Awarded fundingIn September 2022 we received the exciting news that from January 2023, £30,764 would be invested into The Playce Project at Boundary Way, thanks to Severn Trent Community Fund. This blog shares the happy stories and outcomes of the project - look out for links to read stories from people who've been part of the project!  Natalie Cunningham, Severn Trent Community Fund, Funding Officer with Louise, Lisa, Jillian and Nina What was the project about?The Playce project supported the wellbeing of 1218 people by providing regular access to outdoor playspace at the Community Garden at Boundary Way Allotments, Warstones (The Playce) over 92 sessions across January 2023-January 2024. Sessions varied from Wolves in the Woods, Drop-in and Seasonal Nature Play, outdoor workshops for childminders and school groups to the launch of Outdoor Play Parties. The project invested in four local staff to establish the project and programme long-term, and helped improve mental and physical wellbeing in the area through the safe, calm, green playspace being available on a weekly basis to reduce isolation and create community connections. We had a 77% return rate throughout the project, reflecting the deeper long-term relationships and learning that is happening as a result of this project. 57% of people visiting were from the immediate area. It’s really good. It’s not expensive, which is the main thing when it comes to kids. Especially, when you’re taking a couple of them out." Read Rosie's story Exploring with baskets of open-ended resources at Wolves in the Woods What went well?This project supercharged the Community Garden both physically and with people for the long-term sustainability of the site by:
Read Jillian's storyWhat did people say about the project?We recorded how people felt about the project across the weeks and also over the summer through focused consultation sessions. We used different methods, understanding the nature of looking after little ones! Tools included whiteboards, blackboards and post-its, our booking system emailing for feedback, taking photos and recording vox pops. We loved hearing that the project helped improved wellbeing of the community according to the original aims we set out in the below ways. Aim 1) Create access to local playspace that wasn’t there before Over 75% of attendees asked did not know the garden was there before they came to a play session, meaning we have improved access to this local outdoor playspace and nature haven. Aim 2) Reducing isolation of caregivers ‘I get a bit of outdoor time, time to speak to other people.’ ‘I enjoy it. It’s nice to chat with other Mums as well.’ Aim 3) Reducing isolation of plot holders ‘Thank you very much for your work in bringing the community to our garden’ Howard, Chair of Allotment Committee Aim 4) Create physical opportunities for under 7s ‘I know it’s good for them so I’m just trying to get out, try and do something with him. With it being the six weeks, if I come every week it’ll give me something to do with him. And he loves it, he’s got a lot more confident, he knows where everything is now, so he wanders himself.’ Aim 5) Support outdoor knowledge and how to care for environment for caregivers and children ‘To be honest, I’ve never even planted anything at home before. So that’s probably the biggest thing that I’ve started planting things.’ ‘ I’ve learned the names of some different plants.’ Read Roxanne's story Bug-spotting and identifying with Jillian, Play Leader She’s decided to make a worm hotel so I think long term it’s really enforced her imaginative play and that connection to the outdoors. She said to me the other day ‘I’m a gardener’. So that’s a long term thing that’s really kind of set in."  Read the Environmental ReportWhat's happening next?
With grateful thanks to Severn Trent Community FundThrough Severn Trent Community Fund's investment, this project has supercharged the Community Garden both physically and with people for the long-term sustainability of the site, the project and its outcomes. But most importantly, it has enabled important outdoor play times and friendly space for little ones and their caregivers to enjoy being together, learn and play. We are so grateful for the project and look forward to the future of play at Boundary Way Community Garden"
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Award of funding!Wolves Play Cafe has been awarded £238,000 by The National Lottery Community Fund’s Reaching Communities Fund to deliver the Playful People, Playful Places Project, which is borne out of all of the engagement in playtimes, learnings and conversations with caregivers of early years children in the city over the last 5 years.  Our journey to get here
The staff at Wolves Play Cafe, always make time to come over and speak to me and O. Where can I play?Play sessions are delivered across the city of Wolverhampton weekly at 3 main play locations, Gatis Community Space in Whitmore Reans, Boundary Way Community Garden in Warstones, All Saints Community Centre in All Saints. In addition to this a Play in the Park’ summer holiday programme across all 3 areas in our city parks. What will the project do?
