Celebrating Volunteers Week 2026

It’s Volunteers Week! At Little Green Pig we are so lucky to have an incredible team of volunteer Story Mentors and Illustrator Mentors who generously share their passion and talents at our clubs and workshops. They are at the heart of our mission, supporting the children and young people with empathy and positivity, and embracing that all-important send of fun that inspires young imaginations to soar!

Throughout the year they share insightful, moving and sometimes hilarious feedback about how the children are growing and thriving week by week. Please enjoy a collection of these Magic Moments to celebrate the amazing contribution of our volunteers

At first Layla didn’t want to write but when I shared some prompts, she decided to create a poem. Her ideas flowed beautifully making use of the ideas from the starting game and the prompts. You could see how proud she was when the group feedback at the end of the session. (Sally) 

A child wrote about a Giant Woodlouse as the Sydney Opera House, very inspired! (Freddie)

There were 14 kids today and they were all absolutely lovely and so enthusiastic when sharing their stories. A lot of the kids wrote about dragons and mythical creatures. The vocabulary some of them used was amazing, such as “he chortled” and uses of onomatopoeia. (Bridget)

When the children got up and read their poems about identity it was beautiful, they had such depth and such innocence and it all came from the feelings they have had in life so far. It showed the impact their family and surroundings have had on how they see themselves. Truly moving. (Francesca) 

My magic moment was working with Emmy today. She has such a wonderful imagination. She wrote a story called "The tickle fairy is coming!" She drew a fantastic picture of the princess taking the bad teeth away from the children. (Ellie) 

We were outside recording all sorts of different sounds as we were looking at soundscapes. When Danny saw others making them he got excited and wanted to make some too. We ended up recording so many cool sounds! He threw some pebbles in water, scratched wood and even made some big noises by opening and closing a bin lid. By the end he was very happy with all the different sounds he made. (Natalia) 

Elio and Alice bounced off each other's creativity and jokes to make more progress in their stories. I think Elio's jokes in his story encouraged Alice to be more creative and silly, and his laughter boosted her confidence. Alice laughing at Elio's jokes and drawing inspiration validated his creativity and made her eager to build on his story. It was great to witness. (Sherlyn) 

Leona was busy making sculptures out of aluminium foil, so I thought she wasn't going to say anything when everyone shared. But it turned out she was thinking as she sculpted. She came up with an amazing idea and shared it in the circle anyway. This multitasking was really impressive to me, it felt like double creativity! (Tia) 

Witnessing the children’s imaginations come to life - it was extraordinary. We went outside today and the children developed a role play game with bits of wood chip and wheel barrows - they were coal miners. It started with a few children and then more joined in. It was wonderful (Ams)

We worked outside today - that’s always a lovely change. It was my first time working with Hanna who at first was wary and said she didn’t want to take part. By the end of the session we’d meditated, done loads of artwork, created a soundscape and chatted for a reflection interview. (Nicola)

It felt like everything came together today - so much productivity and creativity. It all felt like the young people were ready to share and there was a great atmosphere. Spine-chilling moments included Kiki doing her song for the first time and Lily singing her chorus. (Vicky) 

As the kids played with a story game they pointed to a giant’s foot with strange toe nails and got on the topic of “how would a giant cut their toe nails”. It was very fun. (Jacey) 

I worked with two children who last week struggled to concentrate and be enthusiastic about the task. This week was a 180! They came up with a story about a mole who couldn’t watch TV because his eyes were too small. Together we wrote a poem about it and they read it brilliantly to everyone at the end (Dan)

My Magic Moment this week was spending time setting up and ordering from an imaginary cafe! This was a child’s  idea and was really positive and fun as everyone got involved even though it wasn’t a planned activity. (Vic) 

Omar had missed nearly all of this project, and came at the last session, when children in groups were finalising their scripts.and rehearsing their shadow puppet plays. We were so happy to see him immediately welcomed into a group and took on one of the central roles of the story. Omar fitted in beautifully and did a great job in the performance, and the others in the group were very kind and welcoming. It was a lovely moment to witness. (Caz) 

A shy child whose voice I had barely heard was much more animated today engaging in conversation and giving opinions. It was lovely to see. (Helen) 

Today I illustrated several age groups of insects and a husband and wife scorpion dancing at a birthday party... beat that 'Strictly'! (Colin)