Design Research through Stay & Play
A regular informal weekly get together such as a stay and play session is a chance to start talking about your nursery and what it could be. Drop in stay and play sessions are the perfect way to gently introduce the idea of thinking about the physical environment you want to create for your setting and draw out participating family’s aspirations so that this nursery can be designed to match those.
Working with families you can experiment with different materials and ways to use the space in a low pressure environment. You can get people thinking about the possibilities of the physical space, fire imaginations and together become excited about your project and its potential.
Designing your space from scratch may seem daunting, but you can uncover a lot of insight from simple play activities that explore the principles of architectural design. We did this by theming different stay and play sessions. In each session, using the theme as a starting point, we introduced new physical furniture or interventions to ignite discussion amongst the families and along side a craft activity. Themes included light, materials, space and surface pattern design.
Working with families you can experiment with different materials and ways to use the space in a low pressure environment. You can get people thinking about the possibilities of the physical space, fire imaginations and together become excited about your project and its potential.
Designing your space from scratch may seem daunting, but you can uncover a lot of insight from simple play activities that explore the principles of architectural design. We did this by theming different stay and play sessions. In each session, using the theme as a starting point, we introduced new physical furniture or interventions to ignite discussion amongst the families and along side a craft activity. Themes included light, materials, space and surface pattern design.
Through the introduction of different elements into the space, conversations were sparked, and together families watched and understood the effect various interventions have on the children.
Alongside the stay and play you can also offer a range of different events that act as openings for more people to start to contribute and get involved. Community meals, talks and workshops begin to build the skills and understanding of the team. These are the spaces where together you can begin to imagine the type of childcare you want to build. Having these at different times of the day/week will allow a range of carers to attend.
Here are 2 example session plans for light and Materials:
Alongside the stay and play you can also offer a range of different events that act as openings for more people to start to contribute and get involved. Community meals, talks and workshops begin to build the skills and understanding of the team. These are the spaces where together you can begin to imagine the type of childcare you want to build. Having these at different times of the day/week will allow a range of carers to attend.
Here are 2 example session plans for light and Materials:
Talk to us about your co-produced childcare project by emailing [email protected]
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