Red Monkey Play believes that it is a vital part of our role as an education focused business to support our primary schools both locally and nationally. We take supporting The education community very seriously.
The Big Difference
When we were approached by a charity, The Big Difference Company, which supports a number of causes including activities that support children and adults, we were very excited to listen to how we can work and partner with them.
The Big Difference Company are the organisers of Europe’s largest comedy festival, which is held in Leicester every February and Red Monkey Play supported by providing some equipment the previous year.
UK Kid’s Comedy Festival
The team knew that Red Monkey Play share their own views on improving health and wellbeing as well as providing opportunities for primary school children to grow in confidence and we were delighted when they proposed the first ever UK Kids’ Comedy Festival.
We jumped at the opportunity to work with them as the event not only sounded fun and exciting, but it was also addressing a number of areas, including children’s mental health and helping them grow in confidence.
The UK’s first ever Kids’ Comedy Festival launched this year and was a great success with Red Monkey Play being a key sponsor and partner of the festival. The events included a number of shows for children of all ages to attend with their friends and family.
There was the ‘Joke Spot’ initiative where we built a portable stage that was transported to various venues in and around Leicestershire for children to tell jokes to an awaiting audience. This visited schools, local shopping centres and East Midlands Airport and was a great hit with all those that took part. You can see some great jokes by watching our video.
Loving Laughing
One of the biggest initiatives as part of the Kids’ Comedy Festival was ‘Loving Laughing’, which is an opportunity for primary schools to participate in learning the basics of joke telling and then creating and putting on their own performance on stage at the Y Theatre in Leicester. The winner would then be crowned the funniest school in Leicester!
Our Design and Build Director, Richard Tate, acted as one of the judges and saw the positive impact that it had on the children. The feedback from teachers of the participating schools was also positive and everyone is keen to participate again next year! The self-development, confidence and achievement in the children was noticeable and we congratulate all participants and look forward to more schools participating in 2020.
Plans are already being made for next year to make the UK Kids’ Comedy Festival even bigger and better and we are looking for more schools to join in the fun! If you are interested in obtaining more information or wish to register an interest in participating please email simon@redmonkeyplay.co.uk
Taking Loving Laughing National
It doesn’t stop there! The event and the support of Red Monkey Play has already been noticed across the country. We’ve been approached by the Hull Comedy Festival for us to support and work with them at this year’s festival! Other cities, including Bristol and Birmingham, are also interested in the ‘Loving Laughing’ initiative. Wouldn’t it be great to have a national ‘Loving Laughing’ event? Imagine how much impact that would make to improving confidence and mental wellbeing for children!
Get in Touch!
It looks like we are onto a winner with this initiative and are making a big difference for primary schools. This is all because Red Monkey Play prioritises supporting our communities. For more information and details please get in touch and we look forward to being part of a number of events in the coming years.
