Coming to Holland

Emily Perl Kingsley and three sesam street puppets

During my visit to Inclusion Matters in LA, I talked to several people about what it is like to raise a child with a disability in the US in LA.In those conversations people often referred to the story “Coming to Holland”. I had no idea what they were talking about and I am from Holland!It…

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Freedom with boxes

On the 30th of June, there will be another meeting of the “Samen Speel Netwerk”. The theme of the meeting is “From play equipment to inclusive play”.In preparation for this  I ‘m researching this interesting proces. This picture of a  a child crawling out of a box was taken during the May 5th liberation festival…

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SpelenMaar Pop up Loose parts playground

three children playing with loose parts

Children in the Netherlands play less and less outside, also children in Wageningen. The corona crisis has reinforced this negative trend. To turn the tide, I started SpelenMaar together with Johanna Schröder and Franziska Nath from Creatiefhuis Wageningen. SpelenMaar is a pop up loose parts playground. At the end of March 2022 we received a…

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The meaning of the rollerslide

On the 30 of June there will be another meeting of the “SamenSpeelNetwerk“. The theme of the day is “The sense and nonsense of playground equipment fo rinclusive playr”. A tantalising theme, worthy of a House of Commons debate! In the coming weeks I am going to explore the subject a little. I recently had…

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In the eyes of a child

I saw this wonderful video “In the eye of a child”From Associación Noemi Parents and young children (pre-schoolers) take part in a game together. On a screen, they see children and adults making funny faces. The participants imitate the crazy faces.Except for one child. The children cheerfully imitate her funny face, but the parents do…

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What determines the success of a playground?

Wat bepaalt het succes van een speelplek? Deze vraag staat centraal in een literatuuronderzoek en een praktijkonderzoek uitgevoerd door , What determines the success of a playground? This question is central to a literature review and a practical study conducted by  inno sportlab   commissioned by Branchevereniging Spelen & Bewegen. The key to success is a…

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How inclusive should a playground be?

A while ago I saw on the website ‘Alles over sport‘ (All about sport, a website from the Dutch ministry of Health, welfare and sports) that there was little up to date information on inclusive play. I contacted Jeroen Hoyng (Kenniscentrum sport en bewegen) and started a conversation about inclusive playr. We processed that conversation…

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Ilse started with AMID Masterclass

Last week Ilse started with the AMID masterclass Foundations of International Cooperation. The masterclass is provided by the Radboud University . In 8 meetings, all participants are up to date on international cooperation and with Ilse in the classroom, probably also much wiser on inclusive play ;-) Ilse wants to spread her work area a…

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Inclusive playground design at school

The 7th graders at Johannes Fontanus junior High school, Barneveld the Netherlands, are working these months on an important assignment , create a design for an inclusive playground. Client of the students is the municipality of Barneveld. Idea is from Speeltuinbende Barneveld Part of the process is that the students can present their initial ideas…

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