The PAPPUS project will disperse seeds of change in the lives of young people, using the natural world, botany and horticulture, in a playfu

Could footwear transform outdoor play in our early years settings? Lessons from Japanese kindergartens.

EDIT: this blog is being updated daily whilst we are in Japan. Scroll to the bottom for the latest post. PLL Jules and Mary (who is currently a very very part timer at PLL - her 'real' job is with Learning through Landscapes) have arrived in Yokohama, at the start of a two week stay, encompassing research into Japanese school grounds, and attending the ISGA conference and leadership retreat. Here's Mary's Yokohama diary: FRIDAY 9th Exhausted after our flight, train, another

Julie Mountain and Mary Jackson are heading to Tokyo this month, to attend the International School Grounds Alliance 2018 conference, and carry out research in elementary schools and early years settings. Our work is partly funded by the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation and we are hugely grateful for their support, which has enabled us to arrange visits and interpretation, as well as our travel costs. Our project aim is to learn how risk is safely incorporated into Japanese

The fourth International School Grounds Alliance (ISGA) conference has just concluded in Bali, with delegates from 14 countries attending to speak, learn, play and network with like-minded individuals and organisations. Play Learning Life was one of these organisations and I was invited to present a viewpoint on learning and play in the school grounds across the UK. 25+ years of experience supporting schools in the UK and beyond has provided me with a unique perspective and

I was lucky enough to visit Sherman School in September 2011 as part of the International Green Schoolyards Conference. Here, I report back on the features that really caught my imagination - the clever and determined use of water as a playful and educational element in a landscape. How did they do it? The grounds at Sherman School are testament to the power of community collaboration, but they also could not have happened without the vision and energy of individuals with a

One of the schoolyards I was most impressed by on the International Green Schoolyards Conference tours was at Alice Fong Yu, America’s first ‘Chinese Immersion’ school. The building of this garden has been largely funded through the San Francisco ‘bond’ system whereby City voters choose the projects they wish to see taxpayers money spent on – I have to say, I love this concept! This is a challenging site – very steeply sloping (the Bay Area is famously hilly) and effectively