Workshops

Last week saw our first week at organising and participating in our workshops. After months of organising and finalising with the schools, we finally get our chance to put everything into motion. The first workshop was successfully organised days before the actual event. However it didn't go as smoothly as promised. In the case of illness the group had to be reformed which wasn't a problem as the workshop was explained to everyone within our company. So the first of the workshops went really well and there were no other problems or glitches. The 45 minutes seemed to fly by, the children were really interested with what they were participating in and those who took the workshop were astonished with the creativity and imagination with the results that the children came up with. I know it sounds stupid but never underestimate the power of a child's brain. The imagination and creative flair that had spawned out of these small children amazed me. There were idea's being discussed that in real life could never be put in to reality, for example a tree that produced sweets. Something small like this that I would never of thought of but seemed so simple to a child that it should be an everyday occurrence. I suppose it would solve all problems to pocket money for sweets, just grow your own tree in your back garden, and replenish at your own accord. It just emphasised how imaginative children can be and the loss that adults have for not thinking or creating radical ideas. The children already had a vast knowledge about the Ancient Egyptians, which was brilliant, however i found the children saying things and objects that I had never heard of. Another thing to take away from this experience research your material as knowing what i know now the children knew a lot more about the Egyptians than i did, put me quite to shame. Although the children were in their element about explaining what the Egyptians were all about, having someone completely new listen intently to what they were saying, partly to get a reasonable amount of trust so they can open up and explain their ideas, and partly because research wasn't properly done and wanting to know the information, was one of the few moments that i really enjoyed about the whole workshop. I felt that the children felt wanted and enjoyed being the focus of attention, feeling that all the learning they had been doing had paid off. At the end of the workshop the group felt overwhelmed with the outcome of the workshop, giving them courage to tackle any other workshop we had planned for the future, nothing is impossible and everything is achievable.