Space for Play

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Space for Play

Turning spaces into green community places for all. Check our website! https://www.spaceforplay.org/

Spaces open to public without entrance fees are hard to find in Cairo, the majority of public space has been privatized. True public spaces specially serving the needs of children are simply non-existent in Cairo. The privileged Cairenes go to their clubs,but where can the vast majority of children play? In our workshops we create space for children to play and meet. Together with the local childr

en, we co-create and construct play elements, It is a great way to do something physical for your city.Intensive, fun and most of all rewarding workshops in which you learn how to create playspace for children in Cairo.

21/03/2026

💛💙Happy International Down Syndrome Day! 💛💙

Did you know that 21 March (21/3) is officially celebrated as World Down Syndrome Day?
The date symbolises the triplication of the 21st chromosome, which is unique to people with Down syndrome.

🌍 Observed annually by the United Nations since 2012, this day raises global awareness, advocates for rights, and promotes the inclusion of people with Down syndrome.

Because many individuals with Down syndrome experience distinct cognitive capacities, and physical characteristics particularly their low muscle tone, it is especially important to design spaces that support their cognitive, physical, and sensory development through play!

Earlier in February, we Renet Korthals Altes and Syaza Suraini had the opportunity to co-learn and co-design with teachers and parents at Malaysia's Association for Down Syndrome Persatuan Sindrom Down Malaysia (PSDM) in Ampang.

During the session, participants reflected on:
✨ the development aspects to prioritise
✨ the types of play that support this development
✨ how we can continue to co-design meaningful play spaces, making use of what already exists in the environment

A heartfelt thank you to everyone who joined us; especially Pn Hanizan Hussin, President of PSDM, for welcoming us so warmly as we begin this ongoing collaborative journey 🤝

As we move into the next phase of developing conceptual designs for “Spaces for Play” at PSDM, we welcome collaborations and support from those who would like to help turn ideas into reality and giving every child has the opportunity to thrive through play. 🌱

How are your learning environments, indoors and outdoors, supporting Learning through Play, for the development of children with Down Syndrome?

19/03/2026

🌿 How can Play support your learning and developmental goals? 🌿

🔜 Buckle up! Space for Play's Renet Korthals Altes is getting ready for a hands-on workshop at the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES) at San Francisco, USA together with Bethany Wilinski and Nancy Arbogast.

We believe that when spaces are designed thoughtfully, children at play can become:

✨ innovators
✨ conflict-solvers
✨ caretakers
✨ risk-takers
✨ troubleshooters
✨ communicators
✨ fixers
✨ activists
✨ leaders
and the list goes on...!

🤔💭 In this interactive workshop, participants will design their own ideal playscape that intentionally supports the diverse goals of their existing or prospective programmes.

Whether it is to uphold greater equity and inclusion ⚖️
environmental awareness and climate education 🍃
informal learning and active behaviour 🤸🏼‍♂️
emotional wellbeing, trauma processing 😌 or
creativity and innovation... 🎨🖌️💡

SPACE AS THE THIRD TEACHER can powerfully invite these forms of development during free play.

Let us explore simple interventions and spatial elements to transform
existing outdoor environments 🌳🍃 into meaningful places where children can learn, grow, and thrive through play 𖠋♡𖠋

See you there!

Find out more about the conference at: https://conference.cies.us/

10/03/2026

Can the creativity of Kuala Lumpur’s future generation be stimulated by their environment? 🌆✨

With Kuala Lumpur recently proclaimed as a UNESCO Creative City of Design, the conversation around design, creativity, and people-centred cities has never been more important.

As part of this momentum, Renet Korthals Altes will be representing Space for Play in a seminar exploring how our cities can nurture creativity through thoughtful design.

Joining forces with:
• Joan Tan (Think City)
• Prof. Dr. Shuhana Shamsuddin
• Ms. Aina Salwani
Together we will be discussing “People-Centred Cities through Design and Creativity" moderated by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Camelia Kusumo Head of School - School of Architecture, Building and Design at Taylor's University.

This seminar will be held on:
📅 Saturday / 4 April 2026
⏰ 8:30 AM – 2:00 PM

Anticipate a meaningful exchange on how our environments can inspire the creativity, imagination, and wellbeing of the next generation. Scan the QR code to register, hope to see you there!

04/03/2026

🌱🤸🏾 South East Asia play makers, join us in creating more "Spaces for Play" 🤸🏾🌱

With over 20 years of international experience in designing spaces for and with children which stimulate all children to play, learn and move more, we are excited to embark on new adventures in South East Asia!

