Longer reflection on Westminster's semi-permanent play streets here.
This is a remarkable and bold scheme – all credit to the team – and demonstrates an approach that other local authorities could consider, another tool in the campaign to restore children’s freedom to play on their doorsteps.
Hats off to @thetcpa.bsky.social, GemmaHyde, Sophie Hadfield-Hill, Peter Kraftl and everyone else who had a hand in this. Really useful "plug-in" tools to support local authorities to think about children when developing their #LocalPlan. Fab work.
www.tcpa.org.uk/resources/ch...
It brings a smile to my face every year when I realise just how many of my #playwork friends have birthdays on 1 April
Yes - a lot of playgrounds I know have Young Volunteers - basically ex-children who came to the playground, feel too old for it but still want to be there. There's some judicious support needed in terms of balancing being a player and a volunteer, but they are usually given lots of leeway and time
Our public services aren’t for a secretive profit-hungry US tech firm. Sign the petition to tell the Government to scrap all contracts with secretive US tech firm Palantir. you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/st...
Great report from @aliceferguson.bsky.social @playingout.bsky.social and Tim Gill making the case for a "child lens" on streets and transport policy. Brings a lot of information together in one place to build a strong argument. Thank you!
playingout.net/take-action/...
I’ve just shared a bit of a lengthy post about @playingout.bsky.social and the new Play Streets Network that Lucy Colbeck (former PO play streets manager) and I are going to be working on to keep supporting play streets across the country.
I'm beginning to warm to the concept of contextual safeguarding. Neighbourhood safety is so much more than just blaming parents and caregivers for being over protective. Car free is important, and so are other aspects of safety
Ooh, that sounds great! I'd love to hear more.
Hey #AdventurePlaygrounds in England, here's a rare funding opportunity. Well done, @playengland.bsky.social
www.playengland.org.uk/newsblog/500...
Yes, exactly, you can't be sure. So much of my work is time sensitive, so sometimes I can't use a brilliant report because it's not dated
Dear organisations: PLEASE DATE YOUR PUBLICATIONS!!
Yet again, I'm doing a review that involves grey literature. Yet again, I consistently come up against organistions not dating their publications. Having no date really reduces the impact of your hard work. #RantOver
another reason not to use wet pour maybe?
Advert for Youth Sports Trust conference 4 March 2026 at Telford International Centre, saying "I'll be speaking" with a head shot of Wendy Russell
I’ll be speaking the Youth Sport Trust Conference putting play on the map as part of their work supporting young people to thrive, with their happiness and health at the heart of schools and communities.
www.youthsporttrust.org/school-suppo...
#YSTConference
Worrying to see this, and the power of the reductive narrative that focuses primarily/only on screens as the cause of the "anxious generation"; it permits an avoidance of bigger debates about the decline of spaces for children & young people, the impacts of austerity & inequality, and so much more:
International colleagues - please share. Call for Papers for “More Than Child’s Play: Global Perspectives on the History of Playgrounds”, Zurich 26-28 Aug. They are looking "beyond the existing West-centric scholarship."
Deadline is tight - 15 January.
networks.h-net.org/group/announ...
International colleagues - please share. Call for Papers for “More Than Child’s Play: Global Perspectives on the History of Playgrounds”, Zurich 26-28 Aug. They are looking "beyond the existing West-centric scholarship."
Deadline is tight - 15 January.
networks.h-net.org/group/announ...
Sadly, I can't make it. I'd love to be there. :(
Ooh!! Looks like a trip up there is in order! Thanks for sharing!
that's an amazing photo!
This episode of the middle years, part of @drguddisingh.bsky.social 3 Ages of Child series is brilliant, looking at bottom up health creation rather than top down illness treatment. Plus it features Glamis #AdventurePlayground.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
As a taxpayer, I am happy to pay more tax to support public services and welfare. That is a mark of a civic, collective society rather than one based on individual self-interest and the elevation of wealth to a virtue. #Budget2025
#TypoOfTheDay: Play Ragers @playglos.bsky.social
Our recent article reflecting on neighbohood play during the first covid-19 lockdown, using Donald Winnicott (and Bonnie Honig and Joanna Kellond) to think about play, space, and care, both in the pandemic and beyond, now has a home in @tibg.bsky.social's December issue.
@wendyrussell.bsky.social
Please sign the petition to save Human Geopgraphy at University of Leicster
c.org/MrqhhLBH8J
And this from 3 months ago - although the link is broken ...
Human Geography at Leicester is facing closure. Staff contracts are to end in June 2026; students are to be relocated to other universities, or taught out by a maximum of two (!) teaching-only staff. Other departments and subjects are facing closure, too. Please join the demo!
Child-made signs at Shiremoor Adventure Playground
A poster advertising last week’s Halloween Playday
At a trustees’ meeting at Shiremoor Adventure Playground last night, and the playworkers reported an average of 50-60 kids at after-school sessions through October. And a massive 422 visitors (children & adults) for the Halloween playday. It’s such an important place.
I'm reading through a collection of #playworkers' documentation of brief snapshot moments of playing & laughing out loud. In amongst the funding & sustainability headaches & other not-so-good aspects of the work, these joyous moments are what it's all about. #nonsense #playforplayssake #pleasure
