Caveat – I am in fact, a PlayGroundologist in training….
- father of five: two vibrant young women, Makyla and Alexa, both in their 20s; a 5 1/2-year-old in primary, Noah-David; a
3 1/2-year-old pre-schooler, Nellie-Rose who is both little sister and big sister; and 18-month-old, Lila-Jeanne. My wife Mélanie and I are doing our best to keep up with three children in the five and under world. We are frequently breathless….
– author of PlayGroundology online since January, 2010, a blog that scours the web for all things bright, beautiful and occasionally tarnished about the world of playgrounds. Through PlayGroundology, I’ve become a fan of flickr – a phenomenal research tool full of awesome images posted by generous photographers. Read more at The Playgrounds of Flickrville. My modest photostream can be viewed here.
– editor and founder of PlayGround Chronicles online since June, 2009, a blog that reviews and promotes playgrounds in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. This year, 2011, is our third season of mapping, photographing and writing up playgrounds in our city by the sea. My younger kids and I are always ready for a playground adventure that will take us to a new neighbourhood.
- tweeting at @playgroundology. many thanks to all the wonderful tweeters who populate this largest real time conversation with humour, wisdom and useful information and insights from all over the world.
- tumblring with tumblr at PlayGrounding – this is an occasional exhibition place for photos, short text blasts, drawings, videos mostly related to playgrounds and a sharing space for found wonders.
I like to write and so far have mostly managed to contain myself to things I know a little something about. Whatever the subject, I always know that there’s plenty of room to learn a lot more. That’s where the online world comes in. It’s the ultimate emporium of curiosity and the imagination. I love the camaraderie and openness of the creators and the phenomenal capacity to undertake research.
The two playground blogs are inspired by my kids. It is my father-in-law though, a retired public school physical education teacher, who inadvertently sent me down the playgrounds trail when we were just hanging out with the kids a couple of summers back. It’s a rare day that we’re not on playground patrol when visiting chez grand-papa Raymond in Sorel, Quebec.
Playgrounding with my children is supported by a job in the public sector where I work in public affairs. Along the way, I’ve tried my hand at a number of things – an accidental farm labourer, glass factory box maker, a canada world youther, bilingual 
dishwasher, historic log church site refurbisher, demolition labourer, steward for the captain of an icebreaker, street theatre player, peace movement youth exchange coordinator, daycare and elementary school teacher, film festival publicist, unilingual dishwasher, proofreader, freelance broadcaster and writer, church and house painter, paper boy, tree planter, untested and unrequited poet, insulation installer, arts and culture administrator, weather data for broadcast seeker, technical translator, mopper of decks and cleaner of heads, built heritage researcher, conference centre cleaning and cooking staffer, national association communications director, federal and provincial public servant, night watchman in a small town park/playground.
The best job hands down is being dad.
Thanks for reading. Please contact me if you’re interested in contributing to either of the blogs – playgroundology@gmail.com.
Updated – May 2, 2011
P.S. I keep track of some of my thoughts/experiences as a Dad and my kids’ adventures/shenanigans in the following blogs –
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Your blog is great source of inspiration. I hope it will be also for polish readers: http://pracowniak.wordpress.com/2011/03/15/znalezione-na-found-on-playgroundology/
Thaks for your kind words. I have a lot of fun finding topics to write about. Your blog looks great. I wish I could read Polish. Are you able to write English? Would you be interested in writing a guest post about play and playgrounds in Poland? Cheers
Just stumbled on your blog and have spent the last hour here! Love your work… if you ever hit Australia, I’d love to be your playground tour guide!
Rebecca, I hope I’ll be able to take you up on the guide offer some day. I’ve always wanted to visit Australia and I understand there are some great playscapes there. Tell your friends about PlayGroundology and see if they might drop in for a visit too. Great to hear from you and thanks for the kind words, they’re always encouraging.
I have also stumbled upon your blog and am very interested in what you have to say. I work at a Children’s museum in the UK so I like to look at how things can be better designed with children at the very heart of the process. Will be keeping abreast of your blog for insights!
