dingdingdongdingdingdongding

Thanks to Birds of Lidingo for sending us this fancy footwork from Amsterdam. The foot piano is designed by Alfons Van Leggelo.

early experiments

Via Boingboing.net comes this enjoyable time-lapse video of a nine month old baby at play.
Note that he wasn't left alone all that time - the parents edited themselves out.

kids need risky play

"A major study by Play England, part of the National Children's Bureau, found that half of all children have been stopped from climbing trees, 21 per cent have been banned from playing conkers and 17 per cent have been told they cannot take part in games of tag or chase. Some parents are going to such extreme lengths to protect their children from danger that they have even said no to hide-and-seek."

'Children are not being allowed many of the freedoms that were taken for granted when we were children,' said Adrian Voce, director of Play England. 'They are not enjoying the opportunities to play outside that most people would have thought of as normal when they were growing up."

Thanks to Bob Stein for spotting this article from the Guardian.

START HERE

Snug and Outdoor are launching this blog as a means to keep people in touch with the full range of our activities, and in the hope of building a network of people and agencies interested in ensuring that play provision in the UK inspires experimentation.

We'll be keeping you in touch with our own work and looking out for articles, books and events that might be of interest to others in the field.

Current Government funding for play may provide a once in a lifetime opportunity to transform the 'playscape' of possibilities available to young people.

This blog is guest edited by Chris Meade, writer and co-Director of if:book, an agency looking at the potential of new media for creative reading and writing. He's interested in the link between playground games and the imagination. Chris was previously Director of the Poetry Society and Booktrust.

We're keen to find a pool of people who would like to contribute to this blog.
Please leave comments, suggest links and spread the word about what we're doing.