Pop-Up Adventure Play In Halifax Later This Month

The Pop-Up Adventure Play crew kicks off their cross-Canada tour in about three weeks time. Are you ready for some outdoors fun and inspiring stories about the world of adventure play?

Are you ready to see your kids transform milk crates into stairs, houses, towers? Or how about the simple magic of a pail doing double duty as a helmet and a shovel filling in for a sword in a spirited ‘all for one, and one for all’ tumble into play.

Here are the details.

Public Talk on Adventure Play at Halifax Central Library – July 23 at 2 pm

Come and learn more about adventure play in this informative and fun talk by the UK’s Pop-Up Adventure Play as they kick off their cross-Canada tour in Halifax.

The Wonderful World of Adventurous Play is a public talk followed by an open discussion with UK play ambassadors, Pop-Up Adventure Play on July 23 at 2:00 pm at Halifax Central Library’s Paul O’Regan Hall. The UK-based playwork movement creates opportunities for children’s play, providing them with the freedom to take the lead. In this presentation, Pop-Up Adventure Play will draw upon their experiences in the UK, the US, Australia and Asia to talk about play, playwork and adventure playgrounds.

There is no cost for participation but please take a moment to register for The Wonderful World of Adventurous Play.

Loose Parts Pop-Up Play Adventure – Halifax South Common – July 24 , 1:30 pm

We’re looking for 150 kids aged 4 – 12 for a Loose Parts Pop-Up Play Adventure. It’s all taking place on July 24 between 1:30 and 4 pm at the Halifax South Common between Bell Road and Cogswell Street.

This event is being led by the UK’s Pop-Up Adventure Play who have organized similar community play happenings in the UK, the US, Australia and Asia. Join them for the first play stop on their cross-Canada tour!

At this Pop-Up play happening, kids will create their own fun and experiences with loose parts materials on hand – cardboard boxes, tape, milk crates, sticks, tires, jump ropes, nets, tarps and more. Enjoy the outdoors and see kids let loose with imaginative play. The Halifax Regional School Board has successfully introduced loose parts play through the EXCEL program. The outcomes? As limitless as a child’s imagination!

Participants are encouraged to bring water, sunscreen and comfortable shoes. It’s also best if you don’t mind getting dirty! Parents and caregivers must remain on site.

There is no cost for participation but please register for Loose Parts Pop-Up Play Adventure – Halifax South Common.

The CanadaPlays Association recognizes the support of the Province of Nova Scotia. We are pleased to work in partnership with the Department of Communities, Culture and Heritage to develop and promote our cultural resources for all Nova Scotians.

Take Your Pick and Give Us a Share on Your Social Networks

Thanks to everyone who has been sharing Tweets, Facebook posts and Blog stories. It really is a big help in getting the word out about our Pop-Up Adventure Play events taking place in July. We are very happy that Morgan, Suzanna and Andy will spend a couple of days in Halifax sharing what they’ve learned about play through their studies and travels over the years.

Click the images above to enlarge. Feel free to use them to share news about our two events. Here’s the skinny on both events:

1. Public Talk – The Wonderful World of Adventurous Play with UK play ambassadors, Pop-Up Adventure Play on July 23 at 2:00 pm at Halifax Central Library’s Paul O’Regan Hall. The UK-based playwork movement creates opportunities for children’s play, providing them with the freedom to take the lead. In this presentation, Pop-Up Adventure Play will draw upon their experiences around the world to talk about play, playwork and adventure playgrounds.

2. Loose Parts Pop-Up Play Adventure – we’re looking for 150 kids aged 4 – 12 who want to have some loose parts, pop-up play adventure fun! It will be happening on July 24 between 1:30 and 4 p.m at the Halifax South Common.

If you can’t make it to the Monday play event, take in Sunday’s talk. Better yet participate in both and pick up some practical tips on loose parts and play that will bring out the best in your kids.

Thanks for sharing….

Globetrotters for Adventure Play

Nova Scotia, meet the UK’s Pop-Up Adventure Play as they kick off their Canadian tour right here in Hali. These globe trotting play ambassadors have a great story to tell, well more than one.

You can hear them speak about The Wonderful World of Adventurous Play and ask questions afterwards on July 23 at 2:00 pm in that big comfy Paul O’Regan Hall way at the back of the Halifax Central Library.

