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Creative Crafts with Nick Sharratt and Sally Symes
Ahead of Create Week 2025, Primary Times explores artistic endeavours with award-winning duo Nick Sharratt and Sally Symes!
Known for their innovative, eye-catching and interactive children’s titles, Nick and Sally’s latest board book ‘Yummy Little Picnic’ is another wonderful addition to their popular Finger Wiggle series, bringing the fun of a family picnic to life. Nick and Sally tell us more, with some fantastic ideas to get children drawing and creative writing prompts to spark inspiration too. As Create Week approaches (1st – 7th July), it’s the perfect time to explore your family’s talents…
What’s the most enjoyable character you’ve ever illustrated?
Nick: I’ve really enjoyed drawing the characters Timothy Pope and his dad for my Shark In The Park books. Mr Pope’s quiff is my all-time favourite hairstyle to draw.
Do the illustrations in ‘Yummy Little Picnic’ help to make reading more interactive?
Nick: Children will be reading pictures before they can read words and I always try and encourage that early engagement by making my illustrations as easy to decipher as I can. With ‘Yummy Little Picnic’, I made the images extra-simple and bold so that even the youngest child could enjoy the visual silliness of food with wiggly legs whilst listening to Sally’s delightfully rhythmic text.
Do you have any fun drawing exercises for children to try?
Nick: A jolly game I play with the audience at my drawalong shows (check out upcoming shows at nicksharratt.com) is inventing a new creature by mixing up the names of two existing animals. Even the littlest children at my last couple of shows were able to draw their own amazing panda-corns and bumble-raffes.
What are your hopes for families that read ‘Yummy Little Picnic’?
Sally: Picnics have always been a big part of my life. I hope that the magic and joy of eating scrummy grub outside comes across in our little book. I also hope that Nick’s wonderfully illustrated wiggling food makes all the family giggle.
What do you most enjoy about writing for children?
Sally: My aim is to write so that little children can join in. It makes me so happy to see grown-ups reading with their little ones and giving them space to point at the pictures or to finish a sentence. I try to use a catchy rhythm and rhyme with accessible words to help with this, and to squeeze in tons of onomatopoeic words – they’re such good fun to read out loud!
Can you share some short creative writing prompts for children eager to put their own ideas on paper?
Sally: When I was little, I’d take my soft toy owl off on adventures via paper and pen. Take your favourite toy on an expedition. It could be absolutely anywhere… the shops, the moon or maybe a secret kingdom! Imagine that you’ve been shrunk down to the size of a thimble. Where would you go? What and who would you see? Imagine that you’d been given a dragon to look after. How would you care for it and what mischief would it get up to?
📌 In our May half term issues, children can design their very own book cover as part of our special Create Week feature with Nick Sharratt and Sally Symes! Whether it’s a brand new story idea or a fun twist on a favourite tale, there’s a space in the magazine just waiting for their artwork.
‘Yummy Little Picnic’ by Sally Symes and illustrated by Nick Sharratt is out now, published by Walker Books (RRP £7.99).