By Zan
After a glorious fire and den building session in Blackpool, we were invited back again to host a Play Advocacy Day. It was a particularly blue-sky day as we approached the LeftCoast office to talk to about 15 adults from different Blackpool services who all came together in the name of play.
We’re happy to kick start the day with an hour-long talk about play, the possibilities and its importance. Architect Nils Norman spoke about some of the projects that he had designed, and then we came to the interactive part of the day – our very own little pop-up adventure playground. We invited everyone to come and play. Here are some photos:
After a few moments of hesitation, everyone gets into it.
We’re building big things, to compete with other big things that were built.
This is a happy robot that I may or may not have accidentally sabotaged. Sorry robot people.
This is the Blackpool Tower.
This is a fort, and definitely not a tent. And there is definitely a person inside there.
Blackpool Tower complete – but not the tallest creation in the room!
The whole day is a lovely reminder that sometimes we lose ourselves in a world of adult priorities. Accordingly, we forget to prioritise children. It also seems like we were in a room full of kindred spirits who seek more information and ideas on how to make that work in play. Our workshop participants really seemed to enjoy the play. Plus the play talk, and they look like they are already making plans to make a more playful Blackpool.
We were really excited to meet such wonderful people yesterday, and we hope to be part of the discussions as they prepare to make Blackpool a much more child-directed, play-filled place.