PAW PRINTS

playworldaround the

PAW PRINTSPAW Alumni & Friends of PAW

July 2016

PAW 2016 send-off BBQ. Thank you to the Desmarais family for hosting!Back row from left to right: Svetlana Olimipiev, Jesus Grisanti, Nicolette Desmarais, Anisha Monga, Alexandra Kirincic, Margaret Casault, Danika Gaudreault, Tracy Simon, Joel Johnston, Sydney Vandergaag, Colleen Mooney (Leader), Mary Ann Rintoul (Director), Anna Woodman

Front row from left to right: Anthony Bourque (Leader), Jamie Cassie, Heather Crowe (Program Coordinator), Jill Nanavaty (Leader), Kieran Block, Kurtis Dinsmore (Leader)

PAW PRINTS

APPLICATION DEADLINESLeadership Application Deadline:October 7, 2016Participant Application Deadline:November 14, 2016

2015 PERU PILOT PROJECT WHAT I LEARNED FROM MY EXPERIENCE

What sticks out for me — and I am not sure when I realized this, it may have been in country or when I returned home — but Play Around the World grounds me. Wherever it has taken me, it brings me back down to earth, reinforces and reminds me of what is important. It is so easy to get caught up in the hustle of life at home, easy to get pulled back into what social constructions are important to others and forget many lessons learned.

I learned first hand that ‘Curiosity before Judgement’ is one of the best philosophies to live by and support. I learned that trial,error, effort, support, and teamwork can accomplish the greatest of tasks, no matter how hard they may seem to be. I learned that putting my trust in two ladies I barely even knew going into this adventure had the greatest return of all; love, friendship and success.

I learned that I need, absolutely need, a career where I get to work with children. They are the best, whether they are being funny, crazy, annoy-ing, adorable, sweet, innocent, bad, entertaining or just simply kids, they are my biggest passion in life.

I learned that a child’s right to play is just that… a necessity.

I learned that stepping out of my comfort zone, throwing myself into the unknown and signing up for the adventure of a lifetime has made me grow and learn more about myself each and every time I have done so, no matter how uncomfortable it may be at the time.

These lessons have been so valuable, and I have applied them to many aspects of life. Peru was such an amazing experience in so many ways that I feel so blessed I was a part of such an incredible experience. The organizations we worked with provided opportunities for teaching, learning and above all else growth. There was such a variety of children and projects, all equally amazing. We did so many activities and PLAYED so hard that the time just flew by, unfortunately.

It was also one of the most beautiful, stimulating, and culturally rich cities I have ever lived in. The people were so kind and we got to experience so much outside of the projects as well, what a bonus. All I really wanted was for the pilot project to be successful and that we would come back home with good feedback and send students there next year. I could have cared less about ev-erything else during our journey in Peru, as long as the organizations would work, I didn’t need anything else to be working. It was just icing on the cake that everything else in Cusco was above and beyond anything I could have ever hoped for.

I am so excited for the future between PAW and Peru and all those relationships that may be built. Yahoo PAW-ru :)

- Jamie Kilford

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RETREAT HIGHLIGHTS MARCH 11 - 13, 2016

Camp Kuriakos, Sylvan Lake provided a won-derful retreat setting for the team to learn and play together. The weekend was packed with team building, playwork discussion, and sharing perspectives, along with sessions on communication, conflict resolution and global citizenship, to name a few.

The students had the opportunity to test their fears and explore their adventurous side on the facilitated high ropes course! It was great to see how they supported each other to participate and developing trust within their team. There was much encouragement and a whole lot of excitement watching teammates make ‘the jump’.

Another highlight was the ‘whale watch’ — the ultimate cooperative task demanding physical skill, mental alertness and team cohesion. That’s all you get to know about that!

We enjoyed delicious meals cooked by the city teams in turn and inventive leader led activities which challenged each participant in a battle of knowledge, play creativity, physical agility, and problem solving. All in all, a wonderful weekend with a great team.

FUNDRAISERSCELEBRATE PLAY - SILENT AUCTION EVENT April 9, 2016

We were so pleased this year to move our event to the new “Social Street” space in the Univer-sity of Alberta, Physical Activity and Wellness (PAW) Centre. It was a wonderful evening of food, drinks, entertainment, silent/live auction and most importantly, Play!

We had four cultural food stations, giant games, a strolling magician and dance performances from indigenous hoop dancer, Lakota Tootoosis and Thai dancers from the Alberta Thai Association.

Thank you to everyone who came out and helped contribute to the success of the event! We hope you had a wonderful evening supporting the 2016 student team and the agencies we serve while having some fun at the same time. Stay tuned through our website, social media or newsletter to hear about future events.

