PLAY connects with young children and families across the East End of Glasgow as a means of understanding what is important to them as we look to the future and recover from COVID-19. The TODAY MUSEUM team will be joined by artist Matt Addicott from Platform to deliver a series of play sessions that are full of fun, joy and shared activities. Through these sessions, the artists will be able draw out the feelings, needs and hopes of the children involved. These will then be processed by artist Ella McLean into a final animation.
PLAY was commissioned by Starcatchers as part of a Scottish Government consultation with 3-8yr olds about life after COVID-19.
“What do you want to do?”
“Play the Monster Game! Davie! Come and play the Monster Game!”
R - “I can reach up too! Here!”
B - “You’re very brave. Do you think you’re going to fall off the seat?”
R+H - “No!”
R - “Maybe or maybe not.”
H - “No I promise not.”
R - “Those ones are a bit wobbly.
H - “A wee bit wobbly! I might fall off. We’re ALL brave!”
“Can I ask you a very tricky question?”
“Mhm.”
“What’s the most important thing in the world?”
“FAMILY!”
“[Laughter] He’s setting fire to it!”
“[Laughter] I was about to tell him to stop, [laughter], but he did.”
“I love Babbit…and John!”
“Mummy Mummy! Mummy! … Ba ba”
“Mix it in, mix it in. Mm purple! My favourite colour! Purple for me. I’m finished!”
Mummy - “That is so cool, it’s like magical isn’t it! And I wonder if you make a wish, Hannah, you like making wishes don’t you?”
H - “I wish that everywhere was candy!”
M - “Oh that’s a good wish!”
H - “You haven’t tried candy before.”
R - “Candy floss you mean.”
H - “Candy floss! Once my friend gave me it and I took a little bit and it tasted like fluff. Like carpet fluff.”
[Upset cries]
“You can share together look!”
“They’ve only met each other about three weeks ago so they’re still getting used to each other.”
[Crying calms]
“Aww, sharing is hard.”
[Bird chirping]
“Boys are we going to stop and do the jump?”
“Birds!”
“Who’s going first? Aww look it’s birds and seed for the birds.”
“Let’s take some! We need some, daddy, we need some. I want to feed the birds.”
“Which birds?”
“Oh bees! Bumble bees!" Daddy please can you help!”
“Do you like being all in school together?”
“I would if we could actually all go in the playground together.”
“Are you in different groups then, in the playground?”
“Yeah, and classes.”
“Before COVID, were you all able to play together in the playground?”
“Yeah. Its just because of COVID, we’re in class bubbles and in the playground we’re seperate from other classes.”
“What’s happened?”
“What has happened?”
“Woah!
“Woah, there you go!”
All - “Woah!”
“Where is it!”
“When it’s playtime or lunchtime, what do you do then?”
“I play the most, I practise my Karate skills. Sometimes alone and sometimes with other people.”
K - “Can we go camping?”
Mummy - “You’re going camping with Daddy aren’t you?”
K - “Yes!”
Rebecca - “M, do you like camping?”
M - “Yes.”
Rebecca - “What’s your favourite bit of camping?”
M - “With daddy, Kaci and me!”
Mummy - “Spending time with daddy, Kaci and you.”
Rebecca - “It’s nice to have quality time isnt it!”
Mummy + K - “Yeah!”
Mummy - “What else do we like doing?”
K - “Nothing!”
[laughs]
F - “We went there not that long ago too.”
M - “There’s quite a very hard bit, I climbed on.”
Matt - “Did you?”
M - “Yeah, and there was lots of stones.”
Rebecca - “Lots of stones!”
M - “Yeah!”
F - “I like it!”
M - “I like to go up there and throw stones. There’s a bit you slide, go whee!, and then you can climb up.
F - “I did a very big thing.”
“And you said family?”
“I said the earth!”
“Oh you said the earth! G-E, you said family?”
“Yes!”
“Why is family important to you?
“Because then I wouldn’t exist. And why do we need to exist?”
“That’s a good question.”
“Why? We just die eventually so why do we need to?”
“Hmm.”
“Why do we need to exist?”