Wombat Dan, Wriggling, Re-configuring and asking; What do you want to see from me?
Hello and Welcome to the first Play Radical Newsletter of 2025! Spring is springing (spring fever!) and I’m fully out of my winter hibernation shell. Welcome to the eighty-ish new subscribers who joined me here following my leaving Instagram and Facebook. I really appreciate you coming along and hope to keep fostering connections with other Play-minded and inclusion-passionate folks. If you’ve been here a wee while now thankyou also for sticking around! On with the News!
Wombat Dan, Sister Seal and The Jamitor
Over the past month or so I’ve managed to direct nearly forty hours to working on “The Joys and Shapes of Autistic Play” a publication sharing my Autistic Play Shapes which aim to provide portals and bridges for nurturing, enabling and celebrating authentic autistic play. I am currently in the design and illustration phase and plan to launch the publication in early April. Their will be print copies for sale and a digital copy available on a pay-what-you-can basis. I’m also thinking about doing some kind of online launch event- if you’d be interested in this please let me know!
In the meantime here is a wee excerpt talking about the play shape “Concept Jamming” which is described as “Improvising and playing in the medium of ideas, knowledge and imagination”.
“While this shape is often highly verbal it doesn’t have to be, it can use any language. For me it often happens through drawing. I’ve worked with many young people who seem to feel stilted or stuck in a verbal conversation but when sat side by side with a stack of paper and a couple of pens we can disappear into a concept jam through our drawn-lines. Going back and forth, adding to each other's drawings, building worlds, playing with visual representations of words, switching between styles, speeds and levels of attention to detail. Making each other laugh and provoking more creativity. Time becomes marked by each blank sheet of paper introduced rather than the ticking of a clock.
My whole relationship with Shay, a young person over a few years was largely based on playing together in this way. Characters would emerge as we drew and cross over into each other's drawing worlds, we’d interpret and reinterpret each other's creations through our own lenses, different interests would come and go over time for each of us and become part of our drawing world. Looking back over some of the drawings we created together there are adverts for imaginary crisp flavours, a series of vehicle/animal mash-ups, a survival guide, many elaborate diagrams of absurd roller coaster crashes and a pastiche of The Beatles St Peppers album cover featuring characters we’d created over the years including Sister Seal (a nun seal), the Jamitor (a jam jar wielding a mop) and Wombat Dan (a wombat called Dan). All by-products of treating ideas as play-things.”
Where Play Radical is at
Play Radical will be nine years old this year. Last year before it reaches the big ten. 2024 was a tough year for anyone dependent on arts-funding in Scotland with funding cuts, uncertainties and delays making the freelance work I often rely on to make a living pretty sparse. I spent a lot of time last year panic-planning and imagining and trying to figure out how to grow Play Radical to be sustainable outside of arts- funding. Now in early 2025 I’ve been fortunate to secure work for the majority of this year, and, along with part-time work in a library I am able to slow down, breathe and actually think about what I want Play Radical to be. It turns out, when I’m not in that panicked place, I actually don’t know what that is. Here is what I do know:
I want to say “no” to focusing on growth for the sake of growth or because that’s just what I’m meant to do.
I want to prioritise care, pacing, practice sharing and collaboration
I want to explore alternative economies of knowledge and arts exchange
In between my bits of paid work this year I’m going to be focusing on finishing of things! Bits of writing and resources to share. I’m going to be working on developing my website to be more of a resource for anyone looking for ideas and information on Play and Neurodivergent access and inclusion. But I also want to ask…
What do you want from me?
As I wriggle through this reconfiguring period with Play Radical I’d be super grateful to hear from you what you would like to see from me. More resources? Resources on a specific topic? Articles? Videos? Webinars/online talks or workshops? Silly drawings? Mentoring opportunities? I’m really keen to figuring out new ways of connnecting, creating and sharing practice together. If you have any thoughts please either reply to this (if you’re reading it in an email) or drop me an email at playradical@outlook.com
Black History IS British History
The Black Curriculum are a social enterprise organisation working to make Black British history accessible and engaging for young people (ages 3-25). They work across the education sector in the UK and part of their goal is to make sure Black history is embedded in the curriculum. They create and share teaching resources, they work in schools, publish books for young audiences and advocate for and with young people for their right to access their history and develop a sense of national identity and belonging. Their work is essential, multi-layered and pronged and incredibly genorous. I would highly recommed visting and exploring their website at: https://theblackcurriculum.com/.
They have also just launched a crowdfunding campaign to support their “Young Champions” their youth led initiative writing:
"As we prepare to launch this campaign, our goal is to make it the most impactful initiative yet. Through partnerships, events, and creative outreach, we aim to inspire systemic change and ensure that Black history is acknowledged, celebrated, and taught as an essential part of British history. This is more than a campaign - it is a movement to reshape education and create a legacy of inclusivity for generations to come."
You can share and donate to their campaign by clicking here
Thank you for reading and wiggle on pals!