If you’ve visited Norwich and Norfolk this summer, you may have noticed some additions to the city of the Jurassic variety… If you hadn’t guessed it, we’re talking about the GoGoDiscover trail, which features 79 Jurassic sculptures across the city and county of T.rex’s and Mammoths! From Monday 27 June until Saturday 10 September, the GoGoDiscover trail sculptures – each uniquely decorated by artists from Norfolk and across the country – will be on display for trailgoers to locate. All in aid of the charity Break.
To get involved, simply pick up a map and go hunting! (£1 donation recommended) And to continue the Jurassic fun, we suggest paying a visit to John Lewis in Norwich. The store has its very own home-made Mammoth you can visit, and some fun activities for the whole family. To find out more, we spoke to Laura Gray, Partner and Events Marketing Coordinator at John Lewis. Read on below to hear how this fantastic Mammoth was brought to life!
Mama Mo the Mammoth at John Lewis
The GoGoDiscover trails are fantastic for Norwich and create so much excitement over the summer months, we’ve been involved with the trails since the first Elephant themed one and naturally we wanted to be involved in some way again this year.
With us having 2 of the mini community dinosaurs located in the shop we decided to create something to represent the mammoths too. The idea started off as a low-key display, but our very talented Visual Merchandising team took the concept and ran with it and Mamma Mo, Baba Jon & Baba Lou were born!!
One of the baby Mammoths
Baba Jon the small post box Mammoth took 10 days to create and was used to work out the best construction techniques for Mamma Mo (the largest mammoth). The process of building the large Mamma Mo took 3-4 weeks!
Our Visual Merchandising team were very resourceful and made the mammoths and their cave out of upcycled and sustainable equipment and materials.
The starting point was an old wooden display table which was used to make a support structure inside the mammoth. The shaping is created from a few layers of cardboard boxes carefully moulded and shaped into place. On top of the cardboard the team stuck a few layers of brown paper to strengthen everything, and the tusks were made out of old chair arms.
Mamma Mo in construction
The decorative denim layer was created by Partners who donated their old jeans and then lots of hours were spent cutting and fraying the denim to give a woolly effect.
The cave and the installation of the mammoths took 4 whole days. We’re glad they will be staying with us for the next two months!
One of the baby Mammoths in construction
As a business we are always conscious to avoid using single use plastics and we thought it would be interesting to see how we could upcycle equipment and materials to create something unique.
We decided to use denim as the woolly fur as we wanted the effect to be soft and tactile. Approximately 30 pairs of jeans were cut up to create the finished mammoth’s hair!
The Mammoth during construction
The mammoths are interactive and have buttons that you can press to hear how they would have sounded and within the cave children can have a go at cave art-rubbings.
We are holding a mammoth colouring competition for the chance to win a prize, simply pick up a colouring template in-store and post your completed design into our Baba Jon mammoth postbox in Toys by the 11 September – there is no upper age limit, so all entries welcomed.
Everyone’s welcome to visit the mammoths – there are plenty of selfie and photo opportunities too!
Mamma Mo at John Lewis
We are super excited to be joined by SchooDoodle craft parties for two special events this summer. The first event is ideal to help get you ready for dinosaur hunting across the city!
Dinosaur mask and headpiece Craft Party
Thursday 4th August, The Place to Eat at John Lewis Norwich. Join us for a very special SchooDoodle art workshop to create your very own dinosaur mask and headpiece.
Book Character Craft Party
Join us for an exciting SchooDoodle art workshop to create your very own concertina book character. Will your folded book become a monster, an alien, an animal or a special character?
For both parties the recommended children ages are 5 -12 and tickets are £15 per child. Booking in advance is essential, please email [email protected] to secure your place.
Bank holiday weekend
Join us in-store on Saturday 27th August for family fun. Continuing with the dinosaur theme we will be hosting free dinosaur themed face painting, dinosaur egg decorating and storytelling in the mammoth’s cave.
There will be live music from the fabulous Ashlea Lauren, and ‘TheBublé Show’ who will be performing in-store. Plus complementary treatments in Beauty, food tastings and more.
Treasure hunt across the shop
Throughout the school holidays we will have a treasure hunt across the shop to keep children entertained, and children will receive a small treat at the end of the trail! Ask in-store for more details.