🎯Our goal is to create more inclusive Spaces for Play for urban children in Malaysia and beyond.
We do so,
As we believe in the power of play; in its essential value for children's development - especially those growing up in dense cities.
We do so,
As we know how unguided play improves children's (mental) health, cognitive and language development, creativity, skills to cooperate, resolve conflicts or assess risks and even their eye-sight!

⁉️HOW? Turning existing areas around schools into more inclusive, climate-adaptive, varied and differentiated Spaces for Play seems the most efficient way to give more urban children access and permission to play freely and safely in ways that accelerates their development.
Step by step ... one school at a time ....!

🙌Together with Malaysian Learning Spaces (MYLES) we are establishing "Space for Play in Asia" and building a regional design practice, rooted in:
> Co-designing inclusive play spaces - together with children, educators, local communities and local architects; and
> Learning through Play to enhance inclusive Learning & Development of all children.

🌏🫱🏾🤝 We are growing and open to collaborations with architects, local governments, schools, educators, designers, researchers, NGOs, universities and communities who share our values about children's Right to Play.

🎓Looking forward to further explore possible collaboration with these inspirational professionals who we already have met! Suraini -Ping Lee Leak Chan Malaysia City Ong Kong Prof Shuhana Shamsuddin Nurul Syala Soraya Sauli Fadzila Aziz Aby -nallari -Chatterjee -kulkarni Bajaj Survatia Learning Space Network

08/02/2025

[NL] ‘Minder plekken voor meiden in de openbare ruimte ... Het begint al op het schoolplein ! Al op de basisschool, maar juist ook op middelbare scholen. Bekijk het gedrag van jullie leerlingen op het schoolplein eens door de bril van insclusiviteit.... Zoals weer extra werd aangetoond met deze mooie graphic van Onderzoeken vertellen het volgende: meiden staan/ zitten meer aan de randen van het plein, jongens zijn actiever, de meeste oppervlakte wordt ingenomen door jongens. In een sterke participatieve aanpak, leggen we met de leerlingen & leerkrachten de vinger op het probleem en vinden we oplossingen: wat gaat deze scholieren op dit plein helpen om een fijn schoolplein voor IEDEREEN te maken? Een plein dat iedereen prikkelt om te bewegen, dat veilig en gezellig voelt? Waar je buiten les kunt hebben, waar biodiversiteit en diversiteit in functies naast elkaar bestaan, koel in de zomer, minder plassen in de herfst, een plein waar je je frustraties kunt afreageren, of juist lekker met vrienden kunt chillen? Jullie verzinnen, wij ontwerpen! Zie hier het resultaat van .zuidoost . Momenteel bezig met geweldige schoolplein transformatie processen voor in ,met voor

11/12/2024

Share our international research at the -Friendly City Symposium

At the Child-Friendly City Symposium in Rotterdam, we - 8 architects from 8 different countries - came together to present the outcomes of our research funded by Creatieve Industrie "How can Designers for Play Stimulate Universal & Local Play?"

When comparing all our country-based based desk-research and especially all our observational research we came to important conclusions.

Children are losing their freedom and authenticity of play, they are unlearning how to use play affordances in their play. We’re happy that we are discovering how thoughtful -design can redefine the role of play in children’s lives while fostering .

As designers, we feel we need to UNBOX PLAY to give back the

We - universal designers for play- wrote a , with commitments for us designers:
🎨 we facilitate play, we don’t dictate play.
💡 In every context we start by learning from children and their communities
🌏 we encourage children to appropriate their own places
🤝 we celebrate -functionality in urban fabrics, we value imperfections

✨HOW?
Stay tuned for future posts where we’ll dive deeper into our findings and share actionable takeaways.

The presentation was a success. Happy that more international (urban) designers and architects joined our community of international designers for !

🤸🏾‍♂️🤸‍♀️ JOIN IN! 🤸🏾‍♀️🤸🏻‍♂️Send us a message to enrich our research with the findings from your own country. It would be great if you could do this simple observational research on both a formal and an informal place where children are playing.

👉 Follow our hashtag to continue this journey with us. Together, let’s keep reimagining Free play within urban fabrics, locally embedded!

Creatieve Industrie arb.nancy Toka Ahmed Œcumene Studio

17/07/2024

🌍🤸🏿‍♂️ Exciting News! 🤸‍♀️🌍

We're thrilled to announce our research project "Global Design-method for Local PLAY" has received a Starting Grant from Creative Funds NL.
Which aspects of play are universal, which aspects are local? How do we as designers for play, avoid the globalisation of play spaces ?
We are excited to conduct this research with an international team of architects and designers from 8 countries in 4 continents.
Together, we will conduct comparative observational & interactive research to improve our participatory design method for play spaces' . 🌐🎨

Our diverse team includes:
🇲🇽 Paulo - Mexico
🇺🇬 Monica - Uganda
🇹🇿 Nancy - Tanzania
🇵🇹 Raquel - Portugal
🇮🇳 Srivardhan - India
🇦🇪 Toka - Emirates
🇹🇳 Insaf - Tunisia
🇳🇱 Renet - The Netherlands

We had our first kick-off meeting last week and are all excited to start this journey! A big thanks to Creative Funds NL for the research grant that makes this possible. 🙏💡

Stay tuned for updates on our progress! 🚀

Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie Nancy Arbogast Toka Ahmed Œcumene Studio

10/07/2024

Primary school The Meander in Heiloo is a so-called 'Active School'... but interviewing children and teachers taught us that the outdoor space was not inviting children to move at all yet. Time for change...

