WEBVTT - This file was automatically generated by VIMEO. Please email info@talestoolkit.com to report problems. Oh, hello. So they can hear us. I'm really excited about this webinar tonight. Um, I hope that you all managed to get in. Okay. Um, because we did put it back by half an hour so that people could get involved with the clap for the NHS. Um, but I just wanna give a really big shout out tonight to say, um, that everybody in schools, we know that you're working really, really, really hard right now. I think a lot of the country thinks that the schools are closed, but we know that actually they're not. There's people that are out there working with the children supporting vulnerable families. And tonight with Greg, um, we wanted to talk a little bit about some ideas that you could maybe help you to come up with homeschooling ideas, um, and also just to really kind of get across that importance of play with families. So we're gonna chat about that in a minute, but just to say a massive shout out to all of those in schools working and putting your own life at danger really. So, so a little bit about Greg. So before we start saying things here, get me a little bit emotional about schools, but just wanted to say, um, Greg here tonight, and we've known Greg for quite a while now, haven't we, Greg? Yeah. And I would say that he's not just someone that I admire, but he's also a friend. Um, and he is an experienced early specialist. He's the author of Can I Go and Play Now? Which is a really easy read. It's got loads of fantastic ideas in it. Um, and we've got a copy and I've read it from front to back, so I would recommend that. Um, and he has also just launched his new book, which is called School and the Magic of Children. So I would recommend looking that one up too. Um, but Greg is super passionate about play and really excited about child-led learning. So, hello, Greg. Hello. I'll let you speak now. Hello. Hello. So really excited to have you here tonight. Yes, likewise. And, and just to kind of echo, um, what you were saying about, um, you know, teachers and, um, nursery practitioners working on the front line in the current situation. And, um, you know, it is absolutely hats off to those that are Yeah. Providing, particularly for vulnerable children, because obviously there are many children that would be at homes where there is very little, very little stimulus or, or or love ultimately. So, yeah. Yes. Um, it's great to know that people are out there doing, doing that. That's true. That's John, I'm gonna make you a little bit bigger so we can see you here, Greg. There we're, is that, is that better everybody? So, yeah, but no, it's true. There's a lot of vulnerable families out there and there's a lot of families that still really need the support of schools, and I think it's just a very difficult time for everybody. And I think that there's a lot of families that have got really high levels of anxiety about work and the virus and family members. So, so yeah, I think, I think it's, it's a tough time, but it's Very tough. I I I can, I can, I can honestly say that, um, you know, obviously it's, it's, it's an incredibly difficult situation for many, many people and certainly Mm-hmm, many nurseries as well, um, in particular, because, you know, they, they are businesses and they are faced with, you know, huge financial implications. But, you know, when this is, when this does, when we do finally emerge from all of this, there is gonna be one thing that generation of children are absolute go absolutely gonna need more than ever before. And that is play. Yes, That's true. Play Is what is gonna heal these children. It absolutely is. You know, as, as mm-Hmm. As adults, we've been confronted with something that's the most terrifying unknown, but for children it's even more. I don't know, it, it, I I just feel like we cannot go back to an education system that we once had. I, I really feel like it way we could stand on the threshold of quite big change educationally. Now it's come in a quite horrible way, but I, I do believe that it would be, um, would be fantastic to, to, to think that, that it could be transformative. Yeah. Yeah. No, I completely agree. And I think that, um, when you look at the people out there and the frontline, now we're talking about key workers, like the skills that you want are things like empathy and communication and social skills and all of the things that actually we want people to have now in times of crisis. The, the things that we should be teaching in school and all of those come through play. Yeah, absolutely. Um, you know, for, for me, it's, it's this idea of beginning to really value children and really value childhood. And, and by that I mean, you know, I don't, I don't mean that those of us that understand childhood and understand play are, I mean, the adult world, those that would seek to bring a, you know, an an academic, uh, agenda, you know, really early on for children. And I, I do, I do feel, feel that, that this could be transformative. Um, yeah, I think you're right. Yeah. And I think the other thing as well, Greg, is that when you look at, sorry, my dad's popping in the room here, I'm staying with the parents the minute. So Yeah. Um, I think that the other thing as well is that for a lot of parents at home, I think that have, for them to have to do some of the academic work, it's quite a lot of pressure at the minute. And I think that for them it's really important to just have a moment to play with their children as well, where they just have a bit of a laugh and, you know, kind of actually talk through some of the things that are worrying them Hugely. And you know, I I I, I, you know, I know there's probably many teachers that are joining us now in this conversation. And so what I'm about to say now, it, you know, about, it's not the criticism at all, but I do believe that, you know, our stance with parents now has to change that they're not, they're not teachers. Um, and to try and give them, you know, academic work to do, and I mean mean academic as in, you know, academic. Yeah. Um, I, I, I think is is is probably not necessarily the most effective way of going about things. Now, that's just my opinion now, you know, and again, many of us work in schools where there is an expectation that work is gonna be set and, you know. Yeah. But, but actually this is the time where our PSD and relationships and ultimately, ultimately, and it is a work that I keep coming, coming back to in all the training sessions that I do love, because I didn't think it's a lost word. I, I really do. We've got, you know, we have an opportunity where parents, I know it's difficult. I'm not, you know, I'm, I'm not sat here saying, oh, dah dah dah, it's just a long holiday because it's not, yeah. But we absolutely have an opportunity for real bonding to take place. And I think for me, that's what schools should be supporting right now. But again, it's not a, you know, I'm not, I'm not a man in a high castle, just stood there, you know, on the outside going through this. It's not that. Yes. But it is about trying to see that actually, you know, society, we, we've, we've, we've pushed children, I believe, to the side of their own lives for far too long. In this way. You could argue about the environment, you know, this is like a pause button where, you know, is it a, is it a reboot? Mm-Hmm. I dunno. But it's a scary reboot. I'm just looking some of the comments coming up. It is, it is really terrifying, which is why Yeah. Play not school work. And by that I mean traditional learning, it's almost, it's kind of redundant. Yes. It children just, it is not what they need right now in the same way. It's not what the