The Play Well Podcast

In this episode, we will look at Play in Museums.

To explore this we will hear from Lauren Henning and Loretta Mordi.

Lauren Henning is the Learning and Museum Manager at the Tall Ship Glenlee in Glasgow. From West Lothian forests, onboard Glaswegian ships to Orcadian galleries, Lauren has worked in cultural and heritage organisations the length and breadth of Scotland and joined the Glenlee team in March 2021. Lauren believes passionately in the importance of play within heritage spaces and that museum and learning departments need to work together to remain forward-thinking and relevant to their communities.

Loretta Mordi is the Museum Development Manager – Learning and Engagement, at Museums Galleries Scotland (MGS), the national development body for museums and galleries in Scotland. She has a passion for education, learning, culture, equality, diversity, inclusion, and social justice. Her role at MGS includes driving strategic learning and engagement by supporting the sector to deliver Scotland’s Museums and Galleries Strategy and Scottish Government National Priorities. She provides a proactive interface with museums and galleries on key strategic learning and engagement projects to build a sustainable sector relevant to schools and their communities and to improve quality of services. She convenes the MGS Strategic Learning Forum and is keen on the social impact of museum and heritage learning and health and well-being.

Here is our Play Pedagogy Office, Fiona Kirkland, catching up with Loreen and Lauren.

In this episode, we will look at Dungeons & Dragons at school, in primary and secondary.

To explore this we will hear from Debs Barrie & Andrew Hay.

Andrew Hay is the Principal Teacher of Technologies at Newbattle High School where he runs a Dungeons and Dragons club. He supports the 66th Edinburgh Boys' Brigade company as Captain and Games master of the Dungeons and Dragons games they play for fun. He is passionate about supporting young people to develop creativity and problem solving skills to support them as a teenager but also give them the skills to apply in adult life.

Debs Barrie has been a primary teacher for 15 years and has been playing dnd since the launch of 5e. She feels lucky to still play with her original group in which there are two fabulous DMs. They made the game so much fun that she started a school D&D club in 2018. She continued throughout lockdown and until the children went to high school and joined, or formed, clubs there. While she continues to run games for upper primary children, more recently she has introduced D&D to primary 1 children, simplifying and adapting it to suit younger players.

Here is our Learning & Development Officer Jenny Lester catching up with Debs & Andrew.

This is a takeover episode!

Play Scotland recently attended the International Play Association Conference in Glasgow. This episode of our podcast is made up of are reflections from this conference.

PEEK (Possibilities for Each and Every Kid) seeks to support children, young people and families in Glasgow by raising their hopes and aspirations, achieve goals and work towards increasing their expectations for life. Young people from PEEK attended the conference and interviewed participants with questions they designed themselves.

Find out more about the conference: https://www.ipaglasgow2023.org/
Find out more about IPA: https://ipaworld.org/

This is a takeover episode!

Play Scotland recently attended the International Play Association Conference in Glasgow. The next few episodes of our podcast are reflections from this conference.

The Aileymillers are a group of children who shared their thoughts about play linked to the conference themes, whilst engaged in play as a strand of children’s participation in the 2023 IPA conference. They attended the conference and interviews participants with questions they designed themselves.

Find out more about the conference: https://www.ipaglasgow2023.org/
Find out more about IPA: https://ipaworld.org/

This is a takeover episode!

Play Scotland recently attended the International Play Association Conference in Glasgow. The next few episodes of our podcast are reflections from this conference.

In this episode, Tam Baillie poses questions from children around the world to Philip Jaffé.

Prof. Philip D. Jaffé is a professor at the University of Geneva, Switzerland, and the founding director of its Centre for Children’s Rights Studies. He is a member of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and currently serves as its Vice-Chair. A clinical and a forensic psychologist trained in Switzerland and in the USA, for many years, his somewhat eclectic academic and professional activities have focused on children's rights, and more specifically child protection and child participation. Still a practising licensed psychotherapist and a court-appointed expert witness, he has also conducted clinical and training consultancies for a wide range of humanitarian organizations, both governmental and non-governmental. Beyond the traditional "teach, research, publish or perish missions" required by a leading university, his vision of academic life is to branch out in the community at large as a science practitioner and educator.

Tam Baillie is a Scottish youth worker and policy manager who served as Scotland's Commissioner for Children and Young People between 2009–2017. He was the chair of the conference organising committee for the International Play Association Conference 2023.

Find out more about the conference: https://www.ipaglasgow2023.org/
Find out more about IPA: https://ipaworld.org/

In this episode, we will look at play and screen time.

To explore this we will hear from Dr Aaron Balick.
Aaron is a psychotherapist, author and psychological consultant with a special interest in the psychology of technology. He is the author of the children’s self-help book, Keep Your Cool.

Here is our Learning & Development Officer Jenny Lester catching up with Aaron.

Click here to read the IPA briefing on screen time here or click here to find offline play ideas here.

In this episode, we will look at playtime at school.

To explore this we will hear from Michael Follet.
Michael is the founder and director of OPAL - Outdoor Play and Learning. A school improvement initiative which works across the UK and beyond. He has a wealth of experience as a playworker, teacher and school improvement officer. He is the author of ‘Creating Excellence in Primary School Playtimes’.

To find out more about the OPAL programme in Scotland please visit our website https://www.playscotland.org/projects/opal/

In this episode, we will look at play in hospitals.

To explore this we will hear from Teri Wright and Margaret McEwan.

Teri is a Health Play Specialist at Glasgow Children's Hospital. She was recently nominated for the Children’s Health Scotland Awards for her work.

Margaret has been the Play Services Co-ordinator at the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People since 2017. For her work supporting children through treatments she won the the NHs Lothian Health Hero.

To find out more about play in hospitals you can visit:
https://www.whatwhychildreninhospital.org.uk/
https://rhc.nhsggc.org.uk/home/coming-into-rhc-glasgow/directory-of-services/play-in-hospital/
https://www.glasgowchildrenshospitalcharity.org/support-us/appeals/46-support-our-play-service
https://children.nhslothian.scot/parents-and-carers/play-service/
https://children.nhslothian.scot/children/play/

In this episode, we will be looking at children playing out in the local area.
To explore this we will be speaking to Ingrid Skeels and Cherie Morgan.

Ingrid is the Co-Director of Playing Out. Playing Out is a national organisation and movement for long-term change, supporting children’s right to play outside on their streets and in their local area. She is passionate about the importance of freedom and creativity in play for children.

Cherie Morgan is the head of Projects at Play Scotland. Her role is to work with partners to develop and lead projects that will improve children’s opportunities for play in their local community, with a focus on co-creation and action research. She led on the creation of the Playful Streets Resource, which supports communities to improve play opportunities their spaces in a number of ways.

Find out more about Playful Streets here: https://www.playscotland.org/get-involved/communities/

Find out more about Playing Out here: https://playingout.net/

In this episode, we will be discussing how practitioners can support parents to discover the power of play and encourage play at home.

To discuss this we will hear from Evie Keough. Evie is the founder and CEO of Boromi – a play libraries charity. Evie has taught in primary schools from rural Dumfriesshire to central London, where she developed the idea for borrow boxes of toys for home play. She then won the 2017 Teach First Innovation Award and has been growing Boromi ever since. She is passionate about improving opportunities in the early years to improve future life outcomes.

Find out more about Boromi here: https://www.boromi.co.uk/