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ESSENTIAL INFO
If you purchase a ticket for this course, all the information on this page will be emailed to you with your ticket.
👥 Suitable for: Ages 5 to 8 years
📍 Venue: Bellingen Public School (mobility aid accessible)
📈 Level: BEGINNER skill level
⏰ Schedule: Mon–Fri, 1pm – 4pm (5 Half-Days)
🚗 Check your venue: If you are booking multiple courses, we are unable to provide transport between venues.
⚠️ Extra info: Our youth courses are busy group environments led by creative tutors, not specialised care staff. To ensure a safe and positive experience for all, students must be able to follow group instructions, work respectfully alongside peers, and participate independently without constant one-on-one supervision. If your child requires extra behavioural or learning support, please contact us before enrolling so we can discuss if the course is a good fit.
Required skills & experience
We will be drawing on our imagination to explore play through movement.
The workshop is designed for children of all abilities. It does not require any prior dance, movement, or performance experience.
Activities are flexible, imaginative, and adaptable to different comfort levels and access needs, creating a fun, inclusive, and supportive environment for all participants.
Supplies that you need to bring to class
Please ensure your child has a drink bottle, as well as sufficient food/snacks to get them through the day.
Wear comfortable clothing that you can move freely in
All creative and activity-based materials (including any props or workshop resources) will be provided as needed during the sessions.
Learning outcomes
Kids will spend the week stepping into Imagination Land, a playful world of friendly monsters and make-believe creatures that they create through movement and imagination. They will learn how to use their bodies to express different characters, experimenting with size, shape, texture, and energy while building confidence in creative movement and group improvisation.
Across the week, students will collaborate to build shared monster worlds, create short movement sequences, and develop their own unique characters. They will experience how to tell stories through the body, respond to others in character, and contribute to a collective creative process in a fun and supportive environment.
By the end of the workshop, students will walk away with new skills in creative movement, character creation, collaboration, and performance-based improvisation, along with a stronger sense of imagination-led expression.
Your attendance also includes a small workbook to support reflection, ideas, and creative exploration throughout the week.
COURSE PLAN
Welcome explorers!
Over five afternoons, we will rebuild Imagination Land through movement, storytelling and creative play. We bring our world back to life with magical plants, quirky animals and creatures of our own inventions.
DAY ONE - Mapping the landscape
Today we begin the story of Imagination Land and become its first explorers.
Through guided movement games, we will discover and build an imaginary world from the ground up. We will traverse different landscapes, surfaces and environments, noticing how each one changes the way we move. Together we will create mountains, rivers, deserts and many magical places through imaginative play.
DAY TWO - Magical Plants
Today we return to Imagination Land and discover what has begun to grow there.
We will explore variations of movement that are inspired by seeds, roots, flowers, vines and giant magical plants. We will create unique plant life and imagine how it grows, moves and interacts with it’s environment. Together we will build a living, moving forest.
DAY THREE - Amazing Animals
Today we discover that the animals that have returned to Imagination Land - but to see them, we must become them.
We will move like birds flying, cats pouncing, fish swimming, and snakes slithering.
We will explore size, speed, rhythm and character through movement. We will also encounter other animals in the space and find playful ways to interact with them.
DAY FOUR - Creature Creation
Today we design our very own creatures.
Does your creature have extra legs, wings, a tail, or spikes? What is its personality?
How does it move? Where does it live? Does it have special powers? We will bring our creatures to life through movement and take part in imaginative challenges as them.
We will also explore how our creatures interact with one another—do they help each other, compete, hide, or work together? By the end of the day, a whole new ecosystem of invented creatures will exist in Imagination Land.
DAY FIVE - Imagination Land Party
Everything has returned to Imagination Land—and now it is time to celebrate.
We will take part in a creature parade, party games, and imaginative group activities as our invented beings. Together we celebrate the magical world we have built throughout the week.
We will also work together to solve a final adventure using the skills, creatures and imagination we have developed across the course.
COURSE TUTOR
Jess Lemire
Hi, I’m Jess. I’m a mural artist and clay maker with a PhD in dance.
My work explores the ways that nature invites us to move our bodies, and how we can creatively respond to the world around us through movement and imagination. I design and facilitate playful, participatory workshops that invite people into states of curiosity, embodied storytelling, and creative exploration.
I’m also a professional daydreamer, using play to create art, research, and facilitating connection.
