Matt and Holly have been working alongside children in schools across Wokingham to co-create imaginative responses to themes of nature connection, biodiversity, and art. Each workshop has been a unique journey shaped by the students ideas, curiosity, and sense of wonder. Their collaborative artworks will be exhibited at the Forest of Imagination festival, where we’ll reunite to explore the event together and continue our shared creative journey. This evolving project celebrates children as artists and thinkers, honouring their voices and visions while fostering deep connections with the natural world through playful, meaningful, and expressive experiences.

At White Knights Primary School, Matt and Holly began the sessions with an exploration into “What is the Forest of Imagination,” letting the children lead the way. The theme went in the direction of mythical creatures, things that “wiggle” or things that “fly”. Activities included; drawing iterations of their creatures in sketchbooks, creating vision goggles which mimicked how their creature might see, and using a viewfinder to find more abstracted shapes and textures. This resulted in a series of collaborative artworks; a long wiggly creature made from connected shapes, and a painted textile sculpture made from all the textures or skins of their imagined creatures. Each making activity was interspersed with a performance or procession, to encourage them to think about movements and character.