adults need, the pressure they're trying to Yes. You know, I can say it from my own position, you know, I'm, I'm confronted with quite, you know, I, my, my, my job, if you like, of going right to schools and doing conferences just banished overnight. Yes. Now, you know, hopefully I, you know, I've got plans, but, you know, if I'm a parent where, you know, I'm, I'm on a, on a zero hours contract, you know, for me and then suddenly I've now got loads of schoolwork to do on top of all the fear, because let's not forget deep down we're like grown up children. And that's, you know, ultimately that's what we're, yes. You know, we're dealing with all of that. So actually the psychological damage that's been done for parenting Yes. Is huge and significant. So, actually I think, so both lots need to come to come together and do the one thing that can truly heal us. And that is mm-Hmm. Play. Yes, absolutely is play. Um, you know, one of the things that I'm hoping to do over the coming, coming months, 'cause you know, let's face it, this probably is gonna be months, is to try and show parents that they can do learning through play and they're absolutely not separate. Yes. Yeah. And I think actually in a way, it's a good opportunity now for us to try and get that message across the parents. I know that we were talking about the importance of it earlier, and I think there, there's, someone was saying about, um, that kind of fear about catch-up, um, Jessica was mentioning there that, and I think there is that fear, but when we have the knowledge that the schools that don't start teaching their children to seven, and we have lots of kind of campaigns like Upstart that are working to put those school ages up, that actually the, the long term kind of value of it and the long term vision in what's happening, the kids are gonna be fine. The kids are gonna be okay, but what they need right now is a bit of a hug and a walk maybe, well, I would say walk in the park, but maybe not Like, and also they don't need to return to a system that year. You know, your 10 year olds do not need to return to a system when they get back into year six when they've gotta prepare for their chats. And I'm sorry, but if the education system can't see that, then you know, it's completely outta touch. Yes. Um, you know, I do, I I do, you know, I I've always said it's about three things, faith, hope and love, and, and all three are based around childhood and, and it can come ruling back out of this. If only we can see now, you know, I, you know, I know our nursery colleagues will absolutely see that that's what's gonna happen. And I know many of our school colleagues will as well, but we're also gonna be those school leaders that don't recognize it. That's true. You know, we've absolutely got to keep trying to raise the, the, the profile of play and that actually if parents are at home and they're finding it really hard, well do, you know what? Then just relax about it, you know? Yeah, Yeah. You know, it's, I dunno, that's just from my point, It's, it's tough. 'cause I've got quite a lot of friends actually that have got her older children and, um, Nicholas just saying that she's got a huge amount of work that's being sent to a 12-year-old daughter. And I think that from my friends, they're working their jobs full-time from home. Yeah. And they're having to homeschool their children full time from home. I had a friend the other day I was talking to, he's got four children. All of their work has to be on screens for the full day, and he hasn't got the screens to do it. So he's having to manage kind of five jobs within his house. Absolutely. And all of them are stressed and worried. So it's, yeah. And I think the other thing with the host, like the social interaction is that, um, there's a huge push now that the importance of actually being with people and contact and not having that and having that taken away makes you realize how important it is. Hugely. And if it's important to us when we have to imagine how important it's for children. And it's just lovely to see just in the comments there from he pr, pr, just saying, actually I'm head teacher and it is about bravery. Now along the way, you know, that we're gonna be confronted with something. And, and that's why it's been lovely to come on tonight and hopefully when we know we start, begin talking about adventure intel toolkit, I believe the two can work really, really closely together to, to provide those conditions because, you know, ultimately that's, that's what does need to happen, you know? Yeah. That's it. That's it. So shall I hand over to you now, Greg? Yeah, of Course. We ran It. We've rambled, right? So I'm gonna hand over to Greg now, but, um, I've got a big pad paper here with lots of notes on, um, and I've got a, a pen, so all of your kind of questions and comments as they come through, I'm gonna be taking a track of them so that we're gonna have some time at the end to throw out some questions and to discuss some of these things. So I'm gonna hand over to Greg, but I'll be here in the background. Okay. Okay. See little bit. Um, so hi guys. Um, obviously, you know, we are in a situation. I, I don't necessarily really want to focus too much on, on, on that. In, in, in this I, I, I like to almost like just, you know, not glibly put it to one side, but just, just put it to one side for now. Um, what I want to talk about today is something called Adventure Island. It's an approach that I created in my own practice. Um, and it's now something that I'm taking around very slowly, just beginning to introduce it to schools and nurseries around the UK and actually further abroad as well. Um, and it's been incredibly impactful. So it's something that I wanted to share with you. And when, when Kate, um, messaged me and said, you know, would I like to come on and do a webinar with her instantly, I said yes. 'cause I recognize that it can work incredibly well with Tale's Toolkit. And I know many of you are out there, um, are are exploring using that, uh, um, as a literacy model. I just wanna take it back just one, one step back to what I was saying earlier about valuing children. And, and to me it's, it all comes back to how we view children, what kind of lens we use to, to, to look at them. Um, in my, in my second book, A School In The Magic of Children, I talk about something called the Ification of Children, which I know sounds like a bit of a grand phrase, but I do believe in that children have this kind of essential self. And, and within it there's, there's several kind of attributes, um, that I believe kind of, sort of make up childhood. And, and they're these, um, creativity, curiosity, uh, confidence, collaboration, um, competence, which is I think is a really critical one. So there's five, five there, all beginning with C. So they, they're hopefully quite memorable. Collaboration, creativity, curiosity, confidence and competence. And I believe that they, all of those things are in the DNA of childhood and they are absolutely present within play. Um, and I do believe in this situation, we're now that those things are really going to prove themselves. Um, I also believe that children have something called the seventh Sense. And those of you who might have talked, heard me talk before, will be familiar with this idea. And that is that children see the world through different eyes. They, they don't, they see the real world, but they also see the infinite potential within every object. Um, so, you know, the, the classic is a box. And you know, we see a box that's just, you know, something arrive, delivery arrives in a box. To me, at the age of 48, I just see it as something a bit of a pain, and I've gotta go and, um, you