Sep 8, 2017 | box, Canada, Children, family, loose parts, moments, Photos, Play, Pop-up Adventure Playgrounds, Tour
At pop-up adventure playgrounds, we meet children in public spaces, usually alongside their parents and caregivers. Every event offers us a window into their world. Sometimes that means laughter and hope. Other times, it raises conversations about freedom, time or...
Sep 2, 2017 | Adventure Play, Andy, Canada, Play, Playwork, Pop-up Adventure Playgrounds, Professor Fraser Brown, Tour, workshop
Our stop in Edmonton, AB combined a workshop and community play event across two days. The workshop was hosted at the University of Alberta and organised by the fantastic team at Play Around the World, with support from Child Friendly Edmonton. Despite a few technical...
Aug 31, 2017 | Canada, Children, loose parts, Morgan, Photos, Play, Pop-up Adventure Playgrounds, swings, tape, Tour, video
We stopped at Laurier Heights Out of School Care to meet our host Sherri. She led us out from the parking lot and into the field behind the school. Loose parts were already stacked there, waiting for play. There were pallets, cardboard tubes, boxes of tape, rope and...
Aug 27, 2017 | adventure playground, Canada, Children, Morgan, parents, Photos, Play, Pop-up Adventure Playgrounds, Tour
By Morgan The first family arrived 10 minutes early at our North Battleford pop-up, and sat on the grassy hill to wait. Workshop participants and staff of BECIP carried out materials from the library basement, armfuls of cardboard, piles of shoe boxes, tubs of tape...
Aug 21, 2017 | adults, Andy, Canada, Children, families, Photos, Play, playworker, Pop-up Adventure Playgrounds, Tour
During our Canadian tour, every stop has brought new surprises. In Winnipeg, the experience began with an unforgettable sight – horses around a smoky fire, observed by cautious cows. At first, we thought it was a campfire scene but later learned it was smudging,...
Aug 20, 2017 | adults, Canada, Children, loose parts, Morgan, Play, Pop-up Adventure Playgrounds, risk, teenagers, Tour
We were told to park at the Rec Center opposite Safeway supermarket and wait for the boat to come. The Lake in the Woods – aka Kenora, Ontario – is a vast aquatic wilderness of densely wooded islands. It is navigated by small boats with outboard motors,...
Aug 18, 2017 | adults, Andy, Canada, Children, Photos, Play, Pop-up Adventure Playgrounds, swings, Tour, workshop
By Andy After a long drive from Vaughan, we made it to Englehart, with just minutes to spare. We quickly shuffled into our ‘fancy’ clothes, wiped the sweat from our foreheads and jumped on stage before a packed-out room of friendly parents and professionals, many...
Aug 14, 2017 | Canada, film, loose parts, Morgan, Play, Pop-up Adventure Playgrounds, The Land Documentary, Tour, workshop
We drove along a paved path that curved up through the Kortright Centre for Conservation. We parked and walked in, past a grove of tall slender trees. Boxes and saucepans lay between them, along with string and fabric squares. A clearing brightened the air, revealing...
Aug 10, 2017 | Canada, Morgan, Photos, Play, Pop-up Adventure Playgrounds, Tour, workshop
Blenheim, ON has a population of 4,563. Between the pop-up adventure playground and workshop afterwards, we saw about 200 – a significant proportion of the local residents. They welcomed us into the Growing Together Family Resource Centre and talked about...
Aug 4, 2017 | Andy, Canada, Children, Photos, Play, play advocates, playful, playworker, Pop-Up Adventure Play, Tour, workshop
After a series of unfortunate mechanical happenings, we arrived in London ON from Ottawa ON, just before midnight. We were kindly greeted by Alan, our local contact and play advocate who had started a conversation about this very visit many months ago. Our landing in...
Jul 31, 2017 | adventure playground, Canada, Children, photo, Play, The Land Documentary, Tour, tree
The good people of The Lion and The Mouse run a summer camp in public green space that runs behind their building. It’s filled with tall grass, with little paths curling through and train tracks behind a border fence. Margaret and Gabby led us through to the Maples, a...
Jul 27, 2017 | Canada, Children, fund raising, Morgan, Photos, Play, Pop-Up Adventure Play, Pop-up Adventure Playgrounds, risk, The Land Documentary, Tour, workshop
Well, we’ve had an awesome start to the tour. First, you marvellous individuals brought us over the line of our crowdfunding goal. One person was a particular friend to Pop-Ups, and we’d like to thank Queenie for her incredible generosity. Now we can sleep indoors...