MY FILOSOPHY April 25, 2016

A night of wine, cheese and shopping! 10% of all purchases made were generously donated to Play Around the World.

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PLAYDAYSFAMILY DAY FEB. 15, 2016Play Around the World was thrilled to celebrate Family Day with the Edmonton community again this year at Churchill Square. We were lucky to have beautiful sunny weather all day, which unfortunately meant no skating at City Hall, but brought in a large crowd of families for us to play with! We had lots of fun activities including a large boxes and building station with a giant Jenga game, craft tables that ended up covered in glitter, circus themed games and activities including tight rope walking and a giant parachute, and a very noisy music station. Thank you to the PAW students and other volunteers for an awesome day of play and a very special thank you to all the families that joined us!

GLENORA PLAYDAY MAR. 5, 2016For the first time ever this past March, Glenora Child Care Society put on a winter festival that aimed to bring the community together and more importantly outside to embrace everything our cold season has to offer. Play around the World teamed up with Glenora Childcare to help run the festival and set up an entire section devoted to play.

Boxes blocks and other materials were used for children to construct whatever they could imagine. The PAW team also had games and a tightrope for the children to walk which fit right in with the jugglers, face painters and other entertainers that were roaming the Festival grounds. Overall it was a huge success for a pilot event and we hope that in years to come it will only get bigger and better with the help and support of Play Around the World being so wonderful towards all the children and families that attended.

EASTER EGGSTRAVAGANZA MAR. 26, 2016On Easter weekend, the 2016 PAW students joined the University Alumni Association to offer play activities for children in quad on campus. Quad was split up into two sections. The south half of quad had eggs hidden for an egg hunt and the other half was full of equipment for kids to play with. The playday activities included sidewalk chalk, an egg hunt, face painting and A LOT of free play. Thank you also to Brady Hughes, Miranda Lisowski and Sarah for helping out.

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PLAYDAYSYMCA HEALTHY KIDS DAY MAY 1, 2016

We were so excited to be invited back to the Castle Downs Family YMCA for their Healthy Kids Day event on May 1 and once again took the opportunity to set up some messy play. We had a painting area with large pieces of paper rolled out on the floor where kids could paint with brushes, paint with small toys and found objects, splatter paint, and paint with their hands. We even had one father paint with his feet!

We also had an area with a selection of sensory bins made with easy to find household products. We had a soap and water bin with bracelet and hangers as bubble blowers; a “dough making” bin with flour and leftover conditioners, shampoos, and lotions; a bin filled with cornstarch and water to create a non-Newtonian fluid or “goop”; and rice and rock bins that ended up mixed together with everything else. It was a great opportunity for the children to engage in exploratory messy play. Many kids (and parents) were hesitant at first and asked how to play but quickly embraced the opportunity to use the materials however they liked. We left the play day covered in bubbles, flour, cornstarch, and paint; evidence of some successful messy play! Thank you to Taylor Seal, Meghan Klettke and Aliya Lakhani for facilitating play, which in turn leads to more healthy active kids.

PLAY EVENT FOR FORT McMURRAY EVACUEESMAY 13, 2016

In a few short weeks the wildfires burning in the Fort McMurray and Wood Buffalo areas escalated from bad to worse, devastating thousands of Albertans, causing them to evac-uate and take up temporary residence in many major cities.

Edmonton has been stepping up in so many ways and the University of Alberta has a number of initiatives to assist evacuees in this time of crisis.

Play Around the World (PAW) recognizes that children in challenging contexts need to work out their thoughts and experiences through their own familiar language of play. Upholding every Child’s Right to Play (Article 31, UNCRC) a Play Event was held on May 13th for the evacuees of Fort Mac in the Lister residence gymnasium for an action-packed four hours of free play!

Lister Center was/is a temporary home to over 1000 adults and about 200 kids waiting to rebuild their lives. PAW Alumni Playleaders came together to facilitate a creative Boxes, Blocks and Building station along with many unstructured active games created by the kids and some crafting activities.

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PAW PRINTS

FEATURED PAWMEMBERSMEG CASAULTMAY 6, 2016 - EDMONTON JOURNAL Featured in the Edmonton Journal in May, reporter Jason Hills shares Meg’s story as both a Panda student-athlete and PAW member.

Read full article

ANTHONY BOURQUEJUN. 15, 2016 - UALBERTA WEBSITEAnthony was chosen as the Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation 2016 Spring Convocation story for the UAlberta website.