know, go and recycle it. So I go and look at the recycling day and break it up. But children don't see that, do they? We know that they, they will use it in an infinite number of ways. They will use it at their will, if you like. And so, adventure islands kind of, sort of based around this idea of the seventh sense. And it's also based around the idea of play and the concept of coplay, which is something that I'm beginning to really explore now in my own training. Um, play itself can actually present quite a difficulty because we talk about play and I do as well. Um, and it kind of, sort of opens up to lots of different, um, interpretations, play really the truest sense. And if we go back to this idea of, um, uh, that Peter Gray in the really brilliant, free to Learn, um, he talks about play being something freely chosen and something that can be freely quitted or freely given up. And often it's without the, it's the, uh, in the absence of an adult, well, in our settings, the adult is always there. You know, an adult brings the child to the setting, and the adult is, you know, hopefully interacting with the children. So it's why I'm really keen on this idea of coplay. And that is where the two worlds of the adult and the child kind of come together and, and, and overlap. And in this overlap bit, this is the, the kind of the magic overlap. This is where the adult brings their skills and it enters the magic world of children. 'cause I do believe children are magic, and I know that you will too. And the magic is, goes back to the, to the soul of collaboration and creativity and those c words of confidence and competence and curiosity. That is the magic of children. And the idea, I believe, is that there's, there's that world, the magic of children, but there's also a d another world as well. And that's the magic of story. So there's two worlds operating the magic of children and the magic of story. And more than ever, and unless you bring it into this context, now that we're in, I believe particularly when I look at the Tales toolkit, um, examples, that they really have got an opportunity to live and breathe, um, within the kind of the, the, uh, the, the home environment as, as well as the school. Because actually, let's look at, if we look at the, the breakdown of say, of the character, well actually that's about being a protagonist. That is a character, is a protagonist in the story. When we use a Tell talk, we're selecting someone on, and we were saying, this person, this is a character and there's gonna be some kind, something's gonna happen, some kind of adventure. Well, that means that they are protagonist in the story. So if they're a protagonist, they are to a degree and able to choose. And I think this situation we're in now is gonna need lots of protagonists that actually, yes, this virus has come, but what are we going to do about it? What is our action gonna, you know, how are we gonna act? Then we've obviously got the setting and that's kind of our environment. And again, if we look at the environment, lots of things are happening, aren't there, where the environment's being clo being, being closed, you know, children's access to certain things. And let's just put that in mind 'cause that's gonna bring us back to Adventure Island and what it is. And ultimately what we're gonna be relying on is quite a limited environment to teach our children, if you like, or for within which the children to learn and for children to play or coplay. And then we've got the problem. Now of course, we know what the problem is in this situation is the virus. There is a struggle, and I believe that every single story, no matter what it is, always has some element of struggle within it. It's like the universal problem. And it's absolutely how are we going to confront it? Um, and then of course there's a solution. And the solution ultimately is some kind of act of heroism. It's something that I believe is kind of comes from the soul. There's some kind of resilience or creativity, some discovery of possibility. It's not something that's mimicked from someone. It's actually like a self-reliance. And I do believe that's in deeply hidden within every single story. And I do believe that every day that we live is the creation of a story. And now we've got this opportunity. And I do believe it is an opportunity, however much the cost is to us as a society and as a business and financial, there is an opportunity for children to begin to see that actually they can kind of live in their own tales toolkit, if you like. Um, one thing just for those of you thinking about using Tales toolkit at home, something I've been doing, just kind of just playing around with ideas. Uh, my children are a little bit older now. They're, they're in their teens, so they just look at me like, um, they compare me to, um, do you know, Friday night dinner? They often compare me to, is it to Jim, the character? They often compare me to him and they call me a boomer. But anyway, um, what I do is I just find a little box and I just go around and I put random objects in the box, I shake it up, close my eyes, and then I just pull it out. It's just a little bit of kind of, I don't, just a nice bit of, um, storytelling that you can do. So, like for this example, I've got a box. I pull it out, the first thing I've got is a button. These are all just random objects. So, you know, once upon a time, and I've really enjoyed in my own storytelling, recently using this phrase, once upon a time, um, in the world of a of long ago, in the world of long ago, or flip it around in the long ago of the world. I love that phrase. There was a button and the button lived and his the next object in a, in the kitchen drawer. There's my spoon, uh, in the kitchen drawer. Um, but it was very, very dark. And so what the spoon, what the, um, button did in the kitchen drawer, it scrambled around and it found a candle and some matches, and it lit the candle. Now what's gonna happen? Do we think we've lit a candle in, in the drawer? And you are right, it starts to, um, it starts to burn. And then lo and behold, I found a top Trump card, and who comes along? It's Iron Man. And the Iron Man comes along and he's set and he rescues, um, the button. So that's kind of like what I've been doing. Now, what I haven't been doing is, and I was just talking to Kate before we went on, we went on, on, on Air. I have not, I haven't been writing anything down. It's just been talk. And I do believe talk is something absolutely critical at home that can be done. 'cause it doesn't need any resources. It doesn't need a teacher toolkit, a pack to go home. It doesn't need a YouTube, it doesn't need, you know, Kate and I, again, we're talking about, you know, there are families that do not have paper and pencil at home. So if we accept an expectation for them to, to, to, you know, to do work, we actually set 'em up to fail. So actually with stories, you know, the traditional, you know, going right back into history, the, the tradition of stories is actually spoken. It wasn't to write down, it was that you were passing on, you passed on time, you passed on legend and folklore. And now we've got an opportunity for children to kind of join into that, um, uh, into that idea with, um, with, with things from around the house. And children become almost like their own protagonist in their own story, if that makes sense. So that's kind of what I've been doing, and certainly absolutely to, um, talk is, is, is huge. Um, and the idea really for me is that within a story, I'm looking for the possibilities where I can go outta my own experience and venture into an infinite number of possibilities. It's about the imagination, it's about the