SURREY — A “pop-up” adventure playground designed to give kids “free and self-directed play with recycled and reclaimed materials” is coming to Newton’s Goldstone Park.
As part of a summer tour of Canada, a U.K.-based organization called Pop-Up Adventure Play will bring the equipment there on Wednesday, Sept. 6 from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., at 5850 146th St., Surrey.
“There will be lots of loose parts and adventure fun,” an event poster promises. “This free event will be held rain or shine, outside.… Children must be accompanied by an adult. Dress for mess!”
The event is done in partnership with Surrey-based Options Community Services, which will host a “Play, Playwork and Adventure Playgrounds” workshop for adults later that day, starting at 6:30 p.m. at #100-6846 King George Blvd., Surrey.
So-called “playworkers” from the U.K. – Suzanna Law, Morgan Leichter-Saxby and Andy Hinchcliffe – will attend both events on Sept. 6. The workshop fee is $30.
“We’re thrilled to be one of the stops on the Pop-Up Adventure Play Canada Tour,” Gisele Haines, training co-ordinator with Options, told the Now-Leader in an email.
The organization’s Canadian tour showcases “inspiring play provision from around the world, providing a range of training, workshops, pop-up adventure playgrounds alongside screenings of The Land, a documentary of unique, raw footage from an adventure playground in Wales.”
On its website, the organization says it believes “children have the right to play as they please, and that a place that supports children’s play benefits everyone. Come and join the play revolution!”
Law, who is studying for a PhD in the field, co-founded Pop-Up Adventure Play to train and support communities everywhere to make room for child-directed play.
“Children everywhere need time and space to play in their own way,” she stated in a press release, “but they are not getting enough of those opportunities. We at Pop-Up Adventure Play want to support people and organizations everywhere to help broaden its understanding and its importance in a much wider context.”
Following the event in Surrey, the tour concludes in Calgary for the IPA Triennial world conference, which will host leading academics and thinkers of children’s play.