Read full article

Photo by: Richard Siemens, University of Alberta

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It was a roaring success, and children played hard! It was evident through action and words that the children and families appreciated a space to just be in control of their actions and experience a joy filled distraction together with so many new friends. During the four hours of play kids took control of the space, transforming it gradually into a place, affording them freedom, choice, movement, expression and social interaction. Several side-line conversations with parents revealed the harsh realities of the past week, the current impact of the loss they felt, and the unsettling uncertainty of the future. But for the moment our shared humanity and unspoken bond, through play, provided so much laughter, joy, creativity and discovery.

Big thanks to PAW Alumni for stepping up and for their play leadership expertise. Thank you to Taylor Seal, Lauren Turner, Paul Woloschuk, Blue Knox, Heather Crowe, Sarah Rintoul, Jaime Little, Francis Sobierjaski, Morgan Mckinney, Anna Knight, Pearl Ann Reichwien, and Tanis Hewitt.

- Mary Ann Rintoul

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PAST PAW - WHERE ARE THEY NOW?CHELSEA GREENBANKFrom the moment I heard about Play Around the World a few years ago during my studies at the University of Alberta, I knew it was a program that would be an ideal culmination to my undergraduate degree in the Faculty of Physical Education. I had a friend who had just returned from her PAW adventure and I was captivated by her experiences and personal growth. I knew, without a doubt, I was destined to be a part of this amazing program.

My Name is Chelsea and I was a member of PAW 2015, team Phnom Penh. It will be one year on May 11, since I left for my amazing adventure to Cambodia. In the short months of prepping, planning, and putting all the fundraisers together I could not have been more ready to travel abroad and meet all the children, organizations and people of Cambodia. I can’t emphasize enough how the whole experience has impacted my life thus far. I was challenged in numerous ways such as being more imaginative with activities that do not always involve the use of equipment, as well as challenges with lack of space provided for play. I have gained so many memories and life lessons that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. One thing that I can say about PAW is that it has really opened up my world of adventures and taught me to negotiate challenges.

Since PAW and graduating from University of Alberta, I travelled for a year. After our debrief in Thailand, I explored more of South East Asia, which included Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. I made a promise to myself to learn a little of the cultures and languages from each country that I had visited. I wanted to be able to go to the markets and ask something ba-sic because when you take the time to learn the language the locals always show some sign of respect for you. After Asia, I made my way over to New Zealand and Australia. I started out in Adelaide where I stayed with my cousin for a couple of months before doing some farm work. It was great to see some family since I had not returned home yet from my PAW ex-perience in Cambodia. I kept pushing the return date home further ahead, month by month, because I was in love with

travelling and meeting people from all over the world.

Now that I am finally home back in Saskatoon, SK, I have been keeping myself busy on the job hunt. I am still figuring out where I want to end up because I always think that nothing can beat my experience with PAW. I want to live through it all over again and again. I want to thank Mary-Ann and Heather and all of my teammates of PAW 2015 for making this a great learning experience of a lifetime. I also would like to thank everyone who has contributed to Play Around the World. Your encour-agement and donations have made a difference to all the children around the world and to the global education of many University students.

- CHELSEA GREENBACK

PAW PRINTS

SAVE THE DATE20th annual International Play Association Triennial World Conference

The 20th annual International Play Association Triennial World Conference will be held in Calgary, Alberta on September 13 - 17, 2017.

Join us as we “Unleash the Power of Play!”

For more information, please visit:http://www.ipa2017.org/

CURRENT PAW COMMITTEE MEMBERSAdvisory CommitteeLiz Matthew, Chair

Dean Kerry MummeryChristine MaGord Stewart

Colleen MooneyKirsten GamblinMary Ann Rintoul

Royal HarrisSusan Green

Tannis DavidsonKatrina Maximchuk

Program Management Committee (PMC):Program Director – Mary Ann RintoulProgram Coordinator– Heather CroweCommunity Connections – Jaime Little

Advisory Liaison – Kirsten GamblinFinance Coordinator – Jane Erdmann

Fundraising – Chloe SkerlakLeadership – Jacquie Kingston

Play Day Liaison – Jamie Kilford, Taylor SealMembers at Large – Meghan Klettke, Louise

Manyfingers, Anthony Bourque

2016 Team LeadersJill Nanavaty

Kurtis DinsmoreAnthony BourqueColleen Mooney

For further information contact:Mary Ann Rintoul, Play Around the World program director - (780) 492-9621 or email: maryann.rintoul@ualberta.ca

Follow us!Twitter: @PAW_UAlberta Facebook: www.facebook.com/UofAplayaroundtheworld

Visit our website at: UAB.CA/PLAY

“It is paradoxical that many educators and parents still differentiate between a time for learning and a time for play without seeing the vital connection between them.” - Leo F. Buscaglia