Stackable re-usable paper or plastic cups are a favourite of mine to introduce into a space. They’re recognisable but novel; especially in large numbers or unexpected contexts. They’d be easy to dismiss but offer up endless possibilities. This play diary is made up of observations from various sessions where I’ve bought cups into the space.Continue reading “Play Diary: Cups”
Category Archives: Play Diary
Play (and/or art?!) diary: Who framed the Pineapple
“the ambiance of play is by nature unstable. At any moment ‘ordinary life’ may prevail once again. The geographical limitations of play is even more striking that its temporal limitation. Every game takes place within the boundaries of its own special domain” Guy Debord from On the Passage of a Few Persons Through a Rather BriefContinue reading “Play (and/or art?!) diary: Who framed the Pineapple”
Play Diary: Wanted kids and missing flamingos
It was a quiet chilly day at the playground and I’d been chatting with a fellow playworker about what to do with an underused and in-the-way wooden leaflet stand. I wasn’t feeling particularly inspired and was mostly coming up with overly complex ideas involving a box of wool I’d uncovered and been a bit desperateContinue reading “Play Diary: Wanted kids and missing flamingos”
Play Diary: the Window
I look up and see three faces pushed up against the glass of the main doorway. The faces belong to three small, blond children waiting to be granted entry to the play hall whilst their adults do the admin bit. What makes me smile particularly is not that they’re very cute (which they are), orContinue reading “Play Diary: the Window”
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”
Play Diary: Tubes, Tubes and Temporary Playgrounds
Hello and welcome to another play diary This entry will be bit of a flashback to those couple of weeks in the summer where I got very into a bunch of cardboard tubes. Hope you enjoy! Back in the summer I got the opportunity to go into a local play scheme and run a playContinue reading “Play Diary: Tubes, Tubes and Temporary Playgrounds”
Play Diary: Cinematic Cardboard
Welcome to the first in a series of “Play Diaries” I shall be writing and sharing on this site. I do many, many things, but my favourite is being a playworker at The Yard Adventure centre in Edinburgh. The Yard is a fantastic and wonderful place; primarily it’s a play service for young disabled peopleContinue reading “Play Diary: Cinematic Cardboard”
Play Radical 