The UK-based playwork movement creates opportunities for children’s play, providing them with the freedom to take the lead. In their Halifax presentation, Pop-Up Adventure Play will draw upon their experiences around the world to talk about play, playwork and adventure playgrounds.

And then, a Public Play Pop-Up on July 24, from 1:30 to 4:00 pm on the Halifax South Common – bordered by Cogswell Street and Bell Road. We’re looking for 150 kids to participate in this event suitable for 4 to 11 year olds that will be led by Pop-Up Adventure Play. Parents and caregivers must remain on site. Bring water, sunscreen and imagination to enjoy some creative, cooperative, outdoors fun – playing outside of the box!

Our leaders for the Public Talk and Pop-Up Event have traveled with this contagious style of play to the UK, USA, Costa Rica, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong and now CANADA. And here they are – the Pop-Up Players…

Morgan Leichter-Saxby
Morgan trained as a playworker and play ranger in London, first with Penny Wilson and then Bob Hughes. In 2010, she co-founded Pop-Up Adventure Play US to address the lack of playwork knowledge in her home country. Since then she has presented at over a dozen conferences, including the keynote at the Children’s Development Forum in Bogota, and trained frontline staff at new and established sites. At Pop-Up Adventure Play, Morgan leads on training and coordinates writing projects such as ​The Loose Parts Manual​, the Pop-Up Play Shop Toolkit and a chapter in the recently released book ​“Playing It Up – With Loose Parts, Playpods, and Adventure Playgrounds”​. Morgan is based in the US but also working towards a PhD at Leeds Beckett University in the UK. She has also recently spent time training and supporting adventure playground sites on Governors Island, New York and in Houston, Texas. Together, Morgan and Suzanna designed and delivered the Playworker Development Course, and completed tours of the US, Australia, and the world.

Andy Hinchcliffe

Andy has more than ten years experience in playwork, beginning as a volunteer with out-of-school provision, moving onto managing and developing a playwork-guided community and children’s centre in Bradford. He graduated in 2012 with a First-Class Honours Degree in Playwork following work with Fraser Brown’s charity in Romania and later researching theories around deep, dark and criminal play. Andy has been involved with Pop-Up Adventure Play since 2012, supporting the 2014 US national tour, 2015 World Tour and has recently co-worked alongside SCV Adventure Play on a loose-parts recess initiative in the Santa Clarita Valley.

Suzanna Law
Suzanna began as a mobile playworker, or playranger, in socio-economically deprived neighbourhoods in Manchester, UK. She then pursued a second BA, and graduated in 2012 with a First-Class Honours Degree in Playwork. At the same time, she helped to found Pop-Up Adventure Play in both the UK and US, and was Lead Playworker during a 2-month residency on Governors Island in NYC. Based in the UK, she is currently working towards her PhD in Playwork at Leeds Beckett University. At Pop-Up Adventure Play, she leads on project coordination including all three Pop-Ups Tours, and manages online communications for all social media platforms.

In our next post, behind the scenes with Pop-Up Adventure Play.

When Good Things Happen

Originally posted in PlayGroundology

Kids and parents in Nova Scotia, Canada are giving two thumbs up to a couple of the province’s new public play spaces. Middle Musquoidoboit’s Nature Play Space and The Dingle Natural Playground in Halifax make the natural world more accessible to kids.

The scale and scope of these two projects are a significant development for what is still a relatively new design aesthetic in these parts. The variety of installations and the age ranges they cater to set Middle Musquoidoboit and The Dingle apart from other natural playscapes in the province. Jubilee Park in Bridgetown, continues to delight the pre-school crowd and the Evergreen organization is working with a few individual schools to incorporate natural play areas as part of the recreation mix.

Middle Musquoidoboit’s Nature Play Space will be our first stop. A subsequent post will share some of the fun and excitement of The Dingle playscape’s opening weekend.

In Middle Musquoidoboit behind a thin stand of trees there’s a clearing that on opening day buzzes with feverish excitement. Kids are zigging and zagging like hummingbirds from one installation to the next – ponds, slides, a fire tower, sandpits, a nest, a bear den, a tunnel through a small hillock and a personal favourite, a vintage three-seater Flinstone-mobile (see photo gallery here).

