YASS! Club (Youth Action Social Squad)
We are the YASS! Club. The Youth Action Social Squad.
We meet every Friday afternoon when schools out! We aim to tackle big issues in fun, creative and joyous ways, which will help make sense of what’s happening in the world right now. Please get in touch with us at youth@timespan.org.uk if you’d like to get involved! All are welcome and the YASS! Club is always free!!!!
YASS & TYCI Summer Program Info!
PAST YASS! CLUB ACTIVITIES
TATTIE PRINTS AND DESIGN WHIZZES
This week we’ll be thinking about transforming last weeks fabrics into comfort cushions for the times when we might just need a hug. We’ll be printing more fabrics with tatties and designing what a cushion that comforts you might look like!
STITCHED WITH LOVE
This week we will transform our fabrics, designs and prints into patterns, ready to be stitched with love into a comfort cushion. Maybe we are making this cushion for ourselves, but maybe we are also making it for a member of our community too! We know times have been tough, so maybe a little cushion cuddle might bring some sunshine to someone’s day. It’s up to you to decide, the only rule.. it’s stitched with love.
MEGA MEGA MEGA WATERFIGHT
We’ve had a practice run back in May, so this week come prepared to get soaked. I’ve sent a request for the sun to shine, so fingers crossed we’ll have some beauty weather!
SMASH DYES & FLOWER FORAGING
This week we’ll be foraging dye plants from Timespan’s garden and squishing them up into fabrics to make some smashing dyes. We’ll be using the fabrics that we make this week in a few weeks time, making sure that they will be stitched with love!
YOUNG WATER PROTECTORS
For our week looking at Young Water Protectors, our lovely little YASSers were reading stories, sowing seeds, spreading soil and watering the ground. We read the Young Water Protectors, a story written by Aslan Tudor, an eight year old who arrived in North Dakota to help stop the pipeline at Standing Rock and we talked about how important water is in sustaining our existence. Our Group 2’s explored what happens when an oil spill happens, who is responsible and how long a clean up can take. With fake oil, fairy liquid and flowers, we ran a mini oil clean up experiment, with demands for more experiments this week!!!!
INDIGENOUS FLAGS; A JUST FUTURE FOR ALL
In Helmsdale 5 flags fly. For this session our YASS! groups 2 & 3 looked at the flags of indigenous communities across the globe, their symbols and meanings in comparison to the flags that fly in their own Helmsdale community. We thought through the violence that indigenous communities have faced for hundreds of years at the hands of european settlers and how their struggles continue today. Through lots of clay, fun and paint and glitter, we imagined what a just future for all might look like.
I AM ME
The things that make us different can stop us from working together to fight for a better world for all. During the ‘I am me’ sessions through storytelling, paint, glitter, and sparkles, the YASS! club Group 1 read stories, played, and painted a world where our differences are what bind us, rather than divide us. Here’s some of what we got up to:
WE ARE BACK- WATER FIGHTS
After a wee closure due to COVID we re-opened the YASS! Clubs with a water fight, which ended in everyone getting absolutely soaked…..
DEN BUILDING
During den week we had our YASSers making their own dens from tarps, rope, sticks and everything possible that they could find in the timespan garden!
YASS! PLANNING SESSIONS
To kick us off and get YASS! back up and running we had a series of planning sessions as we moved out of lockdown. At the YASS! Clubs we believe that children are the protagonists in their own learning, their ideas, needs and dreams are central to how we shape and run the clubs. Every few months we have planning sessions to ensure their involvement in the direction of the clubs!
PREVIOUSLY DURING THE YASS LOCKDOWN PROGRAM….
Across the multiple lockdowns our communities locally and globally have faced, the YASS! Clubs switched to deliver YASS! @ Home packs across the community. Each pack was delivered on Friday to each members door! We’ve uploaded PDF’s of all our packs which are completely free to download for all those that don’t live in the local community but would like to access our resources. For any more info please email youth@timespan.org.uk !!!
Comics & Clearances to Colonialism/ Song Making
Friday 16th April
This week we will be taking inspiration from the comics made by the Institute of Race Relations that look at the roots of racism. We will then be making our own comics strips, using drawing and stories to tell our own story of how we understand racism today and what it looks like in our worlds and communities.
Friday 2nd April
Placenames and Mapping
This week we will be looking at names used in maps vs the names we make for places. Ask the people around you what they call that little lane, or the small cove down near the beach! Mark on your map your favourite places, secret places or places that you avoid! Let’s see what kind of maps you make!
Friday 9th April
Pea Shoots Forests and Pea Pods
This week we’re returning to the soil, sowing pea shoot forests and seeds to grow into pea pods. Whether you grow them to make a salad topping for a cheese roll or mash them into a pea soup, make sure your seeds get lots of light, warmth and water to ensure they grow tall!!
