The Creation Station team were delighted to be approached to work with MCC Media to help with their TV Show My First which is broadcast on CBeebies. Join us by tuning in on Wednesday the 28th of March 2018 at 5:35 pm #myfirstCBeebies
“I had the privilege of working with a media team to record an episode of ‘My First Painting’. I must admit something like this had never happened to me before, only 2 months earlier I was still working as a primary school teacher! Nevertheless, I was prepared to take on the challenge and hopefully do The Creation Station proud.
I discovered this episode would be named ‘My First Paint Class’, and would involve a little boy coming along to take part in a Little Explorers session…so in effect his first painting class.
Prior to the recorded session, I met with some of the media team at the venue (one I use for classes) to discuss the running of the session and what it would involve. It was at that point reality set in as I hadn’t much time to sort the activities and it was just in a few weeks time.
The theme of the session was to include an element of nature as the little boy would be visiting a park and gallery prior to coming to the session. Creative Hub team was on hand and we developed our ideas and chose to do a Big Art session which is hugely popular across the whole UK so we knew it would be a big hit.
I was fortunate to have lots of Little Explorers from classes, friends and neighbours to join in the class. Of course, children and parents were excited and more than willing to be part of the afternoon’s filming.
Although I was initially really nervous beforehand, the actual afternoon of filming was really great fun. We all got involved and enjoyed the craziness of it all. The little boy arrived and really got stuck in. The session ran with our trademark Magic Ideas Box to help unlock each child’s own ideas and nurture their own creativity and imagination.
The children discovered creatures from nature including ladybirds, bumble bees etc…not real ones!
We talked about the creatures and which animal they would like to be, which got imaginations buzzing! We had fun on a brightly coloured parachute and underneath we had the lengths of lining paper for the Big Art session.
The children were amazing, sitting waiting for different shots to be done but clearly wanting to get started with the activity. It was scary for everyone having two cameras recording you and being hooked up to a microphone…but hopefully, we dealt with it ok!
After a short while, the children got going with the session. The session soon flowed more freely and it felt more natural and like our usual Creation Station experience. The children loved being drawn around and the paint and collage were freely applied to their outline shapes. With the support of their parents, the children transformed their Big Art selfie into a creature! Fantastic trees, ladybirds and butterflies being popular creations.
The little boy being filmed was understandably the focus but all the children had an opportunity to discuss their creation whilst being filmed.
Our sessions are usually between 50 minute and an hour, but as this was a bit more involved it took about an hour and a half. Plus we had a break for refreshments. At the end, we sang our creative kid’s song and the crew and the little boy headed off for the next part of the filming.
The children and parents who took part were still buzzing, proud of their Big Art Creations! Each child was given a little thank you gift from Creation Station for being so awesome!
Parents gave a voluntary contribution towards the session which I donated to the fund set up for the victims and families of the Manchester Bombing which had only happened a week prior.
The afternoon is one I will never forget. I’m nervous and excited to see the programme live on CBeebies, but hopefully, I’ll enjoy it!. Thank you to Creative Hub for your help and support and to MCC Media and CBeebies for a wonderful opportunity”
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