Forest School & Playwork - The Possibilities...

SE QLD boasts some of Australia's most amazing Playwork inspired junkyard loose parts Adventure Playgrounds...

Despite these being incredible offerings for children, their freedom and their play, there is nothing specific in The Playwork Principles (2005), or Nicholson's theory of loose parts (1971), that suggests that these types of spaces are the only place these practices can be applied.

Join Hannah and Angus as they work through The Playwork Principles, aspects of Loose Parts Theory, and then head beyond the fence into a beautiful forest space, the original Adventure Playground, to explore how these ideas, and the space can work together in an entirely complimentary fashion. We hope this session inspires sparks of curiosity and wonder, and ultimately that sometimes, seemingly out of reach ideas are in fact only a fence away!

Tickets Available: https://www.trybooking.com/DJVDN

More information and ticketing coming soon!

Tickets and schedule coming soon!

Click HERE to book your EARLY BIRD ticket!

The 2026 installment of Planning for Play has been themed… Play & The Mind! This topic aims to broadly approach all a range of topics from play and brain, play philosophy, play and psychology and even p,lay and spirituality.

“Early Bird” Tickets are now available for the 2026 instalment of Planning For Play and will remain available until the end of March…

Our host venue for the 2026 event Royal On The Park has also offered a discount on any rooms booked for the event. To acquire the booking code for this offer please email play@topa.au (subject to room availability of course).

OUR FIRST KEYNOTE SPEAKERS TO BE ANNOUNCED

SANDI PHOENIX

Session Title: A Brain Motivated To Play

Sandi Phoenix is the founder of Phoenix Support for Educators, now leading a national team who work alongside education and care services across Australia to strengthen wellbeing, inclusion and quality practice. An educator by background, she began studying psychological science in 1998 and has spent her career translating research from psychology into practical, relationship-based guidance aligned with the National Quality Framework. Sandi’s ability to bridge theory and day-to-day practice led to the creation of the Phoenix Cups Framework, a model used widely by educators and teachers nationally and internationally to support children’s wellbeing and build educator capacity to respond to behaviour through humanistic psychology, positive psychology and neuroscience-informed approaches. She presents at conferences in Australia and internationally, and continues her postgraduate study in Neuroscience and Mental Health at UniSC to deepen the translation of brain-based wellbeing science into practice.

our first speaker announcements

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