Thank you for everything you are bringing to the city - It's so very needed and the whole team are so wonderful and friendly. I can definitely also say that it's not just the kids that have benefitted from having Wolves Play Cafe , sometimes a listening ear, some kind words (and Louise's soup) has definitely helped my week." Lauren How can you get involved? You can be involved in creating Playful Places across our city by:
For more information on the project and opportunities to partner on play projects contact via email or social media to enquire:
Co-Founder and Director | Helen Stallard Co-Founder and Director | Lisa Stallard Contact: [email protected] Facebook: Wolves Play Cafe Who are Play Partners at Wolves Play Cafe?There are lots of other great services and spaces in the city who are supporting little ones and big ones and compliment our fun and friendly faces and important work. Play Partners include; Boundary Way Allotments, Gatis Community Space, All Saints Action Network, The Haven - Women’s Refuge, City of Wolverhampton’s Corporate Care Team (Care Leavers and Fostering Parents). Over the last 6 months we have delivered lots of different projects...read on to see who with and what we’ve been up to! The Haven, Women’s Refuge Thanks to a generous grant from Rotary Club of City of Wolverhampton and by working in partnership with The Haven, Women’s Refuge, from January to November 2023, we have been able to deliver 8 stay and play sessions for women and children accessing their services, invest in over £620 of resources for the playrooms in their refuges. There are 18 individual Play Packs and 4 resource boxes including a full set of 24 activity cards and 12 brilliant books to support quality playtime for for little ones whilst families live in refuges across the city. Often families have left homes with little more than the belongings they can carry. The Play Packs have beautiful books, ideas and play resources developed carefully by Helen, our experienced Early Years Specialist. They’re based on our most popular play sessions and four different themes – Dinosaur Safari, Jungle Boogie, Marvellous Minibeasts and How Does Your Garden Grow? Each pack is designed for little ones and filled with fun, open-ended activities, play resources, nursery rhymes and fantastic storybooks and factbooks. 
Maternity and Neonatal Voices Partnership In September 2023, it was lovely to welcome Nadia along at a Wolves in the Woods session to have a chat about maternity journey experiences as part of the Wolverhampton Maternity Voices Partnership - a space you can feed back your stories of maternal and neonatal care that helps shape and improve the services. It sits independently of the Hospital Trust and Nadia is just great to talk to! We hope to join together for more events in the future. If you want to find out more or tell your story go to https://www.facebook.com/WolveMVP  Nadia from MVNP and Lisa, Director and Co-Founder at Gatis Community SpaceChildminder Workshops with Education Excellence Team in Local Authority I was made to feel very welcome at my first visit. The children engaged well which is a good sign. Amazing activities which my little people really got stuck into and thoroughly enjoyed." We have been able to meet lots of people supporting families in the city through being on Steering Groups as part of the new launch of Family Hubs. As part of these networks, we delivered four outdoor play workshops for Childminders in the city across September and October at our two beautiful outdoor play sites Boundary Way Community Garden and Gatis Community Space. The session had open-ended activities to inspire easy outdoor play, play prompts to further ideas outside of the session, short story and songs and also a Take Home Card to carry on playing at home. We are so pleased that those coming along found the sessions useful for their practice as Early Years Childminders.
Always very welcoming! Made me feel confident and that we would be welcome again! Care Leavers Week
Play Partners mailing list - join us! If you are interested in finding out more about our Play Partner work across the city sign up to our community mailing list here and we’ll keep you updated. Or perhaps you are a Play Partner yourself who’d like to work with us through Play at Home Packs, play workshops, tailored stay and play sessions or training? If so we’d love to hear from you at [email protected] .
Support from William A Cadbury TrustWe were so happy to be awarded a grant from William Cadbury Trust to pilot our Play For All Project. Designed to assess our current provision for neurodiverse children by working with a beneficiary who has experience of attending our play sessions, the project ran from May to July 2023 and we were delighted that Abi could use her expertise to complete it. The main aims of the project were to work with a play friend who has lived experience of caring for children with disabilities, to assess our current play sessions and produce recommendations to improve access and inclusion in these to help work towards play for all in the city.  Initial research and surveysTo gauge the view of parents and carers of autistic children, an initial questionnaire was formulated including asking:
The questionnaire was completed by 8 people who are members of an Autism Support Group. Each respondent is a parent of a child who has been diagnosed with ASD. Their responses to these questions had slight variations yet a lot of similarities. Play setting importance -
Equipped with these responses, the play session settings were reviewed to see how accessible they currently are. Gatis Community SpaceAfter visiting the different play sessions, the recommendation of the most appropriate outdoor play site to host inclusive sessions would be Gatis Community Space. The play setting at Gatis is a very calm and secure environment, Although it is situated in a residential area, there is very little noise from the surrounding streets. Of course, the security of the site is paramount and the gates are manned by staff within the play setting. There are areas within the play site for mud play, water play, gardening, craft play and the outdoor slide. The children are provided with a bucket/basket filled with a variety of items that will assist them in their exploratory play. These items can include magnifying glasses, gardening tools, paper, small plant pots etc. The items can be used interchangeably with the activities available.  Gatis Community Space's wilderness area Other recommendations for Play for All
 Project next stepsWe are super keen to continue with the next phase of the project - implementing the recommendations from the Play for All report and developing a tailored programme of play sessions that children with autism and their families can enjoy. We are currently looking to secure funding for Phase 2 of this project - let us know if you'd like to be involved and drop us an email here!
