Call for Participants: Training and networking event ‘Junkyard playground: an outdoor space for youth that provides challenges, co-creation and non-formal learning’ August 8-11, 2023 in Tartu, Estonia

Do you think that kids should spend more time outdoors? Do you wish that they had more opportunities to be with their peers, be creative, playful, active and autonomous, learn in a non-formal way and deal with age-appropriate challenges? Do you think that we should all do something about it?

Join the training ‘Junkyard playground: an outdoor space for youth that provides challenges, co-creation and non-formal learning’ in August and be part of the solution!
TRAINING IN A NUTSHELL: What: four days full of practical activities, advice and experiences of the best junkyard playground experts from Germany and the UK, discussions and networking. The training will help you to find out: what is a junkyard playground, what is it for and how to create and maintain it. For whom: youth and community workers, activity leaders, outdoor space designers from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Where: Tartu, Estonia.
When: August 8-11 2023 (it's possible to arrive on 7th of August!)
Costs: free.

What are junkyard playgrounds? Basically, they are outdoor spaces provided by grown-ups, but designed by kids themselves. Junkyard playgrounds provide various opportunities for building, creating, communicating, moving, and playing, offering young people the daily age-appropriate challenges they need, and supporting their autonomy, creativity, initiative, social skills and sustainability mindset. Junkyard playgrounds can be integrated into school yards, youth and community centres, but can also be part of festivals and other events. They can be both pop-up and permanent.
OVERVIEW OF THE TRAINING

Objectives of the training:
  • to share ideas, values and knowledge that will support you to stand up, to create and to maintain playful and challenging outdoor environments for kids and young people;
  • to provide you with methods, best practices and practical experience to apply outdoor junk playground concept in order to support physical and mental health, democratic participation, creativity and sustainable mindset of the youth;
  • to create a network of outdoor non-formal education, practitioners and other enthusiasts about the topic, share practices and challenges regarding outdoor playwork in the future, thus benefiting to the growth and sustainability of the junk playground model in the Baltic states.
Language: the event will be held in English. sufficient English knowledge for active participation is a prerequisite for being accepted for the course.

Target group: youth and community workers, activity leaders, space designers from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

Accommodation and food The event will take place in Tartu, Estonia. Accommodation is in shared rooms. Mattresses, sleeping bags and pillows are provided.
Meals will be vegan.

Duration The training course starts at 10am on August 8th. You can arrive on August 7th: the accommodation and welcome dinner is organised for you! Departure is on August 11th. Bear in mind that you'll need to be able to attend the whole course in order to participate.

Costs Travel and participation costs are covered by the Erasmus+ programme of the EU and are free for you! Participants will have to buy their tickets in advance and will be reimbursed after the activity. If this arrangement is an obstacle for your participation, please let us know. The tickets will be reimbursed up to a maximum amount that depends from the country where the travel starts. To be eligible as a participants, your country of departure and arrival have to be the same.

How to apply? 

If you want to participate in this training, please fill this questionnaire before Friday 30th of June, 2023. 

Selection of participants

We will choose the participants based upon their motivation as well as realistic possibilities to put the experience into real life. Organiser Organised by MTÜ Lapsed Õue/NGO Kids Outdoors. We are a NGO and community from Tartu, Estonia, and have been searching, applying and disseminating solutions that help kids spend more time outdoors since 2014. We hold a outdoor kindergarden and have been experimenting with a junkyard playground for school kids. More information: www.lapsedoue.com Trainers Jérôme Fink from Germany. Jérôme has more than 13 years of experience as a playworker in Kolle 37 junkyard playground that is located in Berlin. During the training, Jérôme will give the most practical advice on building and maintaining junkyard playgrounds, introduces the role of play worker and shares his experiences from Kolle 37. https://www.kolle37.de/

Suzanna Law from the UK. Suzanna is a mobile play worker, adventure playground trainer, and the founder of Pop Up Adventure Play NGO situated in USA/UK. In the training, Suzanna will be introducing the role of playworker, talk about the free play and game theory and shares her knowledge and experience from popup playgrounds. www.popupadventureplay.org.

Charlie Moreno-Romero from Colombia is an anthropologist and democratic educational researcher. In the training, Charlie will open up the subject of democratic education and the role that junkyard playgrounds can play in democracy. Mari-Liis Viirsalu, Liis Kuresoo, Sigrit Rosental, Marta Peebo and Leene Korp from the NGO Kids Outdoors/MTÜ Lapsed Õue will be the facilitators and organisers. We will give our best to make the first junkyard playground training a pleasant and inspiring experience. ***

CONDITIONS OF PARTICIPATION AND OBLIGATIONS FOR PARTICIPANTS

Full participation It is important for receiving the full amount of the EU grant that covers your free participation that we have the full number of participants. You can only cancel due to force majeur, e.g. you get very ill. Otherwise, we might ask for your help to find a person to substitute you, and the partner organisation in your country might be able to help you with this.

Green travel If you are planning to come by car, we later ask you to try to cooperate with other participants to reduce the project’s environmental footprint. Flying from Latvia or Lithunia will not be an option for this event. Please make sure that you comply with this condition if you apply.

Report documentation We expect you to fill in a self-assessment questionnaire before and after the training to map the change in knowledge and attitudes and skills. Every participant needs to fill in a participant's report issued by the EU after returning home from the event.  By applying for the course, you consent to sending us their travel documentation that we need for the final project report. 

Dissemination We expect you to contribute to dissemination activities. This could mean sharing a post on your experience on social media, writing an article to publish through your sending organisation or other appropriate channels, giving a presentation or similar activities. Also we ask you to try out junk playground methods in your work and share that experience.

See you soon in Tartu!

NGO Kids Outdoors/MTÜ Lapsed Õue


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