Play Fighting

"Let's make a wrestling ring!"

 

Just what any adult wants to hear from a group of rowdy children right?!

But by now you all know that we're up for a bit of play fighting every so often, so we watched from a distance as chairs were gathered into a rough wrestling ring shape, cushions were arranged to ensure a softer landing and over the top announcements were made to introduce the contestants.

 

Brother and sister go head to head as the audience watch from the side-lines:

 

 

Pillows get used as weapons:

An enthusiastic member of staff does a bit of refereeing:

It was such a performance, there was commentating from other kids, exaggerated gestures, comic facial expressions and excitable screeching from the wrestlers. This went on for twenty minutes or so, then they got tired and moved on to something a little less energetic...

Laura Eldret: Rough Play

Artist Laura Eldret worked with children from Wyndham and Comber estate and Bethwin Adventure Playground at the start of this year, and the result has been a new work called Rough Play which is now on show at the South London Gallery.

 

The installation and film is open for public viewing 11-6pm Thursday 24 October - Sunday 27 October. For more information about the work and visiting info please head to http://southlondongallery.org/page/3030/Laura-Eldret-Rough-Play/918

 

Here are a few images from the original workshops which took place in the Clore Studio at the gallery in April:

 

Cardboard Creations

I've just recently moved house and had lots and lots of cardboard boxes left over from the move. I wanted to put them to good use and knew that the quantity could provide a lot of inspiration for the children at the Shop. So one Saturday myself, Laura Carle and a couple of our Playwork Assistants rejigged the space a little to make more room, got out all the boxes and stacked them in a messy pile ready for when the children arrived.

 

There were mixed reactions on arrival, from 'what's happened to the Shop?' to 'why are there so many boxes here?' to 'can we use them?' (with a slightly excited smile on their face) Straight away the children set out on their own cardboard creations. A rocket that you could fit in, a pet shop and a castle:

 

 

Playing Together

These giant yellow bags which we got from a Scrapstore, have been sitting in the Shop of Possibilities for the good part of a year, yet only this last week have the children even noticed they were there. The photographs below show the development of the children's exploration of this loose part throughout the session.

 

 

Being Heard

With a few bins, buckets, plant pots and metal bowls and you can hear the children halfway across the estate!

 

 

Wrapping Things Up

Tape is one of the most popular materials at the Play Local sessions, if its there you can guarantee that it will get used. We reflect on these moments, which have obviously struck a chord with the children, to think about what other materials or objects can be introduced to the space to allow them to extend their play in ways which might be interesting to them.We've shown a few of the tape based projects on the blog before, but here are the most recent tape related moments that were all about wrapping yourself or others up.

 

Wrapping up the grown ups:

 

 

 

Let's Go to the Zoo

Children at the Shop of Possibilities are forever coming up with new and exciting ways of using the old bits and pieces that make their way to the space. We use leftover bits and pieces from events at the South London Gallery and also get donations of objects from people that live or work nearby.

There are objects which get used all the time (like the old rocking horses) and others that take a bit more time to turn into play things (such as buckets and ropes). When children come into the space they are free to use things as they wish. Whilst we do have an informal 'check before you destroy something' rule to prolong the life of the resources, the children will play with the objects, transform them, adapt them and create freely without the need for adult intervention or permissions.

On this occasion a few of the children came up with a concept and used lots of different things to make their idea as detailed as possible. For the rest of us, we got a very interesting guided tour of a zoo, complete with horses, lizards and snakes! Take a look at the images below to see what we saw:

The Horse Stables

Staying clear of the snakes

Play Pieces: September

So September is the beginning of 'back to normal' with children going back to school and settling back into familiar routines. It's also when the Shop of Possibilities goes back to normal by reopening for after school sessions. Here's what's been happening this past month:

 

Bikes have been used to pull people in buggies

We've had a wedding...

...and a bouquet toss

Paramedics

Mehmet is one of our Playwork Assistants. He supports the play activities at the Shop of Possibilities and the other Play Local projects. Mehmet is also very good at role play and anything that requires being dramatic! Over the time he has worked with us he has been a wrestler, a security guard, a rhino and a police officer. Unfortunately during this particular session, he was unconscious (shot down by cowboys of course). Luckily for him help was at hand with paramedics Ben and Tamzin who arrived on the scene quickly. They used a first aid kit consisting of tubes, wooden blocks, plastic cones and a keyboard to bring Mehmet back to life.  

 

Ben arrives quickly at the scene of the accident.

The cowboys run off into the distance.

Barby Asante: Noise Summit

Artist Barby Asante facilitated workshops on Wyndham & Comber estate at the end of August. Called 'Noise Summit' these sessions were designed to allow children and young people to use music and sound to explore how they feel about their right to make noise in the places they live.

Barby brought along three musicians (FLOetic Lara, Donna Thompson & John Atterbury), instruments and a PA system to encourage an improvised style of performance and sound making. The equipment was set up in a public area just outside of the estates tenants hall, which is overlooked by a number of blocks of flats. This meant the children could be both seen and heard very clearly.

The children and young people wrote songs and poems, performed them, danced and sometimes played the instruments. The songs and performances came out of conversations about what they play on the estate, where they play, where they can make noise, where they can't and how others react to them when they are being noisy. Some really interesting things came out of the improvisations including a girls against the boys 'cops and robbers' inspired song.

Brainstorming... what noises do you hear? what noises do you make?