News from the Play Australia team...

Can anyone seriously believe Spring is only days away? Life seemed to move sooooo much slower when we were children!

As we write this, Play Australia has this month completed another one of our very popular Play Space Development training courses. It was fabulous to be in the room with 20 other individuals all with a focus on play, talking play spaces and the important role we all have in ensuring children, and indeed the whole community, have safe, accessible places to play. We still have a few spaces left in our November workshop and we've posted dates for semester one, 2024 on the website.

This month also saw the completion of our first online module on accessible play spaces, to be released once we complete our “tweaks” . Play Australia has a range of online modules we are currently developing and rolling out to members across Australia over the next few months, and we are also preparing some exciting new opportunities for our members in 2024.

We have also released this week, 4 new webinars in our Play Today online learning series. These webinars feature a range of top Aussie researchers who are working in the field of play and play spaces. Plus, there is more to come with Play Australia welcoming Tim Gill to Australia in October.

The focus on play is really heating up and Play Australia has been in the news with a couple of media interviews this month on Play spaces. Check out the links in our news section.

We love advocating and creating opportunities to build a healthier Australia through play, thanks for being on that journey with us!

Yours playfully from all the team!

Robyn, Kieran, Joanne, and Pete.

Jumping Pillows Removed from Holiday Parks, Community Clubs
Play Australia’s Robyn Monro Miller comments on jumping pillows and risk https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-09/jumping-pillows-removed-caravan-parks-clubs-insurance-issues/102679102

Play in a COVID Frame
Play Australia members, The Venny and Judy McKinty, have been part of the publication Play in a COVID Frame
Check out the chapter from Judy McKinty and the case study on The Venny’s work with vulnerable children and families in chapter 16.

More Little Learners Getting Outdoors With Bush Kinder
On August 22, the VIC Gov’t had an encouraging announcement on support for bush kinders

Urban sprawl is ‘not a dirty word’? If the priority is to meet all kids’ needs, it should be
Hulya Gilbert is good friend of Play Australia and recently wrote the following article on supporting child-friendly planning

Applications now open for Premier’s Fund for Children and Young People
TAS Gov’t is looking out for the health and wellbeing of children and young people with their new funding program.

Having More Fun at Work can Improve Metal and Physical Health. So how can we make it more fun?
...and an article about having more fun at work from the start of the year, but one we think you should look at with the energy of spring in the air. Playfulness at work!

and the theme is … DRUM ROLL PLEASE!!!

Children have the right to relax, play and take part in activities they enjoy.

Based on Article 31, UNCRC

As part of Children’s Week celebrations, Play Australia will be in Sydney and Canberra, hosting Tim Gill from Rethinking Childhood, and we are aiming to live stream to members across the country.

The time frame… 24 to 27 October …more exciting details to follow in the next couple of weeks.

PLUS

Play Australia is launching a campaign to educate on the importance of play to politicians. Do you know who your local and federal members are?

.. find out this week, so you can be ready to take part in the campaign.

Registrations are open for the Asia-Pacific Society for Physical Activity (ASPA) conference in NZ. A lot of our research connections are involved in this one!

A call for papers is out for the Philosophy of Play Conference in Madrid next June.

Heading to Europe in November? Child In the City World Conference is in Brussels 20-22 November 2023.

DID YOU KNOW... you can claim a tax deduction on travel to overseas events if it is related to your profession, Check with your tax agent for how that apples to you.

Whilst June 2023 seems like a distant memory, our Play Australia members who attended are still inspired and using the learnings to reflect on their own practice. Kylie Keene, member, Aussie playworker and consultant at Keen About for sharing her reflections with us all!

To play or not to play? It is no longer a question!

I had always thought that attending an IPA Conference would remain a pipe dream, it became a reality and thanks to IPA Glasgow 2023 it will now become a tradition.

For the best part of the last decade, I have thrown my heart and soul into advocating for a child’s right to play and adopting Playwork as the guiding pedagogy to do so. I owe a lot of my understanding and experience in becoming a Playworker, and now a consultant, to those across the UK who have advocated and worked tirelessly in the play sector to make change, provide incredible spaces and opportunities for children and young people to play and lead playful lives. To those who have written policies, strategies, conducted research, and taught and it was an honour to sit amongst them at the 2023 IPA Glasgow Conference.

While there were so many incredible sessions and speakers, far too many to reflect on here, I would like to share the two that had the most significant impact for me. The keynote from Dr Adam Burley focused on the impact of adversity and trauma on trust and play and building relational capital. Dr Burley made a compelling argument for the importance of play not only in child development, but in recovery and ongoing personal development. Two images were posed, one a sterile indoor space vs the second, an image of an Adventure Playground as he questioned "What should our mental health services look like?" Relational pedagogy, wellbeing, trauma, and trauma informed practice have been given significant focus in our recently revised Australian Learning Frameworks for Early Childhood Education and Care in Australia, so this was a very timely session for the Australian delegates.

Wendy Russell, Mike Barclay, and Ben Tawil presented on the briefing paper to their recent project; Playing and Being Well: A Review of Recent Research into Children’s Play, Social Policy, and Practice. Through this session we were left to consider what is required to support children’s capability to play, to question what wellbeing really means and the concept of playing and being well.

The ideas of a relational capability approach to wellbeing, childhood and social policy, the role of play in children’s wellbeing, children’s play patterns and thinking about the processes of adult accountability and response-ability for children’s capability to play was something I dare say many in the room would have happily sat and listened to for hours. Not only was this work carried out and presented by some of the very people I previously mentioned owing so much to, but it also cemented for me a clear way forward for my future work regarding play in an Australian context.

Yours playfully,

Kylie

Postscript - Play Australia news … We will be hosting a webinar to talk more with Wendy Russell, Mike Barclay, and Ben Tawil about their research in the coming months!