Newington Worry Monsters
“I loved every bit of making the monsters for the children.”
“I love my monster so much. It’s better than what i expected.”
Worry Monsters bringing generations together.
During the initial consultation session of Creative Newington 0.2 families were asked to give suggestion on what they would like to create. A very popular idea was to create worry monsters for the children.
A worry monster is a toy designed to help children cope with any worries or anxiexty they may have. The idea is for the child to write or draw down any worry they may have, then feed it to the monster. The monster then ‘eats’ their worries away.
This is a good way for parents to gauge how their child is feeling and what may be worrying them. To the child the monster has eaten their worry but for the parent they can read read the worry. They can then help however possible to take that worry away.
We held two Creative Newington sessions a week. One for families after school and one for the older generation which took place in the afternoon. After looking at ways to create the monsters the group decided it would be a great way to bring the two groups together by having the knitting nannas of the afternoon group knit the monsters for the children in the family sessions.
All the children then designed their monster using a worksheet created to show their design. The worksheet enabled them to name their monsters, choose their colours and to give them a little personality.
The designs were then given to the Knitting Nannas who then worked their way through each design creating the monsters with their amazing knitting skills.
As part of the initiative the family group came up with the idea of the children creating something for the Nannas in return. The children made thank you cards and pictures and made their own little creations such as dream catchers and flower pots made from clay for gifts.
Once the little monsters were ready to go to their new homes, we arranged a little a little afternoon tea after school. Where the children met the Nannas and exchanged gifts. Both the children and the Nannas were excited to meet.
As each child was handed their monster to open they gave a Nanna a Thank you bag.
This was a lovely afternoon and a really lovely end for the project.
