PLAY & Create: A Gathering Space in the Woods

Join us for a playful, hands-on design workshop in nature where we invite young voices, minds and hands to contribute to the community-shaped Pavilion of the Commons.

Together, we’ll explore the woodland, gather inspiration from the surrounding habitats, and imagine what a shared gathering space in the woods could feel and look like.

This workshop is part of the Pavilion of the Commons, a community volunteer-led project bringing people together through making. People that live, work and visit the Valley are invited into the collaborative process of creating a small woodland pavilion using natural and reclaimed materials: a place of nature crafts and skill-sharing during the Ouseburn Festival (4-5th July). This session is part of the imagination process inviting youth to shape and take part in the co-creation.

We’ll begin with a gentle wander through the woods, looking closely at the patterns of bark and leaves, hidden shelters, muddy paths, birdsong, colours, textures, and the small details that often go unnoticed.

Together, we will imagine what kind of gathering space could belong here.

Immersed in the future pavilion location, participants will take part in playful creative activities including:

• ✏️ Drawing and mapping ideas for a woodland meeting place
• 🌱 Imagining spaces for gathering, resting, crafting, storytelling, and play
• 🎨 Painting, collage, stencils, and collaborative mark-making inspired by the forest around us
• 🛠️ Experimenting with colours, patterns, and materials to shape the pavilion's deisgn

At the heart of the workshop is the belief that children are not just visitors to shared spaces, but important contributors to them. Their ways of noticing, imagining, building, and playing can help us think differently about how spaces are created and cared for.

Through making together, we’ll explore how communities can shape places collectively, with creativity, curiosity, and connection to the natural world.

Children of all ages with a parent, carer, or guardian, young people.

No experience needed — just curiosity, imagination, and clothes you don’t mind getting messy.

Please wear suitable outdoor clothing and footwear for woodland terrain and weather conditions.

This is your invitation to be part of creating something together and put your imprint on this collective space.

Let's harness our curiosity and creativity to shape a woodland space made by the community, for the community. 🌿🎨🛠️

Meeting point: Ouseburn Farm

or if late, find us in the woods at what three words location: ///space.soak.stress

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

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