...for Young People's Play.

Don't miss the final session in the Autumn Online Learning Series - Thursday 3 June (free for Play Australia Members only.)

Matt O'Connor from Blacktown City Council will outline the steps they are taking to support improved play outcomes for young people across their city. Mark Donnellan (City of Yarra) and Aaron Wallis of Playce will contribute on a current project focusing on girls in City of Yarra. 

A few spots are still available for June 16 & 17 at Westerfolds Park, Melbourne.This specialised 2 Day program enables participants to access and understand both best practice and current Playground Standards applicable to the management, development, design and maintenance of playspaces throughout Australia today.

It's a sobering introduction from The Medical Journal of Australia and VicHealth supplement 'Australia in 2030 - What is our path to health for all?'.  It states that one in six Australian children live in poverty and experience inequity to access greenspace and many other supportive community infrastructure, to live a healthy life. 

Fortunately the supplement offers a vision 'that will be vital for a healthy, equitable and prosperous Australia in the decade to come.' Let's get onboard for the health and wellbeing of our children. 

Show and Tell Your Street - Tyrone Avenue, Campbelltown SA

“I am proud of the community we’ve created. It is a safe and friendly street where we all have each other’s backs. Whether it’s offering to help with gardening, cleaning your neighbours bins, swapping tasty treats or pet sitting…My street is my community…my family.” Dan, Tyrone Avenue,Campbelltown.

This video by Campbelltown City Council in South Australia, demonstrates how residents have come together and built connections and relationships with one another.

“Nature-deficit disorder is too big for any one organization to tackle alone."  So in the U.S, the Cities Connecting Children to Nature (CCCN) initiative is bringing cities together in their region or state to get more kids and families outdoors.

The range of CCCN strategies developed are "challenging issues such as rising rates of obesity, mental illness and chronic disease in children, related to the decline of unstructured, active outdoor play and sedentary, indoor lifestyles."

"I'm a landscape architect who developed a full-time passion for play advocacy and design since 2014. This lightbulb moment was ignited by listening to Tim Gill and Canadian designer Adam Bienenstock. They made me reflect on my own childhood, which was very nature focused versus what my own children experience in urban Adelaide.

Designing and advocating for richer, nature inspired playspaces is my way of improving the urban fabric for children and also has much broader benefits for the wider community."

Peter is the Senior Landscape Architect at the City of Marion, a Play Australia Member and a member of the South Australia Branch Committee. 

Why Peter Semple is a Member...
"The networking opportunities to meet and interact with legends and champions of the industry is what I love the most. I can't imagine another group of people who are nicer and more collaborative. We all share a single passion to advocate for play and have a laugh and a skip along the way."

Join the network that values the importance of play, and help us to create better opportunties for playing outdoors that means healthier children and a healthier Australia.