Play Training Courses and Workshops

Grumpy have designed a range of training courses to look at the nature and importance of children’s play and to consider how we as adults can support creative and attractive play experiences for and with children.

All our training courses are inclusive, informal and fun. Timings and duration all training courses are flexible. Our courses will suit parents, carers, teachers, managers, etc as all our training is designed and adjusted to meet the delegates and organisers’ training requirements.

All Grumpy centres offer excellent venues for all the courses with in-house resources and creche facilities. Organisers booking courses at Grumpy venues will qualify for preferential room hire rates.

Contact us for more information about any of the courses.

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★ ★ NEW COURSE STARTING OCTOBER 2011 ★ ★

PL110 Play and Playwork Principles

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New ‘Playing Up’ CPD Programme

The new GRUMPY ‘Playing Up’ Continuous Professional Development  (CPD) Programme offers the opportunity to up-date and enhance understanding of the central importance of play in children’s lives. Designed for the Children’s Workforce, teachers and allied professions etc. The workshops explore the myriad benefits that play has for the well-being and development of children and young people, and how rich and diverse play environments can make a significant contribution to supporting the Every Child Matters outcomes.

The CPD Programme, based on the recent research findings from ‘Play for a Change’ (Lester and Russell, 2008) opens with a core workshop focusing on the intrinsic characteristics of play. Following completion of this, further workshops can be selected according to specific professional roles in supporting children’s play. We can also design additional workshops beyond those outlined in the programme in response to organisational needs.

• Workshop 1  The Nature of Play (core): considers the significance and benefits of play to children’s well-being, drawing on research from a range of disciplines.
• Workshop 2  Playwork and Playwork Principles: explores the playwork principles and implications for practice. Essential for practitioners in supervised play settings, setting managers and development workers.
• Workshop 3  Planning for play: guiding principles for planning, evaluating, and enriching a diverse range of play spaces. Suitable for a wide variety of practitioners.
• Workshop 4  The Human Environment for Play: developing effective relationships with children and maintaining a prevailing playful feel to the play setting. Particularly suitable for face-to-face practitioners.
• Workshop 5  Playing Out: explores children’s relationship with natural spaces and the implications for the design and management of outdoor play sites.
• Workshop 6  Play and creativity: how do we support children’s sense of creativity through the design of the play space? What range of materials and prompts can we use to enhance children’s creative expression? Suitable for a wide variety of practitioners.
• Workshop 7  Play, Uncertainty and Risk:  looking the unique design features of play in creating uncertainty, and how adults can support this process. Particularly relevant to understanding risk assessment from a play perspective.
• Workshop 8  Play and Moving: Responds to the increasing concerns over children’s health and fitness, and how we can create a setting that will encourage a broad range of ‘locomotor’ play.
• Workshop 9  Identifying Quality in Play Spaces: considers a range of concepts, principles and approaches to enable effective monitoring and evaluation of play provision. Of particular relevance to senio
  
  r practitioners and managers.

Click to download Workshop Details

Click to download Detailed Outline

Organisers can select any number of workshops, please email for fees information. (costings do not include venues)

** For fees & other information, please email: training@grumpy.org.uk

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★ ★ NEW FOR SEPTEMBER 2011 ★ ★

Intrinsix Workshops : Dynamic Interpersonal work and play for school age children.

• Unique, temporary environments within the school setting to create a sense of novelty, wonder and physical challenge.
• Problem solving activity in an outdoor setting that links the body and brain (this is particularly useful with children who are struggling to remain attentive in the classroom).
• Thematic and mythological narratives bringing the activities to life.
• Emphasis on group interaction to draw closer the relationship between children and their peers.

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Play and Creativity Course

(40 hours, Level 2-3 course fully endorsed by SkillsActive) - this 8-week course explores in greater details the key assumptions associated with the work we do with children - how adults working with children can promote a rich, attractive and stimulating human and physical space to support children’s creativity. The prime focus is on realising the full potential of the play space to support children’s creativity in the widest sense of the word. Successful completion of this course will gain a GRUMPY Level 2-3 Play and Creativity Certificate.

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Playing Out Course (New)

(30 hours, Level 2, fully endorsed by SkillsActive, London) to explore the nature of children’s outdoor play, consider the importance of this to health and well-being and outline how adults can develop attractive and challenging outdoor play spaces. This tailored made programme is aimed at all adults who may have playful contact with children - playworkers, play rangers, parents, carers, teachers, managers in play settings, nursery & early years workers, childminders… The programme is very playful, and considers why outdoor play is important and how adults can best support children’s opportunities to play out. It will introduce a range of skills and approaches that will significantly enhance children’s outdoor play.

Remember Play Matters (5 hours) – an introductory session that explores our own memories of playing. A certificate of participation and attendance will be presented at the end of the course.
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i play (15 hours) – an exploration of the creative nature of children’s play. Remembering the nature of play and recognizing the role of the adult in supporting children’s play. A certificate of participation and attendance will be presented at the end of the course.

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