Tucked away in one corner is a 15 foot long pit partially filled with water that’s already churned brown. The sloping sides get muddier the closer one gets to the waterline. This is the place that holds the greatest promise of transforming white t-shirts each kid was given on arrival into authentic 100% organic dirt fabric.

The mud kitchen is an eleventh hour addition to this rootsy wonderland. Middle Musquoidoboit grandmas are the driving force behind this get grimy zone. They gathered up all the equipment – pots, pans, containers, spoons, shovels, pails, cupboards and yes, the kitchen sink – to set up a deliciously fun way to create imaginary delicacies with the most versatile of ingredients, dirt, water and mud. This open air, community kitchen, where there are never too many cooks, adds a certain je ne sais quoi to the overall ambience.

Can you say Am-Phi-Bi-An? Frog and salamander prospecting is the main attraction at a kid-sized pond bursting with green along its banks. On a second trip to the Nature Play Space the Girl Power Posse, my two girls and a couple of their friends, fan out and put the multi acre playscape through its paces.

On that occasion the pond is the place to be. Getting up close and personal with frogs proves to be a heady elixir that pulls the girls back time and again to try their luck with the dipping nets.

At another popular installation, scaling tree trunk towers presents an opportunity for airborne derring-do. The ascent is tough, it’s difficult finding the right footholds and hand grips on the vertical climb. Standing at the precipice, I can only imagine the quickened pace of pounding hearts. Then the launch and a surge of adrenalin in that split second before impact.

The playscape offers numerous opportunities for kids to test and push their limits, to assess risk and challenge their physical abilities. These activities help build confidence, develop judgment and, when all goes well, can contribute to creating a reservoir of courage, resourcefulness and resilience.

This is a running, leaping, flying kind of place with wows at every turn. There are hills and rocks to climb, dirt and sand galore, small animals in their native habitat to catch and release, trees, grassy expanses and a welcome absence of motorized vehicles. This is a place to move and a place to play in the heart of Nova Scotia, Canada’s Ocean Playground.

The Nature Play Space is a project led by the Department Of Natural Resources’ Natural Resources Education Centre. Two of the Centre’s team members, Amelia Kennedy and Sara Hill, were inspired to create a natural play space after attending an environmental educators conference with participants and presenters from throughout North America.

They left the conference with an aspirational goal that took form with considerable community engagement and sweat equity from volunteers in addition to support from their provincial government department. Two community build days, donations of labour and materials and invaluable advice were key ingredients in the success of the project. Nature aficionado, designer, trail developer and heavy equipment operator Garnet McLaughlin of Cobequid Consulting gets a huge shout out for his contributions.

So what good things are happening?

• variety is being added to public play stock in Nova Scotia
• communities are being engaged in the development and build processes
• community mobilization and participation resulted in a very moderately priced playscape
• media are covering the story
• parents are talking about risk amongst each other and with their kids
• a home grown design for natural playscapes has been developed that can benefit other communities
• people are having thoughtful conversations about physical activity levels and the value of independent play
• every kid who visits is getting a huge dose of Vitamin N

Our two visits to date resonated with excitement, laughter and an appreciation of the natural world. We’ll be regulars enjoying the leisurely drive there and back through Nova Scotia’s heartland.

For those readers who are curious about the pronunciation of Musquoidoboit click play below and listen to the GirlPower Nature Play Chorale who at the end of their song nail it.

First Contact

Over the past 18 months or so, I’ve had the good fun of participating and helping to organize some loose part play events and it’s been a very enjoyable experience. Thanks to all the adults who played a role in making them happen and thanks to the kids who showed us what play is all about. Here are a few thoughts and photos from my PlayGroundology blog on the loose parts bric à brac….

PlayGroundology

Loose parts play in public spaces is not yet commonplace in Halifax, Canada, PlayGroundology‘s home turf. When public play happenings, starring kid encounters with the bric à brac of ropes, tires, fabric, boxes, etc., do occur they’re awash in magical aha! moments at a somewhat more accelerated rate than in places where this form of play is more on the map.

Dragon alert – Looseparts-apalooza, community led play from Adventure Play YHZ – Findlay Centre, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia – Canada

Most kids here have never seen anything of the like, a conglomeration of matériels gathered with the express purpose of fueling child-led play. First contact moments – when kids meet loose parts play – run a range of reactions: bemusement, tentativeness, to full throttled exuberant exploration.

