T K Adventure Play offers professional development for early childhood educators, teachers, recreation programmers, and anyone else who organizes or supervises play for children under 12.
You can access our courses through the professional development groups at the NSCECE, and The Mount. We also visit early learning centres to present the same programs, or custom ones, on request. If you have 7 or more staff, it is more cost effective for me to come to you than it is to send all your staff to a course elsewhere.
You can also access Loose Parts for Outdoors, a combination of my two Loose Parts courses, through the EYCDC’s online subscription service. Click here for more info.
Whether you send your staff to an off-site program, or have me come to you, all attendees receive a certificate towards their PD hours.
The courses we currently offer are:
Loose Parts 101
(2 hr session)
It seems like everyone is talking about ‘loose parts’ these days! Do you have ‘loose parts’ at your centre? Do you ‘do’ loose parts? Inside, and/or outside? If inside has been pretty easy, but outside has been a challenge, this session is for you. What kinds of loose parts are easy to manage, clean and store for outside? What risks do we need to consider? What are the benefits that make loose parts better outside than our regular equipment and toys? Come and see!
Audience: This program is for educators and recreation programmers who are not familiar with loose parts theory and / or have not tried implementing it.
Loose Parts for Outdoors Gets Real
(2 x 2hr sessions OR a 4 hr workshop followed by an outdoor pop-up play event or a review with your team of your outdoor play space)
Loose parts in your outdoor play space doesn’t seem to be working as you expected? Or maybe it was great as first but interest has tapered off? Who is leading the outdoor play – teachers or children? Come out for a full day session on the benefits of loose parts in your outdoor space, discussion about risks vs benefits, and the importance of playwork. Talk with peers about what’s working or not, then help put on a pop-up playground event, and engage in some post-event analysis to help you put together an action plan to take back to work.
Audience: This program is for educators and recreation programmers who have some familiarity with loose parts theory and have tried implementing it to some degree in their outdoor programming.
Rough & Tumble Play
(2 hr session)
This session will provide participants with information about the value of a wide variety of play types and their importance in child development. Most of the program will focus specifically on rough & tumble play – how to set up spaces for it, talk with children and parents about it, and be more comfortable making decisions about when to get involved or stop various types of play.
Audience: This program is for educators and recreation programmers who are feeling challenged by children continuing to engage in very active, physical play that is “not allowed” but seems to keep happening.
War, Weapon & Super-Hero Play – Do we do that here?
(2 hr session)
Does your centre have a policy that says No to “war, weapon, and super-hero play”? If not, is there an unwritten rule about whether it’s allowed or not? If we are saying ‘No’, what are we trying to prevent? Do all staff members agree and enforce the same practice? Does it feel like “Whack-a-mole” trying to prevent this kind of play – no matter how many times you say ‘No’, it keeps happening? What harm might we be causing with our unending ‘No’?
This class will summarize a variety of research and provide examples to foster discussion on this challenging topic. Bring examples of current play struggles and be prepared to challenge your assumptions and practice.
Audience: This program is for early childhood educators and recreation programmers who are uncomfortable with war, weapon, and super-hero play but have realized that forbidding it isn’t working.
Please Contact Us for current pricing!
T K Adventure Play 