Indigo Arts & Crafts

We enjoy so many magical moments at holiday club, especially when we are visited by some very special and talented guests. We were lucky enough to be visited by a local artist Hannah Robinson Illustrations AND a local children’s author Katherine Woodfine this week.

With Hannah, the children looked at ‘The Great British Seaside’ discussing all the things they might see and experimented with different materials to create a variety of textures in their plans before creating a final landscape. Hannah stayed with us for the whole day and the children were delighted to share their finished artwork with her.

With Katherine, the children listened to a snippet of ‘Sophie Takes to the Sky’ and learned all about how Katherine’s books are inspired by real women who made history. They all thought of a person who inspires them and drew portraits of them, sharing the reasons why they chose that person and finished off the workshop designing beautiful hot air balloons from the Sophie story while Katherine moved around the room chatting to the children on each table about what they like to read and stories they have written. They had the opportunity to purchase a book and Katherine very kindly wrote personal messages for each child in them and presented them one by one. Two truly inspirational ladies who created two very special days for our Indigoers! 🥰🙌🏼🎨🖌️🖼️📝✍🏼

(More photos to follow)

GUEST WORKSHOP DAYS AVAILABILITY! 🎉🎉🎉

We have some availability remaining for holiday club this week, and what an exciting few days ahead we have planned for the final week of summer holiday club 2024! 🤗

🎉Monday 12th August - Children’s Ceilidh with Richard Moss of Drop The Floor and Nick Reay Music who both lead the Lancashire Youth Folk Ensemble for Lancashire Music Hub.

🎉Tuesday 13th August - Hannah Robinson Illustrations (‘Beside the Seaside’ themed illustration workshop)

🎉Wednesday 14th August - Not a guest workshop day but a popular craft theme of dragons (all creative activities themed around dragons)

🎉Thursday 15th August - Author workshop with Katherine Woodfine (books available to pre-order via email directly to us, which can be signed and personalised on the day, if ordered by Monday 12th - further information on how to do this once you’ve made a booking).

🎉Friday 16th August - Magician and Circus skills workshop with Adrian Catch 'Children's Entertainer (and a special visit from Marco Rea ice cream van hire).

Book now to avoid disappointment! ⤵️

https://indigoartsandcrafts.pembee.app/

indigoartsandcrafts.pembee.app

We’re now approaching the end of week three of summer holiday club and I can hardly believe how quickly the time is passing! ⏰🏃🏼‍♀️💫
Besides our Creative Olympics, this week is also our ‘Wellbeing Week’ where we’ve been exploring all the different ways we can look after ourselves physically, mentally and emotionally but also how we can do our part to look after our planet.
At the start of the week, the children enjoyed a fabulous drama workshop with Emma, with games and a play script focused on Pacific Island Countries and the ocean life surround them. They took on the roles of the sea creatures themselves and performed a fun news report about ocean pollution then designed and painted their own seascape recycled-canvases, with chalk pastel cut-outs on black art paper.🎨🌈😃🙌🏼 We then talked about how we can help the bees and butterflies survive by planting flowers with lots of pollen and the children then designed their own plant pots and planted wildflower seeds and tomatoes.
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On Wednesday, we looked at all the different flags of the world and the children created their own flags, choosing either a specific country, a combination of different countries that are special to them or chose their own design to represent their interests. Continuing on from our discussions about reusing/recycling, we used scrap materials to create 2D Earth models and collected some natural materials for the land areas. 🌎🍃🎨✂️🖌️
It’s certainly been a jam-packed few days learning creatively!

We visited Brazil on Friday for our Creative Olympics and finished week two of holiday club with a bang (quite literally!) during our Samba drumming workshop with the fabulous musician and music teacher, Nick Reay!
The children learned all about the origins of Samba and had the chance to try out all the different drums and percussion. Nick taught them several different rhythms which they worked in teams to perform. We also looked at some Brazilian modern art and created some fabulous pictures using the vibrant colours of oil pastels. Finally, we handed out gold, silver and bronze medals to everyone for the table points earned throughout the week - well done to everyone for great teamwork and kindness shown! 🥇🥈🥉🙌🏼

What a wonderfully calm morning we had yesterday as our Creative Olympics took us to Japan and China with talented local artist Caren Threlfall, who came along to deliver a fabulous silk painting workshop. Thank you so much to Caren, who taught the children about where silk comes from and how it’s made, before helping them to have a go at creating their own silk paintings, inspired by images of oriental lanterns, fans and koi. The concentration levels were immense and it totally paid off - everyone produced a gorgeous painting and were very proud of their efforts, as were all of the staff!
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The children enjoyed a great afternoon packed with a picnic lunch, free play, den-building, bug-hunting and shrink art, turning their designs into keyrings which they watched shrink down to a quarter of the original size before their very eyes! 🤩
A brilliant day all round!

