It’s been go go go here at Make Play as we finalise Constable’s Garden - our latest playscape inspired by the work of Suffolk’s own John Constable.
We love a great brief like this and we’re grateful to @suffolk_community_libraries and @ipswichmuseums for commissioning us as part of the yearlong Constable #C250 celebrations funded by @heritagefunduk
Ahead of our first outing tomorrow (Chantry Library from 10am) here’s a little behind the scenes look at one of my favourite ever makes - a super soft and cosy hedgerow!
Our playscape is designed exclusively for under 5s and will be out and about across Ipswich and Suffolk this summer and autumn. Find out where we’ll be visiting by going to Suffolk Community Library’s what’s on pages.
We can’t wait to see some of you soon! ☀️
hello from us! today we are back in the studio after some time off over easter.
we are now in the final stages of putting together our #constable250 playscape for @suffolk_community_libraries@ipswichmuseums Constable’s Garden playscape.
This unique Constable-inspired touring playscape will be visiting different venues this summer 👀☀️
Expect to crawl under rooftops, play with the haystack, dig in muddy mounds and collect apples from the apple tree.
Do you have a child under 5? Come and play with us! Details of our first session in May coming soon 🧡
#creativeplay #makeplay
Do you know a young person aged 8-16 who is currently not attending school full time?
🧶MAKE KITS is a new creative project designed to support young people in Ipswich living in IP1-5.
💌Starting this May, participants will receive a monthly craft kit in the post for 6 months.
💻There is also the option to meet us and everyone taking part on zoom each month, but no pressure.
📋Parents, carers and teachers or anyone else working with young people are welcome to fill out the simple form on our website to get involved.
🩷We are so happy to bring you this work for FREE thanks to this initiative being funded by the Harwich Haven Authority Grantmaking Programme through Suffolk Community Foundation @suffolk_giving .
🧶If you know a family or a teacher who might be interested in this, please share this post with them. Young people need no diagnosis or evidence of why they aren’t attending full time. Home educated children are very welcome too!
🧡This is so close to my heart. I really understand how heavy it feels to navigate life with a child at home with you when it wasn’t in your plan.
👀link in bio to sign up.
#makeplay #makekits
A short but beautiful roundup of our lovely morning piloting our first MAKE WITH US session 🩷
🧵We welcomed 10 lovely ladies to join us in creating leaves for an upcoming installation we are working on.
🧵We would love to host more sessions like these - would you think about joining us another time? Let us know in the comments times that would work for you!
🧵Thank you to all the lovely ladies who came! & thank you to councillor Debbie Richards for believing in our project 🩷
🧵If you missed out on joining us this time, we still have space on our online session but please sign up by midnight tonight so we can post you a kit in time!
🧵Interested in joining in on the making but can’t or don’t want to join in on the social aspect? We want to hear from you too! We are really interested in future projects involving sending kits out to those who can complete them at home in their own time… send us a message!
Something a little bit different from us for you 🩷
Recording voiceovers is hard 🤣🤣🤦🏻♀️
✨ Want to make something beautiful – and be part of something new?
💗 We’re inviting local Ipswich mums to join a FREE creative making session with us — a relaxed, no-pressure space to unwind, get crafty, and connect.
🧡 These sessions are for all mums, at any stage of motherhood. The project is born out of a moment of transition in our own lives as our youngest children have started school 🥺
🌿 This is part of an exciting new idea we’re testing out with Suffolk Libraries — and we’d love your help shaping it! We’re designing a creative playscape for early years children, and the pieces you make will become part of our installation.
🧡 No experience needed at all — just bring yourself, have a play with the materials, and let us know what you think!
🧵 Join us in person:
📍 Ipswich County Library — Monday 17th November
📍 Gainsborough Library — Tuesday 18th November
🕘 Arrive from 9:45am | Crafting 10–11am
💻 Can’t make it in person? No worries! We’ve got a Zoom session on Monday 24th November, 10–11am — and we’ll post you a FREE craft kit so you can join from home.
✨ Everything is provided — just show up and have a go. Your voice and creativity will help us shape something special for Suffolk families.
💗 Booking is essential via our website / link in bio.
This project is generously funded by Suffolk County Councillors Debbie Richards and Lucy Smith — thank you for believing in our project 💗
CALLING ALL LOCAL MUMS
✨ Want to make something beautiful – and be part of something new?
🩷 We’re inviting local mums to join a FREE creative making session with us — a relaxed, no-pressure space to unwind, get crafty, and connect.
🧡These sessions are for all mums, at any stage of motherhood. The project is born out of a moment of transition in our own lives as our youngest children have started school 🥹
🌱 This is part of an exciting new idea we’re testing out with Suffolk Libraries — and we’d love your help shaping it! We’re designing a creative playscape for early years children, and the pieces you make will become part of our installation.
