Please note the exact timings of the event are:

Thursday January 20th 13.00 – 18.30 [Online. UK time, GMT]

Friday January 21st 08.30 - 16.00 2022 [Online. UK time, GMT]

Pandemic play experiences: Practices |Activities |Objects |Texts

The ESRC funded project ‘A National Observatory of Children’s Play Experiences During COVID-19’ is hosting an end-of-project symposium to share emergent findings and bring together those interested in young people’s play experiences during the pandemic. We will be sending a Zoom link to the event nearer the time and Padlet link for displaying project work from guests (please contact John Potter on j.potter@ucl.ac.uk to send you a padlet link when you sign up if interested).

Programme:

Each talk is timed to last for 30 minutes and chaired by a member of the Play Observatory team. There will be time for questions after each paper and there are frequent breaks. Abstracts and speaker details available here.

Please join us for as much or as little as you can.

With permission from speakers, the sessions will be recorded and made available after the event.

There will be a Padlet available for browsing pandemic play related project uploads and links throughout.

Follow us on Twitter @PlayObservatory and use the conference hashtag #PandemicPlay22

Day 1: Thursday January 20th 13.00 – 18.30 GMT

Session 1 (Chair: Michelle Cannon)

13.00-13.30 An Introduction to the Play Observatory. Speakers: John Potter, Valerio Signorelli, Yinka Olusoga.

13.30-14.00 Children’s Cultural Worlds, Past and Present: Everyday play, Experience and Custom in Extraordinary Times. Speakers: Julia Bishop, Cath Bannister and Yinka Olusoga

14.00-14.30 Making Places and Carving out Space: children’s play in an altered world. Speakers: John Potter, Michelle Cannon and the Play Observatory team

14.30 – 15.00 BREAK

Session 2 (Chair: Cath Bannister )

15.00 – 15.30 The Pandemic Play Archive: capturing children’s play during Covid-19 for future generations. Speaker: Helen Dodd, Exeter University

15.30 – 16.00 Staying in Touch with Friends during Lockdown: 3-12-year-old Danish children’s digital communication opportunities in the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic. Speaker: Thomas Lundtofte, University of Southern Denmark

16.00 – 16.30 Pixelheads: Playing and Making Videogames in a Pandemic. Speaker: Leah Dungay, National Videogame Museum

16.30 – 17.00 BREAK

Session 3 (Chair: Michelle Cannon, UCL IOE & Play Observatory)

17.00 – 17.30 Corona Multimedia Showcase. Speakers: Tatyana Tsyrlina-Spady, Seattle Pacific University, Marilyn Cohen, University of Washington, Seattle, Janine Magidman and Filmmakers from the showcase.

17.30 – 18.00 Play Observatory Young Film-makers Screening. Speaker: Michelle Cannon and young filmmakers.

18.00 – 18.30 Discussants for themes from Day 1. Speakers: Andrew Burn, UCL Institute of Education and Rebekah Willett, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

18.30 End of Day One

Day 2: Friday January 21st 08.30 – 16.00 GMT

Session 1 (Chair: Julia Bishop)

08.30 – 09.00 The Pandemic Play Project. Speakers: Judy McKinty and Ruth Hazleton, Independent Researchers, Melbourne.

09.00 – 09.30 Intergenerational Mothering Practices and Young Children’s Play Against the Backdrop of COVID-19. Speakers: Anne Keary, Monash University, Melbourne, Susanne Garvis, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne , Lucas Walsh, Monash University, Melbourne and Yvette Slaughter, Melbourne University Graduate School of Education.

09.30 – 10.00 BREAK

Session 2 (Chair: Kate Cowan)

10.00 – 10.30 Children’s Perceptions and Experiences of Playing during COVID-19. Speaker: Kelsey Graber, Cambridge University.

10.30 – 11.00 Play, Home and the Pandemic: Children, families and their neighbourhoods in the first UK lockdown. Speaker: Alison Stenning, Newcastle University (presenting on work with Wendy Russell, Gloucester University).

11.00 – 11.30 Playful Arts-based Methods for Child-centred Research during the Global Crisis. Speaker: Helen Lomax, Huddersfield University

11.30 – 12.00 BREAK

Session 3 (Chair: Yinka Olusoga)

12.00 – 12.30 Play at the V&A: Museum Learning and the Pandemic. Speakers: Sophie Sage and Catherine Ritman-Smith, Young V&A.

12.30 – 13.00 Play in the Pandemic Exhibition with the Young V&A: Development and work in progress. Speakers: Katy Canales, Young V&A, Sindi Breshani and Juliette Coquet, Episod Studio and Valerio Signorelli, UCL CASA.

13.00 – 14.00 LUNCH

Session 4 (Chair: John Potter)

14.00 – 14.30 Playmates in the Pandemic: (Re)constituting Affective Networks of Play. Speakers: Yinka Olusoga and the Play Observatory team.

14.30 – 15.00 Pandemic Playthings: Multimodality and the Material Culture of Toys. Speakers: Kate Cowan and the Play Observatory team

15.00 – 15.30 Discussants for themes from Day 2 . Speakers: Pam Jarvis, Leeds Trinity University and Anna Beresin, University of the Arts, Philadelphia.

15.30 – 16.00 Final Talk: Reflections on Key Submissions and Moments. Speakers: The Play Observatory Team.

Thanks and Acknowledgements / Next Steps

Further details visit our website www.play-observatory.com or send any questions about the event to John Potter on j.potter@ucl.ac.uk