My visit to Church Langton Primary School

Georgina`s goldfish that makes gold and her character Rosie.

It was an absolute pleasure to visit this year 4 class (8-9 years) in Church Langton. The class teacher Tessa (Mrs Bladon) was very accommodating.
I like to start by introducing myself and then talk about how I came about writing the Hollie and Figgs story. Children love the props, in particular, the candy canes which gets a lot of attention. Unfortunately for them, they are not allowed to eat them:)  
The story of Hollie and Figgs is always received very well. I don't read the whole story as I like to have enough time to have a good classroom discussion on the themes in the book, get to know the children a little and hold an activity session.
I decided to do a different type of activity to what I have done before. It was inspired by an activity I did as a child and one my children loved to do.
When I was younger I loved making up different characters from people I knew, teachers, family members and people I saw on TV or in the street. Hollie and Figgs are based on my daughter and our cat. Even the characters in the book show some resemblance to family members and people I know. This is always a good starting point when creating your unique characters for stories:)
You can exaggerate certain characteristics which is great fun to do.
The children loved to get involved, but some preferred to draw and others write, and some like to do both. My aim is to get them to use their imagination and to translate their ideas in whatever medium they feel most comfortable with.
I really enjoyed seeing their exuberant interest and excitement when creating their own characters and everyone joined in which was amazing!
Some children drew our own characters Hollie and Figgs. It always makes me proud that I have created these memorable characters that children love.

Tessa said that the children would be going on to develop their characters into a story of their own. Exciting :) I hope to share some of their work on my website.

The Children`s Creations.

Roxy decided to draw Hollie and Figgs and did an amazing job. Lottie drew a character based on her sister Lulu. Lulu is sporty and always happy. She also drew a dog called Bella who is magical and always makes everyone happy. Her character Lulu made me think of my little Hippogoblin princess, Princess Lulubud, who was in fact based on my sister who I call Lu :) 

Elena drew a lovely picture of a character called Mollie who loves to eat pizza and likes to dress her best and loves makeup. She also drew Max who likes to hang around with Harvey who is 15. Elena also drew Harvey who likes to hang around with Max:)  I like how she has made them look different and has put a lot of detail in her drawings along with some written description of their personalities.

Georgina spent a lot of time perfecting her goldfish. And she did an amazing job and her goldfish can make gold! Now that's a great storyline in the making!

Hayden drew his favourite animal, a tiger! Madison drew a purple and green monster. Bbrrrr :) 
In fact, all the children got involved and thought about what characters they would like in their very own story. 

Here is their work:

These lovely pictures were drawn by India, Roxy, Oscar and Evie.

Look at Harry Potter by Barnaby. (Top left)  I love how he has captured his face and the infamous scar. Then there is Jack's picture, Hayden`s tiger and Lottie's drawing.

Imogen, Piper, Eva-Jean and Madisons wonderful and imaginative pictures.

Alastair, Eve, Mia and Elena`s amazing and detailed drawings.

Elena, Alfie`s story, Jessica and Chloe's lovely black and white picture.

Alfie really got into story writing. He wrote all about Jake and Spike who were his main characters. Jake was moving house, but he was worried about moving to a new school. What an imaginative lovely piece of story writing. Well done to Jake.

More amazing drawings by Lily, Georgina, Amiya, and Syon.

I would like to thank all the class for joining in and making my visit fun and enjoyable. I am so happy that you liked my story. Hollie and Figgs send a big hug to you all.