seventh sense. And again, this is why I believe Coplay is so important, because when they coplay, what we're doing is as the adult is letting go of, now I use the phrase Stone and Starlight. So I believe the idea that, in the idea that if you don't know that the German poet, Wilke, R-I-L-K-E, now's the time to go and read some German poetry from the 19th century. Um, 'cause Wilke has got a poem where he talks about the stone and the starlight inside of us that we feel. And the idea is we've got this stone. We know absolutely what the stone is at the minute. It's about dropping that stone and just letting it fall and allowing the starlight to fill us up. Now the Starlight, to me is the Starlight of childhood. So when parents begin to coplay and when they begin to tell stories to one another, that stone, it doesn't disappear, but it just slowly kind of descends down the body. And what's left is an opportunity to fill with Starlight. And it's that bit that I believe is really, really important. Um, and this whole idea of now what we've got is, 'cause obviously if you're using Tail's toolkit, you've been, you know, clearly been doing it in your setting, you may well have been kind of encouraging it for it to be home at home. But now it is based in, you know, in the home, probably less likely to be done, um, out outside because of, of lockdown. The idea is, is we've now got a setting that is limited. So this is where I believe Adventure Island can step in. And Adventure Island is something, like I said, that I used in my own practice. Now, just as little bit of background to it, um, I used to work in, um, in a, in a foundation unit in a large school. And my colleague and I, we used to go down to the woods. We used to have like a woods on site, did like a project, and we cleared the woods and made it amazing. And we didn't do forest school, we just went down and we just let the children play, but in a new kind of environment, if you like. Um, and for various reasons, we were stopped from going down to the woods. Um, and so we decided, because if we couldn't go to the woods, well, what we'll do is we'll bring the woods to us. And this is the critical thing with Adventure Island. So what we did was we, the children had clear, had made various parts of the wood into different, um, different, have different features, different names. So they had like, there was like a wood, like a log, um, pile that they used to call the Crystal Castle. And there was, um, a big mount, like a big hill that they used to call Cloud Kingdom. So we took those, like the names of them and went back into the garden that we had. And we looked around for features in the garden that we could then use. So for example, we just have a little mound. It was about that sort of high. Now we know that that's, that is just about you. Literally you would just walk past it like that, just little mound. But we just told the children that it was cloud kingdom. Instantly it went 300 feet up into the air. And we had, there was a wizard right at the top. There was a train that went round that you had to buy tickets for, it snowed certain things, it would send the weather. Um, there were kind of, um, there were um, um, bad characters that would come down, but it was just literally a mound this high. Um, similarly we also had, um, something called the Chocolate River, which was basically a little, um, a little ditch that some of the children once dug out with spades and it used to fill with water when it rained. And of course it got muddy and it just became the chocolate river. Well, as soon as you've got a chocolate river, what's gonna live in there? Instantly you've got crocodiles straight away. But then there's all manner, um, of different kinds of, of water-based and not water-based, um, creatures sort of popped up out of the Chocolate river. Now the idea of the, um, of calling it this adventure island is you, what you do is you just call your outside area Adventure island because it becomes a destination. There's the word outside. Let's go outside. Doesn't mean anything to children If you are free. Now, I do this thing in my training where you put one hand behind your back and you have to look at the age. You hold up the number of fingers that your children, how old they are. So if I hold up four, I'm, now, I have got to think like a 4-year-old, not a 48-year-old. And a 4-year-old will see Cloud Kingdom and they'll see it because you believe in it. And wherever I've done this, it instantly it happens. Children will see it. 'cause the moment you see Cloud Kingdom, they will see it too. And it's like this shared belief that you, it's like a belief system that, that you create with children. And so when I did it, um, we used to have like five or six different areas. We had tiny town. Tiny town was two little sheds next door to each other and a little pal palate den. So it was like three kind of next to each other that just became tiny town. And tiny town became populated with all kinds of animals. The Badger Rabbit and the Ky NOKs. Um, loads of them, loads of different characters just, just just cropped up. Um, we had, um, a sand pit and that became the Poggle patch. 'cause the Poggle was a character, and I'll talk about the Poggle in a minute. A character that lived under the ground. Um, we used to say to children, we used to have extra airport right near us. And so planes used to overloads. And so we told the children that they were bringing witches to Adventure Island because suddenly what we had was a destination. Children need destinations. Destinations have magic. The outside as a phrase, has nothing 'cause it's not a place that children will go, I'll go outside. And it has got no like, sprinkling of magic. So the idea is that words that we use lend magic to us. It gives us more opportunity. 'cause this is what Adventure Island does in your, if you just, you know, hopefully lots of you are working in settings, okay, I know we're not working them now, or we, you know, let's go back two months. In your own setting outside, you've really only got outside your outside area. You've got, you know, you're gonna have your play bits, whatever you've got, that's all you've got to do. All of your curriculum in and all of your observations, et cetera, and all of your talk. That's all you've got. But the moment Adventure Island comes up out the ground, it's like a ghost landscape. You are literally adding a whole new dimension because you'll all see it, it becomes a living folklore. So it's not, it's not, there's cloud kingdom and cloud kingdom on your peers for a day. It comes forever. It's just caught. So if you've got a, I dunno, a climbing frame, it's a perfect cloud kingdom. Anything that's up, um, if you've got, um, you know, if you've got a water zone, an outside water zone. So again, thinking of this idea of the, the names of things, it's that thing of, okay, you've got a water zone. But that phrase itself means nothing to children. Nothing. If you call it waterworld, suddenly the children have got a little sprinkle of magic over the top. And if you don't believe me, think about, go inside and think about the words, the malleable area. It it's, it's meaningless to children. We know what it means, but the children don't. And what we're trying to do is set up the idea that something magical is going to happen. That is going to be an adventure. And I would say, really that that isn't that what we want for children every day should be an a event, which should be an adventure, or we should at least strive to make it an adventure. Um, you know, I do believe that children deserve an adventure every single day. And it is, and just looking at some Kate's comment there about children do have