Play and Playwork

The Play and Playwork Track continues the themes from the Play track and the Playwork track on Tuesday, we need to understand Play so that we can be better at Playworkers, and in order to be better as Playworkers we also need to share thinking about our practice.

Ethnographies of Play and the Opie Archives - Dr. Yinka Olusoga

Drawing on the 'Playing the Archive' and 'Play Observatory' research projects, this session presents some of the past and ongoing work being undertaken by researchers at the University of Sheffield and UCL centred on the British Academy Research Project 'Childhoods and Play: The Iona and Peter Opie Archive'. The session will explore ways in which we conceptualise the archive and seek to (re)animate it with children and young people, and intergenerationally, in order to create new knowledge about the history of childhood experience. Using creative and digital tools, our work opens out from the archive, to understand the sensory, affective and situated worlds of playful childhood experience, past and present.

This is it: Resonances from the Ludic Field -
Sam James

There are moments one may experience when working with playing children that might be likened to satori- a sudden flash of insight and understanding: The 'this is it' moments of meaningfulness that resonate deeply, in which it feels as though profound lessons have been learned from the relatively simple.
In this eclectic session, I will share a few such resonances from my own Playwork practice, re-visiting the physics of space and time to derive possibly fundamental characteristics of play as a combination of space, time and interaction; alongside introducing some early reading into Eastern philosophy (Zen, Taoism) and how this may relate and resonate with the Playwork approach and understanding of play.

Linking Play, Behaviours and Mental Health - Niki Buchan

As professionals, we as Playworkers and Practitioners know the value of play. How can we convince others what play looks and feels like and of the vital importance of play for mental health and well-being. Many children who don't cope well and struggle with the traditional schooling system develop mental health issues. In 2004, one in 10 children aged 7 - 16 had a mental health problem, this increased to one in 9 in 2017 and one in 6 in 2022. In this research-based session, Niki will include opportunities for reflection, discussion, sharing of knowledge and problem-solving.