Magic explorations in East Anglia

I was really happy to be invited back to Great Yarmouth to visit Magic Acorns who are leading pioneering work in early childhood arts with families in Great Yarmouth. With their own space in the heart of the community Magic Acorns are able to offer sessions to families in gorgeous sensory environments which facilitate gentle child-led playful explorations, movement, music and sound making. I was lucky enough to witness a few of their different offers to families with babies and children under 2: Magic Play, Sensory Play, Music Garden and Afro-Portuguese Music Garden.

The space at Magic Acorns

For each session the environment is changed, facilitating artists spend at least an hour setting up the space with props such as balls, percussion instruments, squeaky pigs (one of my favourites), hanging scrunchies, boxes, bells, swathes of material, building blocks, scarves and much more. The white walls of the room are also decorated with abstract projections, which gently move and change, as well as creating oppotunities for shadow play from the light. The environment forms a key element of the work.

Up to 8 families are invited to participate in a session and they are encouraged to leave their mobile phones outside the room, with all facilitators choosing to remain non-verbal throughout, communicating only through sound, gesture and music, creating a focused and performative atmosphere. Families often come in noticeably chatty but soon settle into a focused playtime with their child, following the lead of their child/baby and supported by the artist facilitators. Each session begins with child-led free play, activities developed by the child are observed by the facilitators who interact with responses which include mirroring, conversation using movement and/or sound and gentle offers. Sessions usually end with a more structured adult led circle time which included songs and drumming rhythms. These are often interative and personalised for the children in the room for example, singing hello to each child and acknowledging what they enjoy. Children are invited to join in the circle with their caregivers, most do and any that choose not too can carry on exploring the space. I noticed some were happy to do this and return to the circle now and then for momentary interactions.

Strikingly the space has a very calm ambience, families appear noticeably relaxed and comment frequently on how chilled it is. Differences between the sessions were marked out by the choice of instruments and props laid out in the space, in the case of the Afro-Portuguese Music Garden, songs were sung in Portuguese and latin percussion instruments were more present. The sensory play session is aimed at families who do not feel able to access a mainstream session and this was slightly shorter with no adult-led activity.

Reflection time for the artists is built into the weekly programme and I was encouraged to both draw and speak about any 'magic moments' witnessed in the sessions, of which there were many. There were fleeting moments of interaction captured by careful observers, joyful faces as babies discovered how to ping a hanging scrunchie, banging in time on a drum or a squeaky pig conversation between dad and child.

My play tech creation - flying fish

My week at Magic Acorns was packed with activities which also included a CPD session in Lowestoft where I found out about their 'Sound and Playtech' project, using innovative tech with very young children. I learnt how to record and loop sounds live in a workshop and made a flying fish puppet which produced a sound recorded earlier and was triggered through touching a conductive material. Mind boggling!!!!

I also took part in an artists jam, pushed right out of my comfort zone, it was attended by a lovely bunch of artists. We jammed together for a couple of hours playing with tech, percussion instruments, sounds, projections and drawing. I enjoyed jamming with my flute and vocals, surprising myself at how much fun I found it.

Whilst I was there I also got the opportunity to witness some sessions out in the community, including a sensory play outreach session with a SEND group in a local school and workshop in an Art Gallery inspired by their current exhibition. As always theres a lot to be taken from witnessing other practitioners practice.

Lastly, I was invited to watch Roly Poly, a performance for under 2's, described as 'a warm, musical playscape where families can relax, play and explore together. Using cardboard props, soft lighting and live instruments, we transform community spaces into gentle worlds of sound and movement – designed especially for the youngest audience members.' It was lovely to see live clarinet performed so playfully.

Its wonderful to see how much work there is going on for early years and families in this part of the UK and a lovely generous bunch of people too sharing the same vision.