reta Gauhe
Choreographer, Dancer, Producer, Researcher
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Touch Snacks for Kids
A project led by Greta Gauhe
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Welcome! This project invites you to explore your sense of touch in fun and creative ways, all guided by audio-recordings.
Greta is a PhD candidate at the Centre for Dance Research in the UK. She studies how people can enjoy and learn about touch.
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What This Experience Is
Our audio recordings will lead you through short activities that help you notice what you feel, see, and hear around you.
You can choose the recording that feels right for you, each one offers a different kind of touch experience.
All of our activities are site-specific, which means they change depending on where you are. Mostly they happen in your room, on the floor or in your bed — everything around you becomes part of the experience!
Some recordings are partner exercises, so please ask a grown-up you are comfortable to explore touch with to join you for this. Please explain to them what these recordings are all about or show them this website!
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These recordings were co-created with children aged 9–10 during a workshop.
Together, we explored:
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what kinds of touch they enjoy
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when they like to listen to audio recordings
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what kinds of safe, fun touch experiences they want to try on their own
Because everyone is different, some recordings might feel more “you” than others — and that’s completely okay.
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How to Listen
Scroll further down to find different audio-recordings.
You can use:
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speakers
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headphones
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or simply your phone or laptop
Use whatever feels easiest and most comfortable.
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Make Your Own Art
Under the recordings, you’ll find videos that show how you can turn your experience into:
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drawings
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paintings
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objects
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or anything else you imagine
If you want, you can share your artwork with your family, friends, or ask a grown-up to help you upload it to our shared online whiteboard.
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Choosing the Right Recording
Each recording has a short note underneath.
These notes tell you:
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what kind of touch is explored
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which body parts are involved
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how active the movement is
This will help you pick the one that suits you most today. Some exercises also require you to find a partner. Please only work with someone you feel comfortable with, ideally your parents or guardians.
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Adaptations
Some audio-recordings might encourage you to touch different body parts. If this does not feel comfortable for you, please feel free to change to a different body part instead.
Otherwise you can imagine the touch instead or you can stop the recording at any point!
It’s a skill that gets easier the more you practice!
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Taking Care of Your Body
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Move gently and within what feels safe for you.
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Listen to your body.
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You never need to push yourself too far.​
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Stop the recording if something does not feel right and ask a parent or guardian for support.
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Taking Care of Your Feelings
Sometimes touch activities can make people feel calm; other times, emotional.
If you feel upset, worried, or too alert, you can:
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slow down
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pause
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only listen
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imagine the movements
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or stop completely
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Let one of your guardians or parents know.
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It’s Okay to Change the Activity
Some days your body or feelings might make certain movements difficult.
That’s normal!
You can adapt the exercise any way you need.
The goal is not perfection — it’s trying, exploring and being kind to yourself.
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Project Team
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Artists/Collaborators: Deborah Di Meglio, Mercedes Prevatt, Steffi Fashokun
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Creative Direction & Research: Greta Gauhe
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Supervision: Rosa Cisneros and Emma Meehan
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Before choosing any of the audio-experiences, please listen to our introductory audio-recording:
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Dreamy connections
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An audio-recording for before you go to sleep or whenever resting on your bed.
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Practicing Enough
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This is a partner exercise. You will need a guardian or someone you feel comfortable touching with you, ideally a grown-up. Together you will practice saying enough and learn about your own and the other person's boundaries.
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Touch treasures
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This audio-recording will encourage you to become more aware of your daily touch experiences. What have you touched today? What do you remember? What felt good?
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Travelling with clouds
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Before we begin, find a comfortable place to sit or lie down, somewhere you can fully relax without distractions. When you’re ready, gently close your eyes and take a slow, deep breath in… and out.
This recording will guide you into a calm, peaceful space using imagination and gentle breathing.
Take your time to settle in, and let this moment be just for you.
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Jungle touches
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This audio-recording is another partner exercise.
Here we will wonder through an imaginary rainforest with a partner of your choice.You and your partner will work together using different body parts to make the rainforest come alive! Some parts may come in contact with each other. These include: hands, arms, ankles and backs. ​
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Walking and Wiggling
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This recording is meant to be experienced with another person. It involves walking barefoot, wiggling your toes and exploring different surfaces with our feet and with each other. At one point you’ll be touching the feet of your partner as well. Let’s hope you’re not ticklish!​​
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Awakening our imagination
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In this recording we will explore the different ways our boredom can affect our imaginations. We will be doing a little bit of self-touch, with our hands and head, and we will be interacting with the space around us, so make sure you have a good amount of space around you. You will need a piece of paper and a pencil and/or colouring pencils as well as a soft pillow. Try to also find a comfortable place to sit with your feet on the floor. This is an exploration for you, so feel free to take breaks and stop and start whenever you want. ​​
Sometimes it feels nice to remember an experience you had while listening to one of the audio recordings. You can save that memory in lots of creative ways! You might draw a picture, write a short story, paint with your favorite colors, or even make a little object or collage. Each creation becomes a tiny “memory holder.” Whenever you look at it again, it can take you right back to how you felt in that moment.
Think of this as our Touch Detective Mission.
Together, we’re collecting clues about how different sounds and touches make us feel. Over time, all our drawings, stories, and creations become part of one big “touch collage,” filled with everyone’s unique experiences.
Deborah, a visual artist and Hannah, a dancer, have put together a special collection of videos to help you get started. They can give you ideas for exploring art, noticing sensations, and expressing what you discover.
Choose whatever creative method you like best, and join the mission—
Touch Detectives, let’s collect our clues!
​Share your experience, your written reflections, your objects, images, thoughts or feelings with us. Please click on this link HERE in order to access our shared whiteboard. (All you need to do is to sign up to Canvas for FREE, please ask your parents or a guardian to help you with this)
Maybe you want to leave a post-it note, or you can write down whatever crosses your mind. Your can also just choose to draw a circle. Choose what feels right for you.
Below you can see the online whiteboard and what other people shared so far:
Our Team of Artists
Mercedes
Steffi
Deborah
Greta
Images taken during our Co-creative workshop with students exploring touch through guided audio-recordings and other creative tasks at the Upper Norwood Library Hub London.