the best ideas. They absolutely do. And what we're doing is, is we are creating this world almost like a map in our head. So, you know, one of these things is you have to have that all of the team, all of your team have to believe in it. They cannot be. Now I'm gonna use a name now, so I'm just gonna pick one. So if this is your name or you are married to them, some of that name or your mum is called that name, I'm just saying a name. So please forgive me. But you know, we've all got that one person who might, let's say be called Maureen, who is more interested in complaining about her toe and it's cold outside, who doesn't want to go outside and will just, you know, they haven't got a great deal of magic, let's say. Now they have, but they're not presenting it. They're kind of weighed down with the stone of life. And what we're trying to do is say, let go of that. Come and believe in Adventure Island. And I've seen it happen in schools where I've done it. I know we all know a Maori Yeah, we do. And if you don't know a mare, then it's you, by the way. Um, but the idea being is that we've all got to believe in it. If you, if someone says, let's go outside, if you, you introduce Adventure Island, if it's something that excites you, you can never talk about outside again, it's Adventure Island. 'cause what we're trying to do is we are creating like a, um, um, it's like a completely new landscape and it's no good. Someone just to say, okay, go on the climbing frame because as soon as you've done it, you've killed Adventure Island. And we'll come back to the how kind of why that's so important. But everyone needs to be on board. 'cause everyone has got a story inside them. Everybody has, in the same way that every object has got a story inside it. I, um, it's a book that I'm gonna be writing quite soon called The Hidden Soul. And The Hidden Soul is basically where everything is literally whispering to us to, to tell it, to reveal the story that lives within it and also the story that we can create around it. Um, but really the main driver for Adventure Island, not only is it to hopefully inspire our team to go and coplay, not only is it to create a landscape and an absolutely huge infinite dimension that you can play with. So again, the mud kitchen, you don't talk about mud kitchen ever again. It just becomes the witch's kitchen. Now these are just my ideas, but you know, again, this is idea of like trying to come back to, you know, when we're all, when we all, when we all came fresh out of teacher training, you know, we all felt we were gonna change the world and we all felt we were gonna be, you know, I don't know, um, you know, we were gonna be like the most creative teacher in the world. And then suddenly, you know, then you meet the key stage two literacy leader, you know, who doesn't really understand childhood and goes, yeah, but want more writing in books and blah, you know, again, you know them. Um, and what it does is it just goes on your creativity. Well, here's a chance to get it back because the children, it's extraordinary when Adventured goes, because ultimately what we're doing is, is we're not just having faith in our team and we're not just having faith in adventure island. 'cause believe me, it what the adventure, the water area was called Water World. But you can come up with your own. That's just what I called it. Um, Claudia, that's it. Again, the idea of naming things is going back to our own kind of imaginations if you like. But, um, the idea being that you, you are also having faith in children because believe me, children will absolutely populate this like you would never believe. Now in my own practice, I left my school to go and write my second book because I felt I couldn't give a hundred percent to the children and a hundred percent to my book. And, you know, I had an opportunity to write one. So I left my children one term. I did Adventure Island for. And so in that term, children raised out of the ground, 80 characters, 80. And we'll come back to those in a moment, just why that's so exciting. Now the thing is with Adventure Island is the trick about it is this often, and I've done it in my own practice, so it's not a criticism at all. This is what I used to do, I would say, right? It's week three, I'm gonna do Gingerbread Man. And I do it for three weeks. I'm gonna dress up all of my contingent provision all around the gingerbread man. And if anyone goes into my gingerbread man house and tries to play, um, moms and dads or cats and dogs, I'm gonna, you know, get a little bit nat with 'em. 'cause I spent ages setting up the Gingerbread Man house. And how dare you because, you know, we're doing it this week. And that's what I used to do. I'm, that's what I, how I used to be. But ultimately the idea being is, is with Adventure Island, what you're doing is, is we're saying to our children, do you know what? I've got faith. What we're gonna have is we are gonna have an infinite amount of story. We're not just gonna do the Gingerbread Man for X amount of time. If that's what you do. The Gingerbread Man exists all the time. We never say goodbye to the stories. And you know how you might do the classic where I don't know, you do. We're going on a bear hunt and you get a message from the bear and you get the message from the bear once. And maybe some children with a bit of imagination will, will remember the bear. But most children will forget because you've moved the learning on because you're now going on to the next topic or the next story. And again, it's not a criticism, but with Adventure Island that bear, that gingerbread man never goes, it's always there. And so what it does is it just opens up this within, and again, I don't talk about continuous provision anymore. 'cause again, that word means nothing to, to parents or our colleagues further up in the education system. I talk about the learning landscape. And so the idea being, again, it's a really good way of using it. 'cause again, if you've got Maureen, you don't want to setting up the continuous revision. You want to setting up. And by that I mean choice and collaboration and all the things and creativity you want it to be thinking about the learning landscape. So again, it can just be a little rebrand that can just give that opportunity for, for, for, for for adults to begin to begin. You know, put one hand behind the back and working with four year olds. Um, but the idea, again, if you read, if you share a book with children and then you close it, it's all trapped in the book. But with Adventure Island, it takes it out of the book and it just becomes, it lives, it absolutely lives and breathes. And it's this whole idea of what we're doing. It is you will, you know, if you think about the children in your own setting now, just think really quickly. Have you got two children? Obviously don't type their names in the comments. Two children who either are really good imagin or are really bookish, they have been books snuggled by their parents. Yeah, you've got two of them in mind. On the other side. Think of two children who are inad, not confident, imagin and who you know full well and not being book snuggles. You've got the books, the book Snuggles on this side, the not book snuggles on the other. Now without Adventure Island, your book Snuggler are going to come in and they're never gonna turn around to the children and go, oh my goodness me, my father read me a most delightful story last night. All about three Bears and Goldilocks. They're not gonna do it. And the children are not being booked. Snuggled definitely aren't because they're getting that rich diet with Adventure Island. What happens is your imagin this side, they'll talk about the