SD Bubble Wrap & Postcards

5 May 2022

The Bubble Wrap & Postcards to and from Britten Court

Our first creative session at Roman Hill Primary School and, with poet Dean Parkin in charge, it was a splendid opportunity to listen to him reciting the Bubble Wrap.

Dean loves words, he writes lists of words, he has books full of lists of words.

The Bubble Wrap is one such list; his ability to remember it all is breath taking, and the children were captivated.

The recital led into a different sort of list-writing; thinking of all the ways we can say hello to someone.

As we couldn’t meet face-to-face, we decided to write postcards to the residents at Britten Court.

But, when you’ve never met someone before, it can be difficult to know how best to say ‘hello’.

Top postcard message says “Dear friend I’ve never met before. My name is Caleb and I can land a front flip on my trampoline and I am good at playing football. Do you like me?”

Messages from other postcards:

“Hello, my name is Taylor. I’m 9 and I dislike fire alarms. What do you dislike?”

“My name is Ashleigh. I’m quite tall and have a big Labrador called Alfie.”

Kittens & Pizza (but no pineapple)

Asked to write one thing about themselves and ask a question of the adults, the children were soon sharing their love of turtles, kittens and pizza (although not with pineapple) and asking about pets, hobbies and favourite sports.

Postcards from Britten Court

The children’s postcards were delivered to Britten Court, together with an Activity Pack for the residents and a parcel of postcards for their replies.

And what lovely replies they were—from a picture of a tortoise by Maureen to a long list of jokes from Martin; the children were thrilled to get them all.

“Hello Ashleigh, my name is Pat. I also have a Labrador called Toby, he likes food a lot.”

“My name is Marlene. Yes, I do like hearing the purring of kittens. Do you like the Ocean?”

“I’m Rodney and I used to play for Lowestoft Town, I played full back.”

“My name is Stan, I’m too old to run around, but running around helps keep you fit. We have a fire alarm every Monday, the noise doesn’t worry me so much now.”

Q: How do mountains stay warm in winter?
A: Snow caps.

Q: What do cows order from?
A: Cattle-logs.

The residents decorated their postcards in many ways, including one with an image of Freddy the tortoise, who lives in Maureen’s garden and will be back soon, after his winter sleep.