Friday 19th March
Dyes @ Home
You better be ready to get your hands deep in seeds and mud, as this week we will be sowing seeds for the coming season. We will be giving out a range of seeds that will grow to form plants that can be used as dyes, from woad to madder to chamomile. We’ll be dreaming up a rainbow of plant dyes, ready to be harvested throughout the year…
Friday 26th March
Growing Veg @ Home
This week we’ve got more seeds, mud and fun for you!! Except this time we are going to be planting veggie delights ready for summer munching! Expect gallons of green peas, lovely wee lettuce leaves and a variety of plants that you can grow from your bedroom window.
Friday 5th March
Space Disco Costume Making
Get ready for some moving about in the spacey future virtual disco. It’s time to get jumping, spinning, kicking and star jumping! Send us your best tunes and we’ll pass them along to our DJ! We’ll have some special spacey routines to do during the disco, and a few other surprises!
We’ll be sending you shiny materials, glow sticks and more to make your own costumes and party decorations for next week’s virtual disco.
Friday 19th February
Marshmallow Towers ‘n Cardboard Slingshots
This week we are going to get up to some lockdown mischief, building cardboard catapults at home to ping paper balls across your living room whilst creating towering marshmallow spaghetti structures. The challenge is, how high can they go??
Friday 26th February
Cooking Up A Storm: Colcannon Soup & Soda Bread
This week we are taking inspiration from the Irish
Land League and the crops that peasants farmers
used to grow. Luckily most of the crops that would
have formed the dishes that we are going to mix up
today are currently in season, so we have got hold
of some lovely local potatoes from near Inverness
and the lovely gardener Fionn had picked us the
last of the winter kale from Helmsdale Kitchen Garden to be chop chop chopped into our wee soup.
Today we are going to make a soup inspired by two
lush dishes from Ireland, one is called Colcannon
and the other is called Soda Bread.
Friday 5th February
Homemade Dye Kits and the Highland Land League
4 – 8 year olds: Our clothes are made from a huge amount of different colours, from red to green to pink to black. This week we’ll be sharing everything you need to make dyes that you’ll be able to change the colour of your wool with, using what you can find in your kitchen, garden or grass verge – things like doc leaves, beets and dandelions to create an array of different shades.
8 – 12 year olds: Our clothes are made from a huge amount of different colours and fabrics, from red to green to pink to black, to linen, cotton, wool and polyester. This week we will be pairing the practical tools of making dyes at home made from ingredients found in your garden with the histories of wool and crofting in our local area. We will look at the histories of the Highland Land League and their fight to take back the land for the good of the working people.
Friday 12th February
Weaving and the Irish Land League
This week we will be taking the wool that we dyed last week and weaving it into a small piece of cloth using our special mini weaving kits. Whilst weaving we’ll be looking at all things related to rent strikes, boycotts and the anti-eviction methods used by the Highland and Irish Land Leagues in their plight for ownership of the land on which they had lived and worked for hundreds of years.
Friday 22nd January
Giant Bubbles, Paper Planes and Secret Messages
This week we will be kicking off our @home lockdown program with everything you need to make bubbles as giant as seals, paper planes of every shape and size and a special solution to send secret messages to your pals.
Friday 29th January
Stargazing and Space Commons
4 – 8 year olds: We’ll be reaching for the stars with our mini constellation kits. Packed with info about stars, space and looking upwards at the night sky, these kits will provide you with all the tools
to make a mini star constellation projector, so you can stargaze from the comfort of your bedroom.
8 – 12 year olds: We’ll be reaching for the stars with our mini constellation kits. Bursting with minerals, stars, and big ideas, we will be thinking about what stars are made up of and why big companies are fighting to get into space. We’ll be brainstorming around the ideas of space as a place for all, to be shared as a commons, whilst you gaze up at stars from the comfort of your bed, projected from our mini constellation kits.
YASS! BACK IN REAL IN LIFE (OCTOBER- DECEMBER 2020)
The following workshops took place between October- December 2020 when the YASS! Clubs were able to re-open for a short period whilst restrictions lifted.
Friday 18th December
GROUP 1
Banner Making. Everyone should have food to eat! This week, we will be making banners with symbols, pictures and words of all the different foods that we eat and where in the world they are grown. We will be writing big thoughts on everyone’s ability to eat! Expect big rolls of paper and lots of paint!
Friday 11th December
GROUP 1
Clay Brainstorming. Inspired by the Landless Kids’ Manifesto, this week we will be thinking about what it means to have access to land to grow your own food to eat. Using clay, we will be making wee spoons and bowls patterning them with plants from the garden.
