After the highs of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, which we enjoyed vicariously through the brilliant coverage on TV and before the Paralympic Games, a little of which we managed to catch in person, All Abroad! Bus was busy running a fortnight of summer holiday clubs in Seaford, East Sussex for children aged 7 to 14 years old, this time using Get Set Club's #Path2Paris Olympic travel guide as a starting point, with a few deviations along the way!
Since summer 2021, we've been running holiday clubs during the main school holidays as a provider for the Government's #HAF programme, with our enriching proposition to 'transport' children to differenc countries abroad, through food, fun, art, languages, crafts, music and physical activities. It's always surprising just how far and wide we all feel we've travelled, without leaving our physical venues! Cooking is a real highlight as our young participants tackle recipes from scratch for signature snacks and dishes from other cultures, which they're also more inclined to try - and like - given that they made them!
Back to this summer's Olympic Odyssey and it was a first for us to travel, virtually, around the whole world in one big tour, but a thoroughly enjoyable and exciting couple of weeks. On Day 1, we started our journey in the birthplace of the Olympic Games, Athens, Greece, learning and sharing a few key phrases in Greek before our groups took turns to prepare spanakopita and souvlaki in the kitchen, or Olympic torches, bayleaf crowns, 'evil eyes' out of recycled materials and clay models of mythical Greek deities.
On Day 2, we headed to the 2026 Youth Olympic Games destination, Dakar in Senegal, , where we exchanged some greetings in Wolof as well as in French! Whilst djembés were made out of punch balloons and paper cups, others were preparing the notorious Senegalese street snack of spaghetti, peas and ñebe baguette sandwiches! Experiments with coffee filters and felt-tip paints yielded colourful fantasy textile patterns whilst others whipped up some spicy and not-spicy jollof rice, which was probably the most popular lunch of all!
By Day 3, we had reached Beijing in China, home of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. We haven't travelled to Asia before with our clubs so this was extra special, not only for the few words of Mandarin we learned together but also for the beautiful shadow puppetry created, whilst 'Jian Bing' breakfast pancakes with crunchy tortilla wontons set the bar high for breakfasts and the chow mein lunch was such fun to prepare, and eat!
On Day 4, we had 'a very long stopover' in Tokyo, Japan, host of the 2021 Olympics. We had planned to reach Sydney, but the temptation to exchange greetings in the fascinating Japanese language, explore kanji and other Japanese writing systems, make mini Zen gardens and produce delightful Taiyaki fish-shaped jam-filled pancakes for breakfast was too great, with the highlight still to come - making sushi and then eating sushi! Nevertheless, we couldn't resist 'arriving' in Sydney for a tasty dessert of Lamingtons!
By Day 5, we had 'crossed' to another continent to reach Rio, Brazil, summer Games host 2016 and another destination long on the virtual wish list, to practise some Portuguese and yo-yo 'tudo bem, tudo bom' style greetings to each other. A trip to the beach was essential where the sun shone, waves were too small to hint at the Atlantic so we made our own with rhythmic ribbons, whilst ball games and pebble samba distracted others. Back at base, we didn't have Amazonian açai berries, but we made perfectly purple fruit smoothies followed by rainforest collage-making, soundtracked with bossa nova grooves. The feijoada stew and tropical fruit salad for lunch went own very well.
On Day 6, we tweaked the programme again (as we always want a language element) and visited the large Hispanic community of the future 2028 (and past) Olympic host, Los Angeles, USA - also as a nod to the Mexico Games of 1968. Most children know a bit of Spanish and certainly enjoy putting it into practice. We got into lucha libre with mask-making as well as a first foray into hojalata tin art, and feasted on tacos (crunchy USA-style ones too) which is always a winner with youngsters as they customise these to their very own palette. Inevitably some Wall of Fame stars, sunset boulevard painting and a healthy breakfast made the broader L.A. visit more complete.
By Day 7, we were back closer to home, but rather than spending our day in the UK, we diverted to Berlin, Germany, in part to get some German in, ja ja, but also to explore a less familiar culture and cuisine. We glossed over the heat of the 1936 Olympics, but embraced Berlin's bold creative and political spirit by creating our own version of the Berlin Wall using home-made food-based paints. Shame the wind made our efforts very transient! Apfelkuchen was a perfect snack whilst Currywurst was very popular for lunch, despite the many tears shed over chopping the onions that went into it. However, the gold went to making and eating SpaghettiEis, using a potato ricer to spaghettify ice cream!
Finally, on day 8 we reached Paris, city of light and of such successful Olympic and Paralympic Games this summer. We had fun making Eiffel Tower models out of different materials and on various scales, as well as bin bag fashion worthy of any catwalk. Croissants were prepared with and without fillings, whilst the mini tin quiches were another example of tasty lunches that could be personalised to every taste and wolfed down.
It's been so hard to condense the planning and implementation of such a jam-packed round-the-world fortnight into just a few words and pictures, but it hopefully gives a taste of what our holiday clubs are about and the sorts of varied activity days we organise! From the feedback we had from our young participants and their parents or carers, we know that our clubs have had a really positive impact on them and certainly delivered edutainment through food and fun, a couple of quotes below:
"Where are they off to today?"
"They really loved the jollof rice and they want to make it again for me, for us all"
"Both L. and H. had such a great time and they’re not easy to please!"
"All Abroad Bus has been great for my son, who is autistic. I was allowed to attend to supervise him and the convenors were brilliant at supplying a variety of interesting activities and adapting them as necessary to meet his special needs. They were really accommodating and inclusive, so he could participate alongside neurotypical children and I would highly recommend this holiday club for children with different needs."
If you are interested in us creating virtual visits for audiences at your setting, or if you would like more details about any of the days mentioned above, don't hesitate to drop us a line. The more virtual travels impacting the more people the better!
As for the real Olympic & Paralympic Games of Paris 2024, what a unique ability these Games have to unite people from all corners of the world and inspire a shared sense of respect and camaraderie despite the inherent competitiveness of the event. Athletes and fans alike mingle, exchange stories, traditions, experiences and food, breaking down barriers by communicating across languages and developing intercultural competence along the way. Let's hope this bubble of global peace, love and harmony stays intact for a good while longer...
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