A refreshingly short blog post today as i’m sharing some news! My illustrated Call to Play is now available online to view. One of the first posts on Play Radical was the first version of this piece of writing and I’m so excited to share this update, it also features a series of my drawingsContinue reading “A Playful Manifesto- Now available online!”
Category Archives: Communication
Untangling “Consulting” with Children
I’ve recently had the opportunity to expand my practice into what was a new area for me; consulting with children. In some ways it wasn’t new area at all; ongoing consultation with children is a part of my everyday practice; I’m always seeking to get to know the children I’m working with and learning aboutContinue reading “Untangling “Consulting” with Children”
Playful Communication Part 3: Wordplay
Previously I’ve written about the importance of recognising and valuing different forms of communication and the need for us to allow for expressive as well as functional communication. In this piece I’m going to take a specific look at language as a form of expressive communication and in particular what this can look like inContinue reading “Playful Communication Part 3: Wordplay”
Playful Communication #2: Permission
In play work we talk a lot about permission and in my role I definitely spend a lot of time giving it. Sometimes it’s something simple, just a “yes, you can use that” or “yes, you can climb that’. Sometimes it’s a more complicated “yes if” or maybe a “tell me more….” Sometimes children aren’tContinue reading “Playful Communication #2: Permission”
Diagrams and Laughter
I wanted to take a moment today to share this image. It’s a diagram I drew a couple of years ago and come back to it often when thinking about communication. It shows how laughter uses all our methods of expression at once, its emotional, physical and verbal. I once worked with a kid whoContinue reading “Diagrams and Laughter”
Play Diary: Telling Stories
I know a child who speaks in headlines and snippets from stories of mischief and chaos. He mixes characters, plot points and slapstick action with highlights from days in his life. Though it may sound like a random collage it’s never outside of a certain rationality; rules and facts of life drawn from the workingsContinue reading “Play Diary: Telling Stories”
Playful Communication: the joys of the ‘non-functioning’
“Communication is about our ability to share our lives with other people” Working in play, particularly in disability and additional needs settings, has blown open my understanding of what communication is. The quote above from therapist and author Phoebe Caldwell is, to me, is the best explanation of where I’veContinue reading “Playful Communication: the joys of the ‘non-functioning’”
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