Play Wales – publications for professionals
Play Wales, the national body for children’s play, has this year published a wide variety of guides and resources to help professionals working in and around the children’s play sector.
They are all designed to support and inform all those who have an interest in, or a responsibility, for children’s play,
All are freely available to view online or download for future use. They include:
Childhood, play and the Playwork Principles
This guide takes a look at some of the theories that influence the way adults understand children, the role of play and childhood, as well as the ethics of working with playing children. It explores some of the ideas, concepts and theories of child development and childhood that have influenced and continue to influence understandings of children and their play. Click here to download or here to view online.
Practicing playwork
This guide enables those new to playwork the opportunity to explore some of the ideas, concepts and frameworks, and the practical application of tools and approaches at the core of playwork practice. It considers concepts such as affordance and the affective environment, which enable those practicing playwork to identify, create or enhance places for playing. Click here to download or here to view online.
Accessing the therapeutic powers of play: a guide for playworkers
This information sheet, written by Maggie Fearn, explores what playworkers can do if a child cannot play because they are feeling anxious, worried or afraid of the future. It has been designed to support playworkers in community settings to understand some therapeutic play skills and ideas. Download | view online
Community and town councils
This issue provides information about how to support better opportunities for children to play in their communities. Community and town councils, and therefore councillors, in Wales are well placed to be play champions for the communities in which they live and serve. Download | view online
Play Wales’ impact report 2020-2021
The impact report provides an overview of Play Wales’ work and achievements to campaign for children’s play over the 2020-2021 year. It features information about how we have adapted our work to support the sector, in response to COVID-19, engaged with new audiences to further promote children’s right to play and commissioned and published research to inform our work.
More are available – click here for a full list.