🧡 No experience needed at all — just bring yourself, have a play with the materials, and let us know what you think!
🧵 Join us in person:
📍 Ipswich County Library — Monday 17th November
📍 Gainsborough Library — Tuesday 18th November
🕤 Arrive from 9:45am | Crafting 10–11am
💻 Can’t make it in person? No worries! We’ve got a Zoom session on Monday 24th November, 10–11am — and we’ll post you a FREE craft kit so you can join from home.
✨ Everything is provided — just show up and have a go. Your voice and creativity will help us shape something special for Suffolk families.
🩷Booking is essential via our website / link in bio.
This project is generously funded by Suffolk County Councillors Debbie Richards and Lucy Smith - thank you for believing in our project 🩷
🪡Today we went to Sidegate Primary to hang “Who Am I?” a collaborative quilt made by @makeplay.org.uk and Year 5 pupils.
🧵This beautiful project was made possible by the wonderful @thomaswolsey550 fund who supported much of our work in schools earlier this year.
🧵Being at Sidegate was an absolute joy; we really loved working with all three classes and spent two mornings with each. Their openness to create freely was just magic to be around.
🧵Each pupil produced a self-portrait felt square, with many then producing a second more abstract square to represent themselves and their interests.
🧵Thank you so much to Hannah @thomaswolsey550 for bringing this project into reality.
🧵Thank you so much to everyone at Sidegate for being so welcoming and such good fun.
🩷When we left the school with all the loose squares, Kara then had the task of bringing it all together and sewing the final quilt. Thank you @kara.jags your skills are exceptionally impressive 🔥I could never have done this!
See more on stories!
#makeplay #wolsey550
..another update from our time @playsculptures at Thomas Wolsey School in Ipswich!
🧡 This week marks our third installation for the project; today the youngest children joined us in the afternoon for a play.
🧡 We are learning a lot about the range in play preferences for children at this school and enjoying the challenge of trying to meet the creative play needs of each and every child.
🧡 This week we are exploring haptics and also experimenting with some new tunnel structures.
🧡 See more behind the scenes on our stories / check our highlight to see more of this project.
🧡 If you’ve attended our baby or toddler sessions in the past and are wondering where we’ve disappeared to, we’ve been busy working in schools all of 2025 so far! Baby and toddler sessions will return in the future though so keep an eye on our page for future sessions 😍
#creativeplay #makeplay
🟣 This term we have been working on our Ball Run Project in Ipswich schools and we are absolutely LOVING it!
🟡 Funded by #thomaswolsey550 we designed two giant ball run frames for children to work with to create large ball runs.
🟢 Mainly working with 7-8 year olds, classes are split into smaller groups and work in teams of 4-6 alongside each other to make their ball run.
🔵 The challenge is to make the ball run for 10 seconds but also to work as part of a team and to have FUN!
🔴 We feel so lucky to have the privilege of seeing so many children enjoying this challenge with some thriving in new ways outside of their typical classroom environment.
🟡 SO much learning; science, maths, design, english.. it’s a frantic but brilliant 60-85 minutes of chaos and productivity rolled into one!
🟣 Sadly we are coming to the end of our visits to schools funded by #thomaswolsey550 BUT this project is still available if you would like us to bring it to your school or any setting! (We are desperate to do this for adult groups too 🤪🤣)
🔴 We’ve said it many times but this is a magical opportunity for us, that we get to call this a job. We have had some amazing feedback from staff and children about what they gained from working with us. We’ve seen children thrive when we’ve given them creative freedom to produce something brilliant in collaboration with their peers. So much learning for them but so much learning for us adults too..
#believeinthechild #makeplay
This week we did our first installation at Thomas Wolsey School for the @aceagrams funded Play Sculptures project designed by Lucy Keany @playsculptures .
🧡 We ran sessions for children with complex needs aged 4-8 on Monday and Tuesday this week.
🧡 We designed this environment to learn more about collective and individual play preferences of the children, focusing on textures and surfaces.
🧡 We will now have time to reflect on our observations and findings, ready to come back with a new setup focused on Cause and Effect later in the spring.
🧡This is a very special place with warm, inspiring staff and brilliantly unique children. We feel very lucky and excited to be working here and learning more about how to design creative play opportunities for children with complex needs.
#playsculptures #creativeplay #makeplay
👶👶 BABY SESSIONS ARE BACK! 👶👶
👶 Tickets are now live for our autumn/winter play sessions for babies under 18 months.
👶 Join us at St. Margaret’s Church Hall in the Gladwyn Room for creative play and a cup of ☕️
👶 We are moving sessions for this term to Thursdays after listening to your feedback about which days work best for you.
👶Sessions are 10-11am on 21/11 and 19/12
👶 While there is no onsite parking, you can park up the road and walk down to the venue within a couple of minutes - message us if you need help with where to park!
#makeplay #earlyyears #ipswichbabies #suffolkbabies
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