Friday 18th December
GROUPS 2 & 3
Banner Making. This week we will be getting out our paint brushes to make banners of the YASS! Clubbers list of children’s rights, ready to put up in the workshop!
Friday 11th December
GROUPS 2 & 3
Manifesto Making. Inspired by the Landless Kids’ Manifesto, this week we will be collectively brainstorming about children’s rights both locally and globally. We will be working together to come up with a list of what we think all children should have, both locally in our village and globally around the world.
Friday 4th December
GROUP 1
Stirring up a Storm: The Landless Kids Manifesto.
In this week’s Stirring up a Storm session, together we will be baking, making and mixing our chosen local recipes that we gathered last week! Whilst our food bakes, we will be exploring the Landless Kids Manifesto, written by 1,200 children from several different camps and settlements across Brazil: “We wrote this Landless Kids’ Manifesto so that, together with other children, we can fight for our rights and grow in a world with no social inequality, where we can be happy.”
Friday 27th November
GROUP 1
YASS! Book Club Launch
This will be the first in our new series of monthly YASS! books clubs! We will be reading, drawing, painting, making and telling stories. Any members of the club are welcome to borrow books from our Youth Library.
Friday 4th December
GROUPS 2 & 3
Stirring up a Storm: Making Baking and Creating
In this weeks Stirring up a storm session, together we will be baking, making and mixing our chosen local recipes that we gathered last week! Whilst our food bakes we will be exploring the Landless Kids Manifesto, written by 1,200 children from several different camps and settlements across Brazil:
“We wrote this Landless Kids’ Manifesto so that, together with other children, we can fight for our rights and grow in a world with no social inequality, where we can be happy.”
Friday 27th November
GROUPS 2 & 3
YASS! Film and Book Club Launch
This will be the first in our new series of monthly YASS! film screenings and books clubs! Any members of the club are welcome to borrow books from our Youth Library. Expect popcorn, bean bags and a wee fab film! We will also be gathering recipes in this week’s session, ready for baking and mixing next week!
Friday 20th November
GROUP 1
Games Week
Be prepared to laugh your socks off, maybe even defrost an ice block, this week is all about team work as we try out a tonne of new games!
Friday 20th November
GROUPS 2 & 3
Games Week: Popcorn Wealth
Wealth is not shared equally. But how can we see how unfair this division is? Using popcorn as our tool, the YASS! members are going to be popping corn, creating games and questioning the way wealth is divided in the UK and globally. The kids will brainstorm strategies together and imagine alternative worlds for the future of collectively shared wealth!
Friday 13th November
GROUP 1
Crystal Making and Movements for change. This week we will be making crystals from scratch. As they grow, we will think about all the crystals that surround us in Helmsdale, from the local beaches and shores to the screens where we watch TV. We will think about where these crystals come from around the world and how taking crystals out of the ground can harm local people’s existence.
Friday 13th November
GROUPS 2 & 3
Crystal Making and Movements for change. This week we will be making crystals from scratch. As they grow, we will think about all the crystals that surround us in Helmsdale, from the local beaches and shores to the screens where we watch TV. We will think about where these crystals come from around the world and how taking crystals out of the ground can harm local people’s existence.
Friday 6th November
GROUP 1
Stirring up a Storm: Imagining the future YASS! Clubs
We’ll be cooking up a new future of the YASS! Clubs as part of our Stirring up a Storm cooking series. In this session we will be cooking a meal to share together. As our meal bakes we want YOU! the YASS! Clubbers to design the future of your club!
Friday 6th November
GROUPS 2 & 3
Stirring up a Storm: Imagining the future YASS! Clubs
We’ll be cooking up a new future of the YASS! Clubs as part of our Stirring up a Storm cooking series. In this session we will be cooking a meal to share together. As our meal bakes we want YOU! the YASS! Clubbers to design the future of your club!
Friday 30th October
GROUP 1
YASS! Re-opening party
Bring your best energy as we’ll be busting shapes, eating cakes and celebrating the re-opening of the YASS! Clubs!
Friday 30th October
GROUPS 2 & 3
YASS! Re-opening party
Bring your best energy as we’ll be busting shapes, eating cakes and celebrating the re-opening of the YASS! Clubs!
YASS LOCKDOWN PROGRAM
The packs below were part of the YASS@ Home activity packs that were delivered between May- October 2020 to all children that requested them across the villages of Helmsdale and Portgower.
STIRRING UP A STORM: PIZZA & BEETROOT CHOC CAKE
IF THE KIDS RAN THE VILLAGE
ORAL HISTORIES, DIARIES & STORYTELLING
STIRRING UP A STORM: TATTIE SCONES & CRISPY CAKES
ORAL HISTORIES, DIARIES & STORYTELLING
GATHERING: MAPPING: FORAGING
WHO DO WE WANT TO BECOME?