book, the the story characters because they want the characters to appear. So they just pop up and suddenly children start talking about the books that they've been reading. Not, oh my goodness, may I read this really lovely book. But they start roleplaying, they start presenting challenges to one another. They start comparing characters. And then lo and behold, your non-book snugglers suddenly start being cross pollinated. And I'm a great believer in cross pollination. If we go right back to the magic of children is that children need collaboration and children thrive on it. And what children are doing is they are lending their magic to one another simply on Adventure Island. And again, venture, you don't need to set adventure island up. It's all imagination. The only thing that you, um, had you, you need to add if you haven't got it already is, and if you don't know them is is these guys, I'll write it down really quickly on this piece of paper 'cause it will save me having to to try and spell it. Um, they're a place out in Germany and what they do is they do loads of open-ended, big scale continuous provision outside. And it's that, I'll just hold it up there. Can you see it? I'll just hold it. I'll grow a board bit. Oh, which way is it there? And if you look at them, they're on Instagram. They've even got a website as well based out in Berlin. All you need is, I'll just peek over the top. All you need is, um, milk crates, boxes, ramps, rope traffic cones, um, uh, drain pipes, wooden blocks. 'cause what happens is children, yeah, everyone got that. Um, children will make things for Adventure Island. They will come together in solidarity. They, again, it goes back to this whole idea of competency and capability. Children do absolutely not always need adults to dream up challenges for them. Adventure on is not challenge cards. Children are capable. 'cause what we're gonna do is we're gonna inspire them with an adventure. Now, how I used to do it was I used to, we used to go to go to Adventure Island once a week, one afternoon we'd get all the children together and we'd go, Ooh, something's happened. Or we would introduce a character or there was a problem. And I can guarantee you with the joy that you build in this, all the children will go outside. And I know for a fact, oh yeah, and scrap scrap stores. Thank you Kate. Absolutely head to scrap stores. The, um, the all the children will want to go outside. I've worked with children who do, who have never wanted to go outside. And the moment we've dropped the Venture Island out they go because suddenly it's a destination. And there's something and there's purpose and there's meaning. And we'll kind of look about how we sprinkle that over the top. Um, but ultimately that's what I used to do just once a week. But it was also open. It was also an open invitation. So if children went out on Monday and went, I'm going to Adventure Island, they didn't go, we don't go there until Thursday. One hand behind my back, you're four years old, I want, it doesn't matter what does it matter? You're going out to another, it's like another dimension that you're going into. And it gave me as like us as practitioners to go out and go and join in the co coplay with them. So what we're doing is we've created this, we've got this whole dimension that we once went, we went once a week to formally in Commerce, but then it was open invitation all the time. If the children went out and they went into clouds, they went to the Witch's Kitchen and they played it like mud kitchen stuff. I didn't go over and go, how dare you. This is the Witch's Kitchen. The Witch's Kitchen was just like, almost like an invisible thing that I could raise out the ground if I wanted to or if other children wanted to. Now what does it mean for this situation we find ourselves in now? Because obviously we don't necessarily have our provision at the minute. Well, we bring it into us because I think someone asked about how do you bring it inside? Well, do you know what you just tell children about the bog babies? Now the bog babies are extraordinary. They're a character out of the book Bog Baby. Now, again, if you read the book Bog Baby, it just stays in the book or whatever kind of things you might do with the book. But the moment you say to children, and it's best if you've read the book, but it doesn't have to be. I mean I've done it with children. I've never read the book ever. And you just say to children, oh my goodness me, you're never gonna believe it. This is how I launched it. I just used to tell 'em adventure items appeared outside, don't say anything else. It's just outside the windows. Can't believe it. Adventure Island and somewhere, the place called Cloud Kingdom. And the children be like, Ooh, you're kidding me. And then you just go and do you know what? I think there's some bog babies under the ground trying to get to Adventure Island. Let's all listen to the floor and see if we can hear them. Now, do you think, and again, if you don't believe me, put one hand behind your back and do that. Will children believe that there are bog babies under the ground? Yes, absolutely will do. As will you or your team. And of course most importantly Maureen. Maureen will. So then what you do is you then proceeding that you've got a piece of paper and you've hidden a secret symbol underneath. Now if you dunno about symbols and messaging Mm-Hmm. Absolutely not here to sell anything particularly, but you should think about going to my website and downloading the message center to you to I love the message center. But anyway, you find a message from the bog babies, the secret symbol, and then you've got the purpose to go, oh my goodness me, we're gonna need to take it back to see what they're finding. You know what, what's what, what, what, what's waiting for them? So then of course the children will want to go and take it back. Now, the things that I've done with, with bog babies, I've had children, they go out and they get their, uh, traffic cones and they talk through the traffic cones to the bog babies. Mm-Hmm. Into the ground. Yeah. Made scanners and and bog baby detectors. Yeah. Find them. Um, they've, they've gone and got water and they've watered the ground and collaboratively created in the water world this massive kind of system of collecting water to then go and make the ground really soggy. So the bog babies, it's easier to, for them to move through the ground. Yeah. They've gone into the sandpit and they've just dug up stuff like old toys. And we've just told them the bog babies have left them special toys for them. Yeah. And the children like, but the main thing, collective imagination, it's not this imagination where everyone's gone off in their own, like their own individual thing. We're all in it together and believe it. It'll sustain itself for an afternoon. It absolutely will. The like, one little boy got his glasses and he cut out a plastic bo a plastic box and celler tape to his glasses and then put some underneath so that the wind didn't get it. And by the way, Okay, we like this. Yeah. By the way, the wind is a character on adventure irons called Windy Ddy. And Windy Ddy comes and visit. I know, I know. It's mad. But anyway, he went outside, so he's got this thing over his face and that enabled him to see through the ground so that he could see where the bog babies were. And he was going Around drawing. I'm, I'm seeing this in my head right now. I know. Isn't secret Symbol in the, on the ground for all the other children. And by the way, boys and girls let's you know, let's do away with all the boys. They just love it. Yeah. They just, we know making the secret mark. That's where the bog babies work. Then they dig