Spookily enough it’s Halifax in the UK that I write to you from
One thing I am currently planning to undertake is using a point of view camera fitted to a child’s head to get a better perspective on how they see and interact with their play space! Camera is on order and volunteers at the ready.
Thanks for your interest. I’d love to see what kind of footage you get with the mini-cams. Will you take the kids to a playground? I’d thought of this also but don’t have the equipment. Is it inexpensive to set up? Please pass on the blog to others you think may be interested. Say hello to Halifax on the other side of the pond for me. What kind of work do you do at the museum?
Just had a test run today and the quality of the recordings is brilliant. No, not to a playground it’s being used initially in one of our indoors galleries to help in it’s re-design, so I’m pretty excited about it. The camera is an extreme sports one so it would be interesting to see how it fares on a child in a playground but I would imagine as they are used for snowboarding then it should do the trick. This one worked out at about £130 but also need to buy an SD memory card. Not sure how that converts currency wise.
It is small but is a little heavier than I anticipated so it’d be for the older age range at Primary schools rather than the little ones.
A big hello said to the chaps and ladies of Halifax.
I am an Enabler so, a Play Worker with bits of other things thrown in. Currently doing work around the ‘Loose Parts’ concept which I’m enjoying. We have a series of interactive exhibitions from a car garage, a bank through to specific sensory areas for the little ones. Also do educational workshops at local Primary schools. I love my job. Would be nice to get paid more but ah well!
Interesting to note that the playground that my kids play on is about to get re-developed into houses. Gah! Will let you know how my fight to save it goes
Let me know if you put your footage up somewhere – I’d love to take a peek at it. Is an Enabler a job title? It’s great to love your job. There are plenty of people who can’t say that. I love playgrounds and getting my kids to them – the more creative the design the better.
Hi there Alex,
Although in Scotland, perhaps Glasgow has found your “true park utopia!” Recently opened, The Forgotten Island is a fantastic space to be explored by children and their families! It boasts Glasgow’s only outdoor beach as well as a labyrinth, “Museum of Curiousities”, Paddock Gardens, a Rainbow Field – where you can create real rainbows and a Sound Forest (where you can pedal on bikes to make music) amongst many more things!! Check out http://www.theforgottenisland.com for more information!
The Island Guardian
Hello Iona,
My folks are over in Scotland now as we speak on their annual holiday. Mom’s from Greenock and Dad from Port Glasgow. I spent some time there as a wee boy (even left with a Scottish accent
and as a teen. Sounds like a good story idea. I’ll look at the site and then get in touch with you. I wouldn’t actually be able to publish something until the end of August. Thanks for thinking of PlayGroundology. How goes your internship?
The Forgotten Island looks like a fantastic idea! Think it’s time to take a trip North of the Border with my little ‘un.
Xelaboy, camera recordings done. Woo hoo, need to go through the footage now. Will let you know what I discover!
Sounds like you had fun with the headcam project. Looking forward to hear how the footage turns out. Let me know if you ever repeat in a playground setting. Might be fun to post some of the tape. Forgotten Island does look interesting. I plan in getting in touch with them for a post. All the best – Cheers from Halifax, Canada
Alex, The internship is going well thanks. Busy but good! Tell your parents to come for an island visit! August would be great as we are still open until September 18th.
Squirrelfist – Your wee ‘un would LOVE the island – I’m sure of it! And the rest of Glasgow is such a great place as well – hopefully we’ll see you soon!
Iona
Iona,
They’ve been up to Glasgow but not to the island, Maybe another trip, should the island rise again. I went through the site a few days ago. Love the intersect of art, design and community engagement. What are the primary ‘play’ components? I hope Squirrelfist takes a run up north of the border to take it all in.
Cheers
Hi. I came across a fantastic list of children’s playgrounds in Paris a while back (on scribed), and wondered where you had found this. We have a toddler and it would be so useful on our trips to Paris.
Hi Lynn, thanks for writing. I found it on the City of Paris website. Just looked for it now but couldn’t locate it. I’ll keep trying and if I find the original source, I’ll pass it along. It is available here on my Scrib’d account – http://www.scribd.com/doc/56447065/Paris-France-Playgrounds-Listing
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