SWAPA - The PlayFence

Adventure Playgrounds are THE ultimate playspace, a unique environment where children and young people up to 16 hear ‘yes’ more often than ‘no’, where they can be themselves, continue to play even beyond early years as a way to explore the world and develop key life skills, for free.

but these precious spaces are under constant threat through lack of funding and high maintenance costs. Shakespeare Walk Adventure Playground (AKA SWAPA) is a much beloved independent community neverland in the heart of Hackney. As the 45 year old fence started to collapse, finding a solution to replacing it became paramount to secure freedom inside its walls. Here comes the PlayFence, or a way to turn an expensive inevitable structure into a playable structure. With funding from the Arts Council, PlaySpace ran a 6 month consultation process including child led co design workshops and live experiences with renowned artists and designers to develop key concepts and a blue print to take into funding stage. It includes a 360 parkour, outdoor modular self build space, graffiti paradise, sensory tunnels and other hidden treasures.

Stay tuned as we now enter the build phase!

www.swapa.org.uk/playfence

Collins - Follow Your Dreams

Following the success of the Little Inventors book series, Collins commissioned Katherine to write a new book to inspire children aged 9+ (and a few grown-ups!) into wider career horizons.

‘Find out what’s involved in these incredible careers and meet the real people who followed their dreams and are doing these jobs today.

Whether you’re an animal lover, a planet protector, a maths marvel, an amazing artist, a born performer, or a sports fan – you’ll discover jaw-dropping jobs that put the WOW into the world of work!

The careers are arranged by interest, making the content engaging and easy to navigate, with exciting ‘jobs of the future’ in cutting-edge areas like AI and the environment.

This beautifully illustrated, inspiring book is an ideal gift for children aged 9+ to encourage creative thinking, big dreaming, and buckets of ambition.’

collins.co.uk

ADHD UK - national UK charity

ADHD UK is a fairly new charity growing at a rapid pace - their aim is to provide the latest information, support, research, advocacy and awareness across the UK. Play/Space Director Katherine was diagnosed with ADHD as an adult herself and wants to change the conversation about neurodiversity away from stigma to a more positive, informed one.

She is working closely with ADHD UK to develop their content strategy across the board, with a particular focus on creating information and resources for schools, parents and carers. She also facilitates monthly support groups for women with ADHD.

Alexanda Palace - Wild In The Park book

Alexandra Palace is a home for entertainment and education for people from all walks of life. It has played a crucial role in the development of leisure and recreation for over the last 150 years. The Alexandra Palace Creative Learning Team approached Katherine to develop their very first book, Wild In the Park.

Parks offer a unique chance for families and children to experience nature freely, to play and explore and to learn to care for the environment. This 60 page book is full of facts and activities to inspire all children aged 7 and up to enjoy not only Alexandra Park but all other parks with their families. 

Kids Industries - Play Research

Kids Industries are an award-winning research, strategy and creative agency that specialises in the family market. They commissioned Play/Space to research and report on trends around play in education to feed into their, soon to be launched, manifesto.

PlaySpace - The Cat Of Nine Names

Katherine worked with Anaya, a 12 year old illustrator from New Jersey to create the book, The Cat of Nine Names, an early reader illustrated story.

Katherine discovered Anaya during lockdown, when she saw the young artist’s drawings submitted in JK Rowling’s Ickabog competition and was blown away by the quality and consistency of her work.

They met every Saturday for 3 months exploring how a book is made and devising the story together. Katherine wrote the words and Anaya created 20 incredible original illustrations for the book. The Cat of Nine Names will be released through Play/Space Publishing in early 2023.

ACE Creativity Exchange

The Arts Council’s Creativity Exchange is a space for school leaders, teachers, those working in cultural organisations, scientists, researchers and parents to share ideas about how to teach for creativity and develop young people’s creativity at and beyond school.

Katherine was commissioned to write an article on how to use creativity after lock down.

You can read ‘Reignite a love of learning post lockdown with creativity’ on the Creativity Exchange website.