With grateful thanks to William A. Cadbury Trust for supporting this work and Abi for her project work. Weekly play through Spring! We were so excited for spring and to get back into action after winter, kicking off our weekly play at Boundary Way Allotments and Gatis Community Centre on Wednesdays and Fridays. We have explored different themes each week at Wolves in the Woods from Windy Days to Ladybirds, alongside plenty of open-ended exploratory play at our Nature Play sessions at Boundary Way. We've enjoyed our holiday play through April and May, now preparing for a varied and exciting summer! So far this year we have already welcomed 536 little ones and 415 of their caregivers for fun and sharing stories across the city. Thanks for a really lovely outdoor play session. Gatis was the perfect venue. There was a great variety of activities on offer which kept my daughter entertained for the whole session, she didn’t want to leave! We loved the hanging instruments, painting with mud and planting a seed. She gives Wolves Play Cafe a double thumbs up!
In the April and May Holidays…In April holidays we worked with the Fostering Team at Wolverhampton Council to play at their Easter Eggstravaganza Event! We played in the Park at Ward Street and across the city in our Wolves in the Woods and Nature Play and Pop-Up Indoor Play at All Saints Community Centre! Welcoming New and Friendly Faces to the team :) Since March we have welcomed amazing new people to the team! We are so excited to be able to expand the skills and work we can do with talented team members. So many of our staff have been regular play friends at Wolves Play Cafe and are now contributing their experience, skills and great ideas to helping us build our fun and supportive city for children to grow up in! Play Leaders - Claire and Jillian (joining Helen) Play Explorers - Nina (joining Louise and Lisa) Play Champion - Tia Watch out for spotlights and information about them coming up on our social media so you can find out more about the team! Planning and ProjectsWe have exciting new projects we've been working on and we can wait for you to take part in them!
Decorating & Gardening!Maintaining the Community Garden is a big job and requires lots of teamwork! From weeding, to painting, to paving! The Team have been hard at it, Plot-holders and Play Cafe staff and family. Thanks to Severn Trent we’ve been able to undertake this work to make the site useable and welcoming to not only our play friends but the whole community. Upcoming Play Dates!We are gearing up for a busy, playful summer with play across the city!
Book in here to join us! We can't wait to see you :) What was it about?In January we were delighted to learn that Helen had gained a place on the Mindsets + Missions Learning Programme as an individual representing a community organisation- Wolves Play Cafe! Mindsets + Missions is a new learning and grants programme, funded by UK Research and Innovation, which supports museums and science centres to engage underrepresented groups with knowledge, research and innovation. The whole team were excited to have the opportunity to engage with larger organisations including museums and science centres from across the U.K.  What did it involve?The programme was well-facilitated, beginning with an in-person programme launch day in Leeds. During the day we worked in groups with activities and discussions to find common ground, common goals and common challenges to our goals. The activities included a range of practical and participatory tasks, one of which took us outside for half an hour in the snowy blast that crossed the UK in early March! Back inside...all dry and warm!...the discussions were in groups small enough to allow everyone the chance to have a voice in the conversations. It was so encouraging to be working alongside people from larger organisations that found similar challenges and barriers to achieving their goals as smaller organisations. We found that we shared similar aims and goals in the desire to help ensure museums, science centres and research projects of the future to be relevant, important to and accessible to the widest possible audiences. The next week, and for three weeks, the programme was taken online with twice weekly 90 minute sessions. Each session included a presentation by people who had developed innovative and successful ways to engage, encourage and truly listen to their present and new audiences not only in the U.K. but from right across the World. These were fascinating and informative presentations, inspiring ideas for the programme participants’ discussions which followed each presentation. The conversations carried on after the sessions through a specially devised digital platform where all the participants were invited to share their good practices, relevant information and areas of expertise. What happens next?Towards the end of the month-long programme innovative ideas, new networks and partnerships were beginning to evolve and the members of the cohort were invited to apply for funding of up to £75k to deliver projects for the second phase of the programme. The projects can be as innovative, ground-breaking and experimental as participants’ ideas, dreams and ambitions allow, exploring new ways of bringing science, research and community engagement in these areas to the widest possible audiences, especially those from under-represented groups across the whole of the U.K. As this is the pilot programme to developing new approaches to traditional research pathways, at present Wolves Play Café are not planning to apply to lead a project for the next phase of the programme, but as a trailblazing start, we hope that by being part of these new networks we can take part in future projects as leaders and/or participants. We also plan to use the ideas, inspiration and information gained by taking part in the pilot programme to enhance our own approaches to audience collaboration, engagement and gathering the views of individual voices to improve our own practice and offers.  Who are UK Research and Innovation?Mindsets + Missions is funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). It is a key part of UKRI’s mission to break down the barriers between research, innovation and society. UKRI is providing a total of £750k for this programme, delivered by a partnership of the Museums Association, The Liminal Space and the Association for Science and Discovery Centres.
