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Parents report decline in children's physical wellbeing, increase in screen time amid COVID-19, according to national survey

Source
National outside-of-school-hours (OOSH) 09 Feb 2021

Decreased physical wellbeing, increased screen time and feeling disconnected are the most significant impacts of COVID-19 on primary school-aged children, according to a survey.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-09/parents-concerned-about-children…

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Children's Health and Wellbeing

The Fewer Toys Children Have, The More They Play

Source
Raised Good Feb 2021

Two decades ago, a German project called, “Der Spielzeugfreie Kindergarten” (the nursery without toys) wanted to see what would happen if they took toys away from kindergartens. All toys from participating classrooms were removed for three months...

https://raisedgood.com/toys-children-less-play/?fbclid=IwAR1slcJoMNp42p…

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Play Strategies
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Play theory
play based learning

A reminder of the significance of Play in lockdown

Source

Tim Gill - Rethinking Childhood January 2021

But the truth is that no-one benefits if children or their parents are under constant stress. This is why finding some space and time for unstructured, open-ended play is so important. Play can act as a release valve that allows children to feel a sense of their own agency, and to make some kind of sense of their experiences on their own terms, with adult concerns fading into the background.

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Play Strategies
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Covid19

The Pandemic Play Project

Source

Judy McKinty

Where there are children, there is play. It is a universal impulse, as old as humanity. Physical play, verbal play, friendship play, solitary play – it is the exercise of body and imagination, marked by humour, challenge, invention and exploration. As essential to childhood as food and drink.

Dr. June Factor

https://pandemicplayproject.com/

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Planning for Play
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Covid19
Play theory
play based learning
folklore

In Britain’s Playgrounds, ‘Bringing in Risk’ to Build Resilience

Source
The New York Times

The Richmond Avenue Primary and Nursery School looked critically around their campus and set about,  as one of them put it, 'bringing in risk'. Out went the plastic playhouses and in came the dicey stuff: stacks of two-by-fours, crates and loose bricks. The schoolyard got a mud pit, a tire swing, log stumps and workbenches with hammers and saws.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/10/world/europe/britain-playgrounds-ris…

 

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Early Years
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Risk Management
Loose Parts Play

To deny children the simple joy of riding a bike is an abdication of our parental responsibilities

Source
Steven Herrick - The Guardian

No video game, Covid-19 lockdown or computer simulation can replace the childhood liberation of being alone on a bicycle

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/sep/28/to-deny-children-the-simp…

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Risk Management Hub
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Planning for Play
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Bike tracks
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