Entertainment for Children - CultureSplash!™

CultureSplash!™ Playshops are 2 ½ hours long and are for children 8 – 13 years of age.

What CultureSplash!™ Playshops Explore

CultureSplash!™ Playshops have been designed to explore the idea of “culture” – in terms of:

• Time (past, present and future)
• Space (geography)
• Place (practices, traditions, rituals and the intangible ‘zeitgeist’ of various societies)

Click here to discover what CultureSplash!™ Playshops we offer.

Each Playshop Outline has been reviewed by one or more teachers, academics or specialists currently working in relevant disciplines. Reviewers have diverse backgrounds – for example, primary education, adult migrant education, drama, music, archaeology, history and fine arts - to name a few.

Materials included in CultureSplash!™ Playshops are designed to give children and young people an accurate, fun-filled, unique experience of a particular aspect of another culture. Materials include custom-designed costumes, flowers, ornaments, food and beverages, art & craft supplies and many items sourced from each culture being explored.

Playshops encourage informed learning and inquiry through interactive PLAY. Each Playshop has a supervised refreshment break in the middle of the session and we are advised of any food and drink allergies individual children have prior to the Playshop.

Who Books CultureSplash!™ Playshops?

At present, we run Playshops in commercial environments (such as specialist children’s stores, large restaurants with functions capability and department stores) during School Holiday periods and on weekends.

Our corporate clients have chosen to include our Playshops in their calendars as it offered activities which were completely out of the ordinary, underpinned an exploratory internationalist perspective and which were also very attractive to parents seeking leisure activities with a developmental focus for their children. Clients include:

Target Audience, Adult : Child Ratios & Related Information

The Playshops are aimed at children in Grades 3 – 6. They have been running successfully with mixed age groups. Children as young as 6 have successfully participated as have young people up to 14 years of age. The Playshops are also inclusive of people with physical, intellectual, neurological and sensory disabilities. A few of the Playshops are arranged along gender lines based on specific cultural traditions, but those which are always include a cross-over activity with a matched Playshop for the other gender (which, if possible runs at the same time) - to allow the shared activity at the close of the double Playshop.

Between 20 – 30 children can attend a Playshop. Each Playshop is run by 1 Leader and one Assistant. This ensures that there is at least 1 adult for every 15 children. We encourage parents to support their children in Playshops – usually this results in parents returning towards the end of a Playshop to watch the children perform. However, we have had parents stay throughout and assist in various ways. Certainly, teachers are encouraged to stay and participate and/or observe Playshops in progress.

Before attending a Playshop, children and their families receive a 1 page Information Sheet telling them about the activities they will engage in, requesting them to inform us of food and drink allergies and advising them on appropriate clothing.

Playshops are meant to come to where the children are, not vice versa. All materials used in Playshops have been designed to be fully transportable. Set up and pack up usually take 20 – 30 minutes either side of a Playshop.

Background To CultureSplash!™

The Playshops grew out of Lisa Sampson’s love of travel (which she’s had the privilege to indulge extensively!), her experience as a performer and producer, her training in sociology and her desire to celebrate cultural diversity. The original idea has been honed and researched in conjunction with Michael Greensmith, an extraordinary children’s entertainer, magician and jazz musician, who formerly taught at the Australian Institute of Music.

All hands-on activities in the Playshops (eg. mask making) have been made possible by Michael’s practical knowledge and skills in these areas. We have engaged a large number of professionals in different disciplines – costume design, drama, dance, IT and teaching – to help us make the Playshops spectacular.