Play Summit 2014, loose parts event presented by Assemble and Baltic Street Adventure Playground – Glasgow Green, Glasgow, Scotland

My evidence-based experience in…

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Get Your Play Masks On

When children dance to the rhythm of play, the skies light up like no tomorrow. Throw in the wonder of costumes and now it’s a festival of smiles. For true, play is the default for big hearts in small bodies, the beat of discovery.

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Thanks to all the parents who stopped by and let their kids go to explore in the late October green of Findlay’s loose parts meadow. Thanks to the BOO! Patrol who created a great afternoon for everyone and let the Adventure Players tag along.

Come and join us at our next Looseparts-apalooza and bring some of your own odds and ends to mix up the recipe. Sign up for the blog here (right hand column) and like us on FB here.

INFO-PLAY

Hope you can join us on Sunday from 1 to 3 for a pop up loose parts play session in the green space behind the Findlay Centre – brought to you by Adventure Play YHZ.

Box of Dreams

By the way, did we mention there will be BOXES at the loose parts play event this Sunday, October 25 between 1 and 3 p.m. at the green space behind the Findlay Centre? Yes, we will have plenty of boxes. You know those magnet type objects that the younger set frequently finds more fascinating than the contents they hold…

Some everyday materials undergo a metamorphosis when kids get their hands on them. Seemingly ordinary stuff becomes imbued with a magical quality embodying so much more than its original design purpose. Think boxes, glue, paper, twigs and sticks, cellotape. They are the universal ingredients for fashioning new worlds, the raw materials that fuel imagination, foundation blocks in the architecture of childhood.

And of course they are FUN.

As a staple of childhood, it’s not surprising that boxes had a recurring presence in the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip. I’ve always been a big fan and nearly 20 years after the strip’s final syndication, I still get a great laugh from Calvin’s antics. I don’t think Calvin ever saw a box he didn’t like. His energy and out of the box shenanigans would be a great addition at any loose parts play event. He could be one of the kids in charge of supersizing the excitement quotient.

If your kids love boxes, they’re sure to enjoy this pop-up loose parts play event brought to you by Adventure Play YHZ at the green space behind Findlay. Parents may want to prepare for the possibility that they’ll need to cart home a transmogrifier, or similar such creation.

Sign up to receive new Adventure Play YHZ posts by email. Check the top right hand corner of the page.

Adventure Play YHZ Invites You to A Loose Parts-apalooza

Welcome to the inaugural post for Adventure Play YHZ.

We’re putting on a loose parts adventure on October 25 from 1 to 3 p.m. in the green space behind the Findlay Community Centre in Dartmouth. Not sure what ‘loose parts’ are? Take a look at the story below (click through on the image) from an event organized by a couple of our members in conjunction with the Youth Running Series last year at Sackville’s Wear Pink Track.

Loose Parts Unplug and Play – Run, Jump, Build

Another member recently completed a master’s degree and in the course of her research has confirmed that loose parts play offers numerous benefits. A pamphlet she produced, excerpted below, provides some answers to the ‘why loose parts’ question.

Did you know that loose parts are becoming a feature in some of the EXCEL programs in Halifax schools? Some of our members are involved in these activities too. A longitudinal study in one Australian school has firmly established the benefits of loose parts play in an educational setting.

All hail loose parts. They are the jazz of play bebopping the kids along in a wonderfall of spontaneity.

PlayGroundology

We also have a member who operates an incredible daycare space in Halifax and another who runs the city’s only Forest School. Guess what, they incorporate loose parts into their daily play too. This is becoming more and more popular in childcare settings throughout the world as this post from Let The Children Play recounts.

Source: Let The Children Play

Well enough talk, we’re getting ready for loose parts in the green space behind the Findlay Community Centre. We hope you’ll pop by and see what the hullabaloo is about. Your kids will thank you….

Staging Zone for Findlay Centre Loose Parts-apalooza

By the way, why don’t you slip over and like us on our Adventure Play YHZ Facebook Page too and while you’re at it share this post with your social networks!

For more information on the loose parts play event, leave a comment here on the blog.

Hold on tight, it’s gonna be a great afternoon for kids at Findlay, Halifax Rec is organizing a Hallowe’en blast – the Boo Bash….