away with it. Um, children were finding little holes all around going into the, into the, um, I normally have a message center outside, by the way, in Adventure Island. Yeah. Rolling. Rolling up the piece of paper and hiding them for the bog babies. And of course when they're not looking, you just take out the secret message. Oh my goodness. Me the bog babies are taking it. Yeah. And Then of course the poggle arrives. Mm-Hmm. And The Poggle is a lonely character and Okay. Yeah. So he, the bog babies are, there's lots of them. Yeah. Lives by himself. Yeah. Self isolation. Self isolation. Have I got time to take? Yeah, Yeah. You've got, you've got time. Okay. So on Adventure Island, there is, and again, the characters are my, are my just characters I've come up with make whatever you like. But anyway, I've got a carrot, it's called Witch and Itch and which is a Okay. And itch is Cat. So again, just think about curriculum now, witch itch, rhyming, et cetera. So, Well I can that So, um, so yeah, it's elaborate. Exactly. Is called Witch because when she wasn't looking, someone took her name. Okay. So she's just called Witch now, but she's looking for her name. Yeah. Now on the moon, there's Bear with me on the moon, there's something called the moon pins. The moon Sounds like a, like a program I used to watch as a kid. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. The move-ins live on the moon and it's their job to tuck the moon into bed. So you know, when it goes into its crescent, that's them putting the blanket, the bed clothes over the moon. Oh, that's a nice though. And it, When it pulls it back, the moon lights up and it lights up the witch's name. 'cause the witch's name only lights up when the moon's full and round. Yes. And her real name is Luna. Okay. Yeah. And the Poggle, she sent the poggle originally to go and look for it underground. And that's what is doing. Now, it'll sound mad, but the Poggle follows me everywhere. So when I go on a plane or go on a train, I imagine Poggles going like this all poggles there. And I, if I get into an airport, gonna sound mad if I what to do at the airport. I ask the, you can help me now. Okay. 48. But you know, still. Um, but the idea is This is where Greg should be in the classroom. Oh man. Yeah. But the critical thing here is what you do is you, this is how you involve the parents. There's two things. Yeah. With like the bog babies. You just say to the children, and I've done this again, someone noticed about EAL children where I've this, we've done this with the el children. It's worked like an absolute Butte Mm-Hmm. Children that the bog babies love them and they're really fluffy. And if the children love them back, maybe a bog baby might follow them home and pop up in their garden or down their chimney. Okay. Depending You, you'll know kind of the culture. I can, I can see some links coming in with homeschooling here. Yeah, of course. So if you've got children who live in flats, you've just gotta think about how they're gonna go there. They got the drain park, however. Yeah. Now All of those children, I can guarantee you will, the first thing that they will say to their parents at pick up time is the bog babies. Now then what you've got is you have a position where you can now make this. You've drawn the parents in and I know that parents believe in it because parents already live on Adventure island. They just don't know it. Yes. For two reasons. They believe in the tooth fairy. Mm-Hmm. And they believe in Father Christmas. We get excited about Christmas because of, 'cause we've got a child inside us. You know, I would anybody at Christmas time that Mm-Hmm. No matter what age you're waiting for Father Christmas, you listen out from new, they're principals of adventure. Right. So your parents live already. They would never, never met a parent. I've worked with some, you know, let's say they could do a little bit of work on parenting. Yes. But even no matter how poor a parent, you're, and by the way, that's not a criticism 'cause no one teaches you how to be a parent somehow, you know, but, um, you know, it's hard. Yeah. Countdown for Boxing Day, obviously that, but what you do is you, you you are saying to that they would never turn around to the children and say Father Christmas doesn't exist. And they would never say the two. They wouldn't. So they already believe in it. And then the moment what you can do is if you look outside your setting, just look for some landmark that you can call magic. So I have a magic tree now. You never tell the children why it's magic. It's just magic. Mm-Hmm. If you've got a lollipop lady or lollipop man, you involve a lollipop man. A lollipop lady. So when the children are coming in Yes. And now and again, just now and again, you leave something waiting for the children on the, on the magic tree. And I swear to you the children would be like, what is this? Yeah. There's load of things like just houses like, I dunno. I worked in like Northampton where they've got this massive big chimney, I dunno, can't remember what it's before, but we just told, we were gonna tell and we did it on the day, but they were gonna tell them there was gonna be like the rocket ship that took the Yep. Moon pins back up to the moon. Yeah. And they believe it. Of Course they do. And they Believe it This, this story that all the children believe in, not just Yes. The book snuggler. Yeah. It just, this idea that they will, they will absolutely tell stories. Yeah. And they remember it. Exactly. And now can you imagine you are a tales toolkit school? Yeah. Just this extra, you know, extra layer of magic that you can sprinkle over the top. And by the way, I'm not, I'm absolutely not saying that they're not doing, you know, your practice using are not already, but it's just giving you another world just to sprinkle over the top. Yeah. 'cause children will naturally see all the problems and they naturally will see the solutions. And you've got this toolkit. Yes. And right now in a position where we can bring Adventure Island into the home. Mm-Hmm. And it's really simple. You can either use the bulk babies Yeah. Or you can use something called the min pins. Have I got a moment to talk about the min pins really quickly? Um, I'm just aware of time because it's coming up and I've got a few questions to ask you. Fine. Um, do you Yeah. Um, yeah, let's do questions too. Fancy. Do you wanna do questions and then Yeah. Questions? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Cool. So, um, Helen was asking what are your thoughts on, in the moment planning and Play? Um, well, what I think about it, well, I mean, um, I wrote, I didn't actually know anything about anybody other than our lovely friend Alistair. He was the only kind of early years, and I, I kind of knew Mm-Hmm. Um, and I, I, I guess my first book kind of go and play now probably kind of is in the moment planning. I, yeah. I mean, it, it works. I think my main thing is is I'm, I'm a great believer in teaching from the soul. Yes. I'm a great believer in me, Nick Lopez. We used to work, we used to have this thing of like, you teach to the edge of tears. You, you teach, you teach to what you are truly passionate about. Yes. So, my own personal thing is if you, if you truly believe in, in, in the moment planning, then do it. Yes. If you don't believe in it and you're just doing it because that's the thing. Yes. Well, I dunno, it's a question. I, I haven't got an answer for that. Yes. Assembly I think is what you fit in your heart. In the same way, if you truly believe that work, sitting down doing worksheets with children is what is gonna bring to life, then that's what you do. Although, and I think all of us in this room would probably know, would probably go it doesn't, no. Yeah. So that, that's a really kind of political way of answering that question, isn't it? But I think it definitely has got value. Absolutely. I'd I'd rather see that than, than than worksheets. