BLextraordinary

The BLeX (Big Landscape Experiment), developed by Snug & Outdoor with Hampshire Environment Department, has been shortlisted for a Landscape Institute Award in the Communications & Presentation category. A lunchtime awards ceremony will take place in London on 19th November 2009

The awards aim to bring greater awareness of the contributions that landscape architecture and institute members can make in helping to create an improved environment.



www.landscapeinstitute.org

For more details of the BLeX click HERE!!!

Snug featured at V&A!

As part of London Design Festival 2009, the story behind Snug’s development will be featured this week at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London in the new Sackler Centre, as well as at the 100% Design Exhibition.

It will be included as a case study on a new website to be launched this week by UAL highlighting the best of ‘British Creative Industries Practice and Research, Enterprise and Education’

putting the whizz into wisbech

Check out the Wisbech Adventure Playground project that we are working on with Sutcliffe Play: http://www.wisbechadventureplay.net/

parklife

Photos from The Treehouse Gallery to be seen in Regents Park, a wonderful encampment of treehouses, swings and happenings. Recommended.

Badly Designed School

Here's an interesting article from CABE:'Badly designed schools won't be built' . "Schools minister Jim Knight has announced a new minimum design standard for Building Schools for the Future (BSF). Designs falling short of the standard will not get built, and taxpayers will be guaranteed value for money from the government’s investment in BSF."



Tim gathers no moss

bodyspacemotionthings

Snug and Outdoor went to play about at Tate Modern over the Bank Holiday, experiencing
Bodyspace-motionthings by Robert Morris - "a huge interactive sculpture with massive plywood seesaws and giant rolling cylinders which first graced Tate Britain in 1971. But it was sadly closed after four days due to “exceptionally exuberant” visitors who trampled the place down. Now Morris has recreated the work especially for the Long Weekend." Here are pictures from Hattie's iPhone.

snug goes to suffolk

snug in the afternoon

stop frame animation by Toni Lebusque

if:so pictures

The if:so salon held at the South Bank last week brought together an inspiring range of people from the worlds of literature, new media and play. Hattie showed the Snug Kit in miniature and we discussed ways it could be used to explore narrative and inspire creative writing. if:book associates talked about their education project for secondary schools and much more.

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.

eureka moments

Hattie writes:

I jotted down these at the "Just Playing" event at Eureka! last week:

“it helps if someone puts in our way the means of making use of what we find”

and here are some more quotes that I've gathered over time about play and creativity.

“A playable environment offers risk, sacrifice and serendipity”

"We use the material world around us to facilitate the imagination"

"The capacity to see connections that had not been seen before”

"Disturb the indolence of the mind"

"remove the film of familiarity"

"Imagination gives you hope and possibilities"

job!

Sutcliffe Play are advertising for a marketing executive to sell the Snug kit - a fantastic opportunity to ensure the message spreads to spark the playground revolution!
Here are the details.

fair play and happy new year to you

WHY NOT start 2009 by clicking HERE to download Fair Play, the DCFS play strategy, which mentions Snug & Outdoor and the Snug Kit. Then get in touch with us about buying the kit and/or hiring our expert services to help you and the children you work with to have a surprisingly playful and fruitful new year??

Merry Christmas

strategic play

The Government's National Play Strategy has just been launched and can be downloaded from http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/play.
As part of this investment, all local areas will receive funding. Building on the 63 local areas that are already receiving funding, a further 89 local authorities will receive play capital and revenue funding from April 2009.

Children’s Minister, Delyth Morgan, said: “We know that children need play to develop the skills for a successful future. Through the Play Strategy, we are ensuring that all our new investment is shaped by local consultation, and we are supporting community-led projects, including through new funding to support our key delivery partners in the third sector. In addition to investing in new play areas to meet immediate needs we are also laying the foundations to ensure that play becomes a greater priority across local children’s services and throughout local planning and delivery over the longer term.”

Maggie Atkinson, Director of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services, said: “I very much welcome the government's new play strategy. The strategy will help local authorities, their partners and communities to transform public parks, children's play areas and school grounds so that all children have the opportunity to enjoy playing outside with their friends in a safe, stimulating and exciting environment."
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playscapes

This is a blog packed with interesting design ideas - take a look: http://playgrounddesigns.blogspot.com/

article from the Hampstead & Highgate Express

a snug fit

This article is from Scholastic Education News:

A revolutionary new range of play equipment has been opened at a London school by two ex pupils.

Children at Fitzjohns Primary School in Camden met Hattie and Tim Coppard, the designers of Snug, who attended the school in the sixties.
Children in winter coats played in the school playground and Governors, parents and other local schools attended the launch of the Snug kit which is the result of 15 years research and observation into what makes a good playground.

Hattie says: “I was so excited about going back to my old school, it’s where it all started and I have such great memories of the playground. Now I hope Snug can help create fantastic memories for current and future pupils of Fitzjohns.

“Snug is a completely new approach to school playground design, creating a flexible environment for play and learning which changes the psychology of the playground. Children work together to build their own wonderful playscapes and this encourages their cooperation and creativity.”

Head teacher Rob Earrey comments: “From the moment Snug arrived the children were intrigued and literally couldn’t wait to get on it. As soon as the last screw was turned, the bright green mound became home to all sorts of imaginative play.

“The moveable parts are used to great effect and the amount of imaginative play that now happens during the day is staggering – a very tangible result of this is the fall in the number of lunchtime complaints and incidents.

“Snug is creative, imaginative, intriguing, enticing, but most importantly fun. I love it and so do the children.”

Hattie’s playground design company, Snug & Outdoor also launched a new campaign to bring creativity to school playgrounds and are offering five schools a free playground consultation.
Contact Hattie at Snug & Outdoor by visiting www.snugandoutdoor.co.uk.

education show 2009

Don't miss our seminar at the next Education Show:

Snug In the Curriculum. This is how it's billed:

Speaker
Hattie Coppard

Date/Time: 28 Mar 2009
13:00-13:45

Seminar Details

Snug is a radical new approach to school playground equipment. It consists of a family of large scale modular play elements for children to create their own dynamic, exciting playscape – where they can have fun, explore & learn. This is a chance to hear the designer of Snug give practical examples of how schools are using Snug as a creative learning resource across the curriculum.


# Seminar Streams Early Years
# Primary
Location: Booking Code C11

because you're worth it

We've just been to Bedgrove School near Aylesbury, a fantastic infant school with a huge reputation for their inspired work on outdoor learning. The school grounds are filled with gardens of touch, sight, smell, butterflies and storyteling. There's a garage, a pharmacy, a library, lots of vegetables - used by the pupils to cook lunches for each other - and above all an atmosphere of energy and committment. Oh, and they have the SNUG kit and love it. Staff were talking about the imagination it unleashed, for instance a young pupil using one of the 'noodles' as a moustache, dumbells, oars and much more within the space of a few minutes.

Snug & Outdoor are proud to be working with Bedgrove on a resources pack on how to use SNUG across the curriculum, exploring narrative and play and much more. We'll keep you in touch with developments. Meanwhile this clip from BBC's 'Outnumbered' is a wonderful example of how children merge media in their make believe. The same character buried a dead mouse in a recent episode inventing a ritual which included the lines, "Dust to dust, for richer for poorer, because you're worth it."