POP UP

recently i was asked to visit two schools in london to deliver a workshop event as part of Booklinks and POP UP. the schools had been given my books to read a few weeks before my event and so when i arrived many were excited to have me there which is always a nice feeling! one school had "Batty" and the other school had "Monster Day at Work".

with the first school we read the book then talked about animals at the zoo while i did a few drawings for them. they then created a huge picture with me, all drawing whatever animal from the zoo they wanted so we could hang them upside down on a branch...as is the theme of the book. the school had been really brilliant and done so may lovely things with my book and the children. when i turned up there were bat and lion masks, little bat models and amazing bat handprints. so sweet to see!
the children were reception age so mainly about 4 years old. they all did really well and i took some photos on my phone to show what they created.

the second school had also been working on my book too so i had a really warm reception! again we read the book and then spoke about the themes in the book. we 'brainstormed' ideas about what monsters looked liked which was fun. then they all created there own monster going to work.

a really fun day out for me. i find it is so rewarding to go into schools to do these workshops. connecting with the children that i write these books for is really important. sometimes working from home you can forget who your work is really for. this way i feel excited about working and go home ready to create more things! after all they can be brutally honest, if they don't like your stories then there is very little you can do about it!!