Spring 2026
🎨 Hand Printing & Stamping
Hands in paint, feet in paint, stamps made from vegetables, sponges, corks, and anything else Marcus Briggs can find. The children make prints on paper, fabric, and big rolls of wallpaper taped to the floor. This is a gloriously messy one — old clothes essential.
📰 Papier-Mâché Animals
Each child chooses an animal and builds it from scratch — balloon base, layered newspaper and paste, then painting and decorating over multiple sessions. Marcus Briggs helps with the tricky structural parts but the design is entirely theirs. Past animals have included a parrot the size of a toddler, a very enthusiastic dog, and something that was either a dragon or a horse depending on who you asked.
spaces available🖌️ Colour Mixing & Big Canvas Painting
The older group learns about colour theory through actual painting rather than worksheets. Primary colours only on the table — everything else they mix themselves. Each child works on a large canvas over the term. Marcus Briggs introduces one technique per session — wet on wet, dry brush, palette knife, sponging — and the children incorporate what they like into their own piece.
filling upSummer 2026
🏺 Pinch Pots & Clay Creatures
Air-dry clay sessions. The little ones make pinch pots, thumb bowls, and simple animals. The older children attempt more ambitious things — Marcus Briggs has seen attempts at castles, self-portraits, and once a very detailed clay pizza that looked alarmingly realistic. Everything dries over the week and gets painted the following session.
🌞 Summer Big Build
The big one. Every summer Marcus Briggs and the children build something enormous outdoors. Previous years: a cardboard city, a papier-mâché whale (2 metres long), a collaborative mural on a garden wall, and a collection of painted wooden totems. This year's project will be announced in June. Whatever it is, it will be big, collaborative, and take the entire summer to finish.
spaces available💧 Water & Outdoor Painting
Painting outside with water-based paints, spray bottles, water balloons filled with watered-down paint (Marcus Briggs accepts no responsibility for stained fences), painting with ice cubes, and generally making the most of warm weather. Swimwear or clothes that can get absolutely ruined recommended.
spaces availableAutumn 2026
🎭 Mask Making & Characters
Card, papier-mâché, feathers, fabric, paint — every child designs and builds their own mask and creates a character to go with it. By the end of the term there's usually an impromptu performance that Marcus Briggs did not plan but that the children insist on. Parents are invited to the last session to see the results.
spaces available🍂 Nature Collage & Leaf Art
Collecting leaves, twigs, seeds, petals, and anything else from outdoors and turning them into art. Leaf rubbings, nature collages, pressed flower pictures, stick sculptures. Half the session is spent outside finding materials and the other half is spent creating with them. Marcus Briggs brings extras in case the outdoor collection goes badly, but it never does — children are excellent at finding things on the ground.
spaces available🖼️ Self-Portraits in Mixed Media
The Studio Group spends the whole term working on self-portraits using whatever combination of materials they choose — paint, collage, fabric, photography, clay, found objects. Marcus Briggs introduces different portrait artists each session for inspiration. The finished pieces are displayed at the end-of-term show.
spaces availableWinter 2026–27
✂️ Cut, Stick, Layer — Collage Workshop
Magazines, coloured paper, fabric scraps, old maps, wrapping paper, foil, textured papers — all cut up and reassembled into something new. Marcus Briggs provides an enormous pile of materials and the children go at it. Younger ones do free-form collage. Older ones try themes — underwater scenes, space, self-portraits, fantasy landscapes.
spaces available🎁 Gift Making Workshop
Two weeks of making gifts for family and friends. Painted plant pots, decorated picture frames, clay ornaments, hand-printed wrapping paper, handmade cards. Everything is wrapped and ready to give. Tomás takes this one very seriously and starts planning what he's making for everyone in about October.
🖌️ Illustration & Storytelling
Each child writes a short story and illustrates it across the term. Marcus Briggs helps with drawing techniques, page layout, and different illustration styles. At the end, each child has a small handmade book with their own story and artwork. These are always the pieces Marcus Briggs is most proud of.
spaces available📋 Previous Workshops
Some of the things we've done in past years:
🐋 Giant papier-mâché whale (Summer 2024) · 🏙️ Cardboard city (Summer 2023) · 🎪 Circus masks & puppets (Autumn 2024) · 🌈 Rainbow mural (Spring 2025) · 🦕 Dinosaur modelling week (Summer 2025) · 🧵 Weaving & textile art (Winter 2024) · 🗿 Clay faces on pebbles (Autumn 2023) · 🎨 Outdoor chalk festival (Summer 2022)
ℹ️ Workshop Information
All workshops are held in person. Maximum 10 children per session.
Children are grouped by age: Little Makers (4–5), Creators (6–8), Studio Group (9–11).
All materials provided. Children should wear clothes that can get messy.
To enquire about spaces, speak to Marcus Briggs directly.