We help schools expand their educational vision to the outdoors by strongly involving teachers in designing their own outdoor spaces. At Space for Play, "Involve me and I will remember" is our motto! By giving participatory lessons on climate and the diversity of play, we equip children to co-design their own climate-adaptive schoolyard. Children always deliver us the best ideas as they truly know their space.

Only through the input from and dialogues with both the teachers and the children can we ensure a unique climate-adaptive design based on the school's vision and children's needs. The Willibrord is happy and is ready to take steps! Together with Kuuk and Quadrans.

[NL]
"onze school in Beweging" is de kern van de onderwijsvisie van Basisschool De Meander in Heiloo. Maar in de leerlingenparticipatie, bleek dat de leerlingen - meer dan op welke andere school dan ook - hun pauzes inactief doorbrengen op hun ouderwets ingerichte plein. Hoog tijd voor verandering! Met co-design sessies met leerkrachten en volop leerlingen, hebben we een plein ontworpen voor De Meander waarop bewegen centraal staat, divers, gedifferentieer, iedereen blij en actief op een cool plein. Op naar gefaseerde realisatie!

Quadrant Advies Gemeente Heiloo Blosse KUUK

27/06/2024

A schoolyard that truly fits the Noordwijkse Method? But also climate-proof, and a neighborhood meeting place? Primary school De Ark in Heemstede led the way! Together with the teachers, we brainstormed about the core of the Noordwijkse Method and their ideal outdoor space. Children participated in climate and diversity in play lessons, and managed to translate that into beautiful design ideas. The input from teachers and students once again gave us unique ideas that truly resonate with this place, the neighborhood, and especially the Noordwijkse Method.

See the result: lots of open-ended play, which can be adapted to suit different themes: a sunken water collection with a stage for culture, a forest classroom, a weather station, a neighbourhood fruit along the fences, and above all many places where children can create their own play, wonder, ask questions, work together, and keep pushing their boundaries.

De Noordwijkse Methode Gemeente Heemstede

12/06/2024

Yesterday, June 11th, was the first from United Nations, and what a joy to celebrate this with sharing yet one more green community schoolyard: our recent participatory design for a schoolyard which will completely fit the school’s specific educational vision (Noordwijkse Methode), will be climate-proof and a great neighborhood meeting place. Primary school De Ark in Heemstede led the way! Together with the teachers, we brainstormed about the core of the Noordwijkse Method and their ideal outdoor space. Children participated in climate and diversity in play lessons, and managed to translate that into beautiful design ideas. The input from teachers and students once again gave us unique ideas that truly resonate with this place, the neighborhood, and especially the Noordwijkse Method.

See the result: lots of open-ended play, which can be adapted to suit different themes: a sunken water collection with a stage for culture, a forest classroom, a weather station, a neighbourhood fruit along the fences, and above all many places where children can create their own play, wonder, ask questions, work together, and keep pushing their boundaries.

De Noordwijkse Methode Gemeente Heemstede

29/05/2024

And yet one more unique natural schoolyard design! Kindcentrum Willibrord school in Heiloo will exist for 100 years; it's time to make their schoolyards future-proof for the next century! More nature, more fun, and more outdoor learning…

“Involve me and I will remember.” By giving the children lessons on climate and on the diversity of play, we equip them to co-design their own climate-adaptive and fun schoolyard. And again, these children delivered us the coolest, most innovative yet feasible ideas for our design!

An intensive teachers' design session enabled teachers to expand their educational vision into the outdoors.

With input from both these user groups, we made the preliminary design, ensuring a unique climate-adaptive schoolyard featuring a huge community stage, rainwater play, diverse trees, butterfly and fruit islands, free running, adaptive outdoor learning spaces, hundred fields, biking parcours over a bridge and through a giant willow tunnel, extra challenging climbing structures, community fruit gardens... Willibrord will be ready for the next 100 years!

Kindcentrum Willibrord Gemeente Heiloo Blosse Raymond Kuuk Groenewegen

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Website

https://www.spaceforplay.org/

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