Promoting outdoor play the Ardersier way
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Children around Ardersier and Croy have Easter in the bag this year.
Volunteers from Ardersier Community Hub have delivered activity bags to children, as well as preparing a series of online stories and activities paid for by the Community Resilience Fund.
Organisers asked storyteller Lizzie McDougall of Highland Story Quilts to put together the activities. As well as recording online folk stories, specifically set in the landscape around Ardersier, she gave instructions for a nature-friendly craft activity
Chairwoman of Ardersier Community Hub, Christine Wood said: “The idea is to promote enjoying the outdoors, and to celebrate Easter with activities people can enjoy together, even with social distancing.
“We’ve worked with Croy and Ardersier toddler groups, and Ardersier Primary School to deliver Easter activities for the younger members of our community.
“The videos mean our community can enjoy a shared experience, even with social distancing.
“The activity bags have been given out via local toddler groups and to younger pupils at the primary school."
The activity bags include paints, bubbles, paintbrush, stickers, an Easter themed colouring in sheets, a wee pebble and pine cone.
The items in the bags are filled with items that link up with the content of the videos – for example the bubbles can be used to catch a rainbow as in one of the stories; and the pine cone can be used to make a nature-friendly bird feeder – one of the videos has instructions on how to make it.
Mrs Wood continued: “We worked with the school and toddler groups to develop items the children would enjoy, and had some educational value. For example the school suggested it would be good to have a project with instructions for the children to follow.
"One thing Lizzie came up with was making the paper bags in to a lantern: decorating it, colouring it, and using an electric candle light to light up the bag – great fun and easy to do.”
Frances Robin, secretary of Croy Toddler Group said: “The children just dived right in to the bags as soon as they saw them.
"They had a great time and the videos went down really well too. The story about Michael Scott the local wizard was particularly popular with Harry Potter fans.”
