On 22nd October 2019, I took part in a workshop for Caring Hearts.  As one of the workshop coordinators it was my responsibility to help host a fun filled afternoon of games and activities focused on bringing together our amazing young people through the professional guidance of the dedicated team at Caring Hearts. 

My role was made a lot easier because of the versatile, fun, loving staff whom for the last few years have given their hearts and souls in making sure that everyone who walks through the door at Caring Hearts becomes apart of their extended family.  

We started with some very simple warm up exercises to shake off all those unwanted anxieties and nerves, there’s nothing worse than walking into a room full of strangers and being expected to let your guard down and relax. And that was the centre point of the activity, I wanted our young people and staff members alike to feel comfortable in a very unfamiliar, somewhat awkward situation. Credit to the amazing team for getting involved and making everyone feel at ease. 

After a good hour of introductions and icebreakers we ventured into the games area set up by Aisha and her extraordinary daughter Jennah, who took to the young people like a duck to water, (she’s a natural). 

• Emoji tokens: children use emojis to show how they feel about their foster
• Can Toss: Children write or illustrate what they would like to change about their life or care, scrunch into a ball and throw at cans/cups to knock them over, score points or win a prize.
• Bracelet Making/voting beads: whilst making bracelets, children will use the beads to cast their vote for preferred future activities.
• Thinking Ahead/Timeline activity with me ( My favourite) children create their own projected timeline using arts & crafts mediums to demonstrate what they want for their future; how they plan to achieve it and what support they will need.
• Wish Tree (younger children): children draw and cut out their own hand shape to illustrate or write what they wish for the future and stick their hand shapes to the tree as leaves.

Young people respond well to these kinds of activities. It relaxes their muscles helping them to release stress and be calmer. It’s also good for past traumas and it can bring young people into their present, safe reality, which helps them focus better on living a good life. 

The young people really enjoyed the activities and this was evident in their big smiles.I think the staff enjoyed it more but that’s what makes it such a special day, it was for everyone to have a better understanding of one another.  

After an eventful morning we sat down for our improvised indoor picnic with a selection of mouth water food consisting of pizza, sandwiches and everyone’s favourite, chips!!!! There was also a healthy selection of fruit but the star of the show was the 12” margarita that was devoured within seconds. 

It was nice to all sit together and converse whilst enjoying a feast fit for a king.   

After lunch it was back into the games room where we carried on with the activities. This time everyone was a lot more relaxed and talkative, though the giant feast started to kick in and some of us (ME) wanted to sleep but that wasn’t going to happen we were all having too much fun.

The whole day was was a huge success and everyone had such a good time.