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. And what, and what I do know as well, Greg, is that you're very passionate about play and you're very passionate about child led. Yeah. So there's, there's a lot of links in terms of the beliefs that you hold and stuff that's happening within the moment. Planning Yeah. Ab Oh gosh, absolutely. I mean, I mean, ul ultimately, I think the biggest thing for me that I've learned in my own practice was to overcome this fear of interrupting their play. Yes. I think what I always tried to do was be become the person in the room. I'm agra again, if you've heard me speak before, I often talk about Eva and Eva and Eva is like a character that lives inside all of us and she stands for inspiration, vitality and Acceptance. Mm-Hmm. And it's that thing of that's what we need to give children. Yes. Um, and you know, I do believe that when you coplay with children and when you Mm-Hmm. When you are light-hearted with them, they just invite you in. They invite you in. You don't even need to go and ask or go. And you do, of course, observation is important, but they just invite you into the play because they see that yeah. You are someone that something good is gonna happen around. Yes. Yeah. It's true. And I think a massive part of that is the fact that you love it, that you enjoy it, that you're having fun. Like that's, that's a huge part of that, I think, too. Oh, hugely. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Hugely. Yeah. So, right. Okay. Next question is, do you think that we need to prompt talk questions for our parents? Um, I think possibly, again, it depends on the parent. I mean, I think sometimes parents feel if they've got prompt cards, et cetera, it can be, you know, I, I, I personally am really into the idea of just talking with children. But it's hard. Yes. Because again, you never, you're not taught how to do it. We, we, we know don't we as educators? Yes. Yes. It's not hard, you know, it's not, it's not always easy or obvious to, to parents, you know, life is really difficult, you Know? Yeah. It's really tricky. And I think it's just trying to, again, you know, again, it's that thing of, it's some of us a natural storytellers and see it, some of us aren't, some people, some, some of us see magic and some don't necessarily, do you know what I mean? Yes. Um, I think they, they can work Absolutely. Mm-Hmm. But, but I think sometimes it can, it can close it down 'cause parents feel like that's what they've got to talk about. Yes. But you can talk about anything. Yeah. But I don't say that in a glib way. I is a skill, isn't it? It's a skill. And I think sometimes it's maybe thinking carefully about some of those questions that would open up conversation rather than close it. So that, 'cause like you said, there's lots of parents that wouldn't need questions and could run with all sorts of imaginative discussion, but there's others that would maybe little need a little bit more support and, and maybe as a teacher knowing who those parents are that would need that support. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. No, absolutely. No, I completely agree. Yeah, That's true. Um, okay, so next question. Um, em was asking, do the children help to name the areas or are they introduced of their Okay. Yeah. Yeah. As their names in the venture island. Well, I, I personally, um, would suggest that you raise out of the ground one at a time. Mm-Hmm. About five areas that you identify. Yes. So that there is a fixed narrative. You want a collective narrative, it's no good. All the children just talking about different things because then it's a shared story. But you just, you just introduce it one thing at a time. Mm-Hmm. Um, there is actually a starter kit available, which we'll talk about in a bit I guess, but that, that will show you how to do it. Mm-Hmm. But the, um, the idea is, is now you over time, the, if you leave a few, there's always somewhere there's, you know, again, I've had like, I don't know, children's find like little bits in a tree, a little hole or a crap in the wall and they'll name it and then you just go, oh my goodness me. That's a great idea. What a great place. And you just go, guys, everyone come and gather him. We found something. And then you share the name and then it just becomes the name. Mm-Hmm. That's cool. Lovely. Um, I've got some people I think that are wanting to head off for the evening because it's Yes, Of course. Blame. Before, before we go, would you like to tell us about the nin pins, Thein pin? Tell us about thein pins. Okay, go. The pins. Great. So the pit someone about doing it inside or out. Okay. Um, and you can do inside. I always do it outside to first. 'cause that's, that's kind of a really integral one. But um, it's the idea of what you do is you um, do you just go, oh my goodness me, did you see an nin? And you just, they'll go, what? Because children what they live and they live in this and if you've looked around and you find little and then they'll believe in them straight away. Yes. So you can do it at home. You tell them that the mint pins move stuff so when the children go to bed, yeah. Just move it around. And it was the mint pins. Yeah. I, I like, I love that. We had, um, when I used to teach, we had a school where um, we had cracked eggs in the playground and we left cracked eggs out with little tiny footprints that we drew underneath the walls and up the radiators and stuff. And it went on for ages. Like these little kind of Yeah. And they were talking about the little people that lived in school. I love it. Yeah. I love stuff like that Greg. So, so yeah. Brilliant. So it have passed. Is there any sort of questions that anyone would really kind of burning and desire to ask before we go? But um, I'm gonna let everybody go off and have an evening 'cause you're probably all knackered. Um, but is there any other questions just before we go? I think we're all good. I think we're all happy, aren't we? I think we're all good. Just Kate. Then there is a, if people are interested, there is, um, a starter kit available, which in light of where we're at now, I have, I have made hard price. You can, if you, the code tail toolkit, all one word. If you head to my website, the shop ww play now, you'll find it. It's on, it's on, it's normally sell to 30 pounds and it's there for 15 and there's, there's a whole bumper kit with a an hour and a half video start to pack in a guidebook. And hopefully it's five people tonight. And then, you know, as I said, to try and add this another dimension to tell toolkit tool absolutely do work hand in hand. I know they do. I think it'd be brilliant. So yeah, big thank you for that Greg. Um, the other thing I was gonna say as well is that um, we are both trying to put together some resources for homeschooling and to support the schools at the minute. So if there's any ideas, then get in touch with me or get in touch with Greg if there's anything you'd like him to do. But yeah, we really kind of want to support you in school, so let us know what we can do to help you. So yeah, brilliant. Thank you for everyone for coming out tonight as well. 'cause I know you've got lots of stuff going on. So, and just take care of yourself and stay in and, well, obviously lots of you have to go to school, but do what you can and look after yourself. So, so yeah. Big. Thank you Greg. And big thank you for everyone coming out. Thank you. Okay. Stay safe everyone.