So many magical memories still to share! Our week has been crammed full of so much fun but I think back to my own childhood and I think to myself, ‘Was there anything more exciting than having a water fight with your friends on a hot sunny day in the summer holidays?!’ I think the afternoon of water fun after a hot morning singing and dancing was welcomed by everyone (including some of the staff!) on Wednesday afternoon! 😄💦☀️

As part of our Creative Olympics, we decided to go back to Ancient Greece where the Olympics first began so on Tuesday, the children made these beautiful flower crowns! 🌸🌼🌺👑 They worked nimbly to twist and thread their vines and flowers into a crown or headband and added fresh leaves to them later. They also enjoyed an afternoon of painting, where they were able to explore with different brush styles and watercolours. A wonderful day had by all! 🥰🎨🖌️🧑🏻‍🎨☀️🫶🏼

What a start to week two of holiday club! With the Paris 2024 Olympics now under way, yesterday saw us launch our ‘Creative Olympics’! 🎨🖌️🥇🥈🥉

Each table team drew a country at random and the children got busy making flags, Olympic torches and researching their country for fantastic facts linking to creativity. In the afternoon we had an opening ceremony to celebrate each country and cheer them on! 👏🏻🎉 Each day we will be linking some of our activities to other countries, with the aim of covering as many different countries as possible over the next three weeks. Everyone had lots of fun enjoying the outdoor space too - this week really feels like summer has finally arrived, weather included! ☀️We’re so excited about what’s in store! 🤗
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Yesterday, we had a busy morning crafting beautiful nature-themed wind chimes, which the children constructed themselves. It was great fine motor skill practise with some tricky threading to connect the chimes to the wooden shapes but everyone showed great perseverance and the older children helped the younger ones with some of their trickier knots. 💞They turned out beautifully and every single one of them should be super proud of their efforts!
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In the afternoon, we enjoyed a picnic lunch, some fun challenge games and lots of imaginative outdoor play, before finishing off our first week with The Big Nature Quiz, which the children grouped themselves into teams for. Thanks to everyone who joined us, we can’t wait for more creative, memory-making fun in week two! 😃

Thursday saw Little Zoo To You join us at holiday club!
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The children enjoyed a fabulous morning, meeting and greeting the gorgeous gang of rescues: Spike the guinea pig, Tink the tortoise, Millie the millipede, Karen and Klause the hermit crabs, Michelle the giant African land snail, Kellog the corn snake and the little tree frog who is currently unnamed but the children nicknamed ‘Prince’ as they were so fond of the late Prince Charming. 🥹

They learnt lots of fascinating facts about all the different creatures, as well as having the opportunity to feed and hold some of them. In the afternoon, inspired by our visitors, the children junk-modelled their favourite animals and used oil pastels to bring out their rich colours. They also found it very calming and therapeutic to just sit and watch the hermit crabs quietly or to feed the tortoise and Guinea pig. So many of them braved holding Kellog and realised that she wasn’t really so scary after all, she was truly quite amazing.

Thanks again Little Zoo to You - with Gemma for another wonderful visit!

What a fabulous few days we’ve had for our Nature week! 🌳🐾🦔🪶🐿️🕊️🕸️🦋🐝🐛
We looked in detail at the difference between butterflies and moths and went on a caterpillar hunt, where we also found other fabulous creatures along the way! A brand new bug hotel has gone up at the clubhouse, along with a bird feeder so the children can enjoy seeing more of the local bird life and insects close up. 🤗

Using our caterpillar morning as inspiration, the children junk-modelled ‘moon moths’ and foraged the area for natural decoration. For the last two days, we’ve made full use of our outdoor classroom and the fine weather, with the children not only enjoying the team tree challenges but also making their very own nature paintbrushes. 🖌️🍂🌿🎨

To cool down on a humid afternoon, fruit smoothie mocktails were on the menu, with the children working in table teams to blend the tastiest drink from a variety of different fruits and veg, topped off with summer stirrers and umbrellas!
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We love it when the summer weather emerges, allowing us to enjoy al fresco snack time and picnic lunches - being outdoors so much really does make such a difference to the children!

