week, EIS Ex-President Paula McEwan reads ‘Mochara Goes to Nursery’.

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Mother Tongue Other Tongue Poetry Collection

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Mother Tongue Other Tongue Poetry Collection

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An electronic flipbook of poems written and read by children celebrating the creativity, linguistic diversity and cultural heritage of young people across Scotland.

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This year marked a fresh chapter for the Mother Tongue Other Tongue (MTOT) multilingual poetry competition as it returned to a renewed focus on the written word after a year's break. Now over a decade since the original Glasgow pilot in 2014, MTOT continues to celebrate the creativity, linguistic diversity and cultural heritage of young people across Scotland.

We were thrilled to receive over 150 entries, representing 37 different languages - including first ever submissions in Seychellois Creole and Amharic. The range was extraordinary: acrostics, diamantes, raps, humorous pieces, and deeply moving reflections on identity, family, nature and belonging. Additionally, this year's competition included a special prize category inspired by the National Poetry Day theme of Play. We were delighted by the enthusiastic response, with poets exploring the theme in imaginative and unexpected ways. The richness of voices this year was further uplifted by the support of the new Scots Makar, Peter Mackay, whose encouragement helped inspire learners to share their stories with confidence.

Our online awards ceremony, held on 24 March 2026 to mark International Poetry Day (21 March), brought together pupils, teachers, families and special guests for a joyful celebration of Scotland's multilingual landscape. Expert judges from the Universities of Strathclyde, Glasgow and Edinburgh - alongside the Development Manager at the Association for Language Learning, the UK's major subject association for those involved in teaching foreign languages - faced an exceptionally difficult task. The standard was so high that, after much deliberation, they not only selected winners in each category but also chose to recognise several additional entries with highly commended awards.

Where permission was granted, the winning and highly commended poems are available to view in the presentation flipbook below.

SCILT is immensely proud of every participant. MTOT continues to show how powerfully young people can express themselves when given the space to explore language, identity and imagination. We look forward to seeing even more languages, more creativity and more courageous voices in the years ahead.

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Award winners and highly commended entries for the Mother Tongue Other Tongue (MTOT) multilingual poetry competition in Scotland 2025-26