This project focusses on introducing kids under 5 years old to the field of ecology through hands-on, outdoor activities. I believe this initiative has a great potential to develop scientific thinking in kids and their caregivers within an urban context. The proposal has clear objectives, methods and evaluation endpoints, thus I believe there is a good chance of success. " BES Review College, May 2022
What kind of activities did we enjoy?The session activities were themed to ecological topics such as habitats, weather, recycling and plant growth enabling young children to explore early scientific enquiry skills and simple natural science knowledge through play. There was also space for caregivers to share stories, have a much-welcomed cuppa and explore the varied themes and activities alongside their little one. How can I join in?Thanks to support from Gatis Community Space and their National Lottery Community Funding, we are able to continue to develop and deliver these fun sessions in Spring 2023 through Wolves in the Woods. Come and join us exploring the world around us - book your space now here! The grant from British Ecological Society (BES) made it possible for these important and fun outdoor play opportunities to be delivered for little ones and their big ones in our city. We were encouraged that BES could see the value of the project and that they were confident in the project's potential to successfully promote ecology to all ages and support our world. Thank you BES for supporting the success of this project to help grow a robust and innovative science cultural capital in our city." We are so grateful to the funding that made the project possible from: About British Ecological Society:
We were established in 1913 and have been fostering the science of ecology ever since. Our vision is for nature and people to thrive in a world inspired by ecology. Play Across the City
Such a lovely session. Great to be outdoors, in a safe environment for play. Good range of open ended play equipment to stimulate children's creative thinking. Mix of age groups and parents/ carers attended. Children enjoyed playing together and adults had a nice opportunity to chat with other adults too. Very welcoming hosts. Have recommended to other friends and their children." Satty, August 2022  Crawling through the tunnel at Ward Street Park, Ettingshall This year, drawing on feedback from play friends who had come along to play before, we delivered these sessions as drop-in between 10.00 and 2.00pm through August 2022 so that there was a time to suit everyone's routine and schedule. For the final play session, with support from Active Black Country, we were able to partner with the Dr Bike team who brought along the opportunity to celebrate the location of the Commonwealth Games Cycling Trials at West Park including balance bikes for little ones and smoothie bikes for big ones! Happy Stories
Future PlansWolves Play Café and the local families of the parks are very grateful and pleased with the successful Play in the Parks programme this summer. We will be back playing in Ward Street Park in April 2022 with support from Grantham Yorke Trust and would love to play again at West Park and Phoenix Park by securing further funding to ensure accessible play sessions for young children in the city can continue in the spring and summer school holidays to August 2023. This would mean little ones and their caregivers can come and play again, we can see how much you've grown and hear your stories, helping to create long-term positive impacts and outcomes for physical and mental wellbeing in Wolverhampton. If you would like to support the project, we'd love to talk to you at [email protected]  Thank youWith gratitude to Grantham Yorke Trust and the below funders of August 2022's Play in the Parks Programme.