🐾🐥🐸 LITTLE ZOO GUEST WORKSHOP! 🐍🦜🐾
🎉🐾🎉🐾🎉 THURSDAY 25TH JULY 🎉🐾🎉🐾🎉

We have a small number of spaces remaining for tomorrow, when we will welcome Gemma with her fabulous little rescue zoo! Gemma is one of our regular guests to holiday club and with good reason. Every single one of her gorgeous little creatures is a rescue, which makes them all the more special. Gemma uses her vast knowledge and skills to educate children in a fun way about these beautiful animals and insects, whilst putting the care of the animals first, and we also use her visit to inspire our art and craft activities. It’s always a very special and memorable day.

Funded places are fully booked but we still have a handful of payable places left. Head to our booking site here: https://indigoartsandcrafts.pembee.app/ to book your child’s place today. Remember we also offer sibling discounts! 😃

Lots of busy crafters in for the start of Summer Holiday Club! 😃🎉🎨🖌️👩🏻‍🎨

📣 ONLY 3 DAYS LEFT TO GO! 🌞🎨🎭🧶🐝✂️🎶🥁👨‍🍳👨‍🦋🤸🌿

We are BUZZING with excitement for Summer Holiday Club 2024 starting Monday…it’s not too late to book!

Reserve your child’s place here 👉 indigoartsandcrafts.pembee.app

Or if you have any queries, contact 07534 500980 or email [email protected]

📣 JUST UNDER 7 DAYS LEFT TO GO! 🌞🎨🎭🧶🐝✂️🎶🥁👨‍🍳👨‍🦋🤸🌿

Summer Holiday Club 2024 starting next Monday…it’s not too late to book!

Reserve your child’s place here 👉 https://indigoartsandcrafts.pembee.app/

For more information visit our website 👉 https://indigoartsandcrafts.co.uk/event/summer-holiday-club-2024/

Or if you have any queries, contact 07534 500980 or email [email protected]

BOOKING UPDATE:

If you are booking HAF places, please be aware that at present, all places have been fully booked. We are operating a waiting list system for those who are wanting funded places. Please do not book from the paid places if you have the HAF vouchers, the government have issued a new system without informing the providers and haven’t got their central booking system up and running yet, which has caused some confusion with booking. HAF places have a separate allocation to paid places which we must adhere to. Many thanks for your patience! 😃👍🏻

🎨 FUNDED AND PAID PLACES AVAILABLE! 🎨

Indigo Arts and Crafts is an award-winning, unique holiday club experience for children of school age in the local area.

Nestled in a beautiful semi-rural spot in the Lune Valley just a short drive over the Bay Gateway, we take a holistic approach to creativity, with a strong emphasis on nature and the world around us and a wide variety of creative activities that take place both indoors in a spacious community hall and outdoors in the expanse of surrounding greenery.

Children get the chance to use their imagination creatively through a wide range of fun and engaging, artistic and nature-themed activities from painting to junk-modelling, nature trails to Bushcraft skills, pottery to baking, garden-themed crafts to guest workshops delivering exciting, hands-on, enrichment experiences. Guests this summer will include local artists and authors, performing arts, animal interaction and many more!

Indigo Arts and Crafts Holiday Club aims to 'inspire young minds creatively' where children leave with new skills, friendships and lots of happy memories.

Full days at holiday club are open to children aged 5-13, with half days during this 4 week period available for 4 year olds only. A number of HAF-funded places are also available each day for children who receive free school meals.
*Please note we offer generous sibling discounts

If you are interested in booking a place for your child/children or would like to discuss holiday club in further details, drop us a message. Alternatively, you can access booking here: https://indigoartsandcrafts.pembee.app/

Come and join us for a summer of creative fun! 🤗

A brilliant last day had by all, with a busy morning freestyle paper crafting and designing spoon puppets. 🎨✂️📏
We spent much of the afternoon outdoors, enjoying the fresh air and sunshine enjoying den building, tree exploration, bug hunting and a sensory nature trail. Sitting on the grass at the end of the trail, we all watched and listened for as many different signs and sounds of nature as we could see/hear. The kids were amazed at how many different bird calls they could hear and how many flew down while we were still there! They saw a rook, 2 magpies, a jackdaw, 2 blackbirds and a robin in those few minutes.
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Being the last day of half term holiday club, we finished the day with some games, prizes and a little sweet treat for everyone.

Thanks so much to all the parents and carers who have supported Indigo Arts & Crafts over half term, have a great weekend before schools return next week. We look forward to seeing lots of you over summer! Booking is now open - 7 weeks to go! 🤗