CreateCATT 2021 Mid-Year Newsletter
We hope that this finds you safe and well during these ongoing uncertain days and that in some way you can continue to be playful and creative. We believe that creativity and playfulness are paramount to calm our exhausted nervous systems and fuel our imaginations – as it is in the imagination that there is a hope of change and new tomorrows – and through hands-on object play we build our limbic systems, the bridge between our reactive, survival brain and our thinking, higher cortex.
Certainly, this passion and commitment to playfulness has kept us going and we hope some of what we’ve been doing and creating will inspire your journey for the next half of the year.
PLAY ZOOM
Our Zoom teaching in Developmental Play has grown this year and we are delighted to welcome new Certified Developmental Play Practitioners to the fold. Our first fully-online-trained cohort who have done the three levels endorsed by the World Federation of Occupational Therapists will graduate in September. We have been busy working with the great team at BRAC IED in Bangladesh and at times Zooming into Cox’s Bazaar to support frontline workers there in play-based work. Things we didn’t even think could happen a year ago have now become a reality. Together, we are building a truly global community. Play knows no boundaries.
ART ZOOM
Our online training on Developmental Art Making is also underway and offers a blended learning approach as well, with online content and live creative art-making webinars in our Art Zoom where you can experience hands on the power of art-making from an educational, neuroscientific and psychological viewpoint. Creativity matters for us all.
Check it out on: https://www.createcatt-academy.com/course?courseid=art-making-and-child-development
NATURE PLAY
CreateCATT is committed to the Sustainable Development Goals not only in terms of equity and inclusion in education but also in building a sustainable world for our children. We have just launched a new short online course in Nature Play, which will roll out across Singapore this summer with some preschools. It can be done just as a theory online course anywhere in the world or taken as a joint certificate with Ground Up Initiative in Singapore who will offer hands-on nature at their wonderful Kampong Kampus. The answer is in the trees.
To sign up for the online course.
Please contact https://groundupinitiative.org for more information on the combined course.
Be inspired here by our latest animation by our illustrator Barnaby Duffy.
STAY AT HOME PLAY AT HOME
These have now been translated into 13 languages and continue to inspire adults and children across the globe to keep playful. Thank you to everyone who translated our works and shared them with children in need. Play is the way.
NEW RESOURCES COMING YOUR WAY
Check out animation about how we learn through our senses in our new colourful animation on sensory play.
Our new updated Developmental Play book, previously called Fighting the Dragon Finding the Self, why art and play matter in early childhood, is launched this month on our online academy with two new chapters - one on nature play and one on working with children experiencing trauma - both very pertinent in these times. It comes with updated illustrations by Barnaby Duffy and is a great resource to share with parents and teachers. As one parent said:
"This is an important book which will help any parent understand the role and impact their words and attention can have on their child. I think this is a must-read book for all parents with children of any age"
Available on https://www.createcatt-academy.com/pages/home.
We hope that you may all stay safe, well and playful during these uncertain days.
Warmest wishes,
Caroline and Caroline