Helping little cubs explore the great outdoors!We are celebrating inspiring over 500 under 7s to explore the great outdoors across our city thanks to our Wolves in the Woods project. Thanks to generous funding from Millennium Point Trust, since 2019, Wolves Play Café have provided vital opportunities for 582 under 7s within Wolverhampton to explore the outdoors, develop skills such as problem-solving, natural science knowledge and support for 436 caregivers of under 7s with free and easy outdoor play ideas and the space to share important stories.  Investing in our city spacesAs well as delivering over 60 play sessions in peaceful wooded settings, across 3 years Wolves Play Café has provided over £8500 investment into two city spaces of Boundary Way Community Garden in Warstones and Gatis Community Space in Whitmore Reans, to create useable forest spaces for local children and their families in the heart of the city for years to come. Outdoor shelters and play resources such as wicker play dens, water wheels, pulleys and crawl-through tunnels have enhanced the play opportunities for under 7s in their local communities. Happy StoriesMy boys thoroughly enjoyed this wonderful play session in the woods - they didn’t want to leave. The staff were friendly and attentive and the resources provided for the kids were amazing." Riz, Gatis Community Space, 2022 Over 80% of the attendees return to play more than once and caregivers have been keen to share how important the play and project is to them. Some attendees have since signed up for an allotment of their own, to support the next generation of gardeners and natural science enthusiasts. ‘My granddaughter who is 6 planted seeds and picked fresh vegetables and said ‘it’s one of the best places I’ve been!" Gail, Boundary Way, 2022 Learning and next stepsNature Play Celebration Events are being held on Saturday 13th August at Gatis Community Space, as part of their Community Fun Day and Saturday 3rd September at Boundary Way Allotments. You can find out more and join in these, or how about bringing your little cubs to our next Wolves in the Woods sessions in September 2022, open for booking now!  We are so grateful for the investment and support of Millennium Point Trust in STEM opportunities in the West Midlands. Thanks to them, the Wolves in the Woods project has been able to make a real impact for little ones’ play opportunities and development in Wolverhampton. We can’t wait for our celebration events to share the fun we’ve been having." Lisa Stallard, Director at Wolves Play Cafe CIC About the FunderMillennium Point is an award-winning charitable trust dedicated to the promotion and development of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) and education in the West Midlands region of the United Kingdom. For more information please visit www.millenniumpoint.org.uk.
The idea for an Outdoor Explorers project in All Saints was inspired by our successful outdoor play sessions that we had delivered there in Autumn 2020. Keeping in mind the restrictions and impact of Covid-19 coming out of lockdown, the outdoor sessions had lots of fresh air, space and individual resource baskets to play, with activities throughout the garden. The 28 sessions were held across 14 weeks during the Spring and Autumn 2021. Big ones had opportunities to share stories and little ones had opportunities to play and learn from first-hand experiences in nature alongside their caregivers. The sessions were Pay As You Feel, with no minimum charge to join in, thanks to support from National Lottery Community Fund. Getting the word out! Play sessions were advertised through leafleting local Nurseries, social media posts and local Councillor for Ettingshall Beverley Momenabadi, email updates, posters in local shops, attending the All Saints Fun Day and running a stall with planting bulbs that can be taken home. We welcomed 204 children and 164 adults to gather, explore, weave, dig, draw, stomp, build, plant, pick, identify, listen, sing, laugh and make friends through both rain and shine! Happy Stories“We had so much fun today exploring outdoors. The mud kitchen was very messy and great for little imaginations to blossom. We loved exploring the plants and leaves with the microscopes to see what we could see. The wooden building area was a hit with my little boy as well. Will definitely go back, there wasn't too many people in our session which made me feel very comfortable. Thank you for a lovely afternoon.” During the sessions we used accessible feedback methods such as pictorial surveys, reviews and chats to gain views, opinions and ideas from both children and adults. We also have a Play Tester Team’ visiting sessions who used simple tools including ‘empathy maps’ to tell us about their experiences during Outdoor Explorers play sessions. Our Learning and Future Plans Conversations during the sessions between caregivers and staff and caregivers with each other, comments include: “We’ve made a mud digging area in the garden” and “We’re planning our garden around the little one being able to be in the garden more with somewhere to do planting, digging and exploring”. The participants also often mentioned that the informal ‘drop-in’ format of the sessions suited them well as they could fit a visit around other commitments like a school run, appointments and naps. Going forwards we would like to secure support to continue to deliver these play sessions as Pay As You Feel during the spring and autumn of next year to build on the community links, friendship networks and fun and learning opportunities and experiences for adults and children. Over the past two years we have invested time and funding in organising the layout and equipment available in the garden thanks to National Lottery Community Funding, as well as building community friends and word-of-mouth networks so will be in a position to deliver these fun and beneficial sessions to offer the best quality and value possible for the community...and we can't wait!  One of our play friends in a play session enjoying his imaginative picnic with his hedgehog ‘friend’. |
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Wolves Play Cafe Community Interest Company
Registered Number: 12700280 |