Play! Summit event in Lethbridge next week

“We get to hear from her and learn from her, so we’re just excited to invite everyone from the community to join us and get to learn as well about the importance of play and how that impacts children’s development and really makes a life-long change in their lives,” said Vicki Hazelwood, coordinator at the Lethbridge Early Years Coalition.

The summit comes after Lethbridge City Council unanimously adopted the Lethbridge Play Charter in October of 2018.

READ MORE: Lethbridge city council adopts ‘Play Charter’

The Play Charter outlines a commitment from the city and local groups to support play that encourages physical, emotional and social development and to promote the importance of play.

“What we are learning and what science is showing is that play is really foundational in the development of children. Through play, children learn how to resolve conflict, they learn about themselves and the world around them, they learn how to regulate their emotions and just negotiate on different things with their peers, so play really is an amazing vehicle for children to learn life skills, social skills, emotional skills that they really need to thrive as individuals in the future,” Hazelwood said.

“The summit is to bring together community, to build awareness of how important play is but also further our understanding and learning on the topic of play so we can then bring that into a plan that impacts the community and impacts our children and youth in our community.”

Hazelwood said they’ve taken action since the charter was adopted. That includes translating the charter to nine different languages that are prevalent in the local community.

Some of the different versions of the Lethbridge Play Charter on display (Photo: Lethbridge News Now)

“Over the last two years now, since we started this journey with the Play Charter, we have about 30 signatories on the Play Charter, so those are from organizations around the city – a diverse group who have signed the Play Charter and are supporting it and implementing it into their work and will continue to work together,” she said.

“Everyone is welcome. We have some parents, some individuals as well, community members that are on board and [are] part of the discussion so they come to the table each month and we talk about [how we] can advance the awareness of play in our community and not only the awareness but the actual playfulness of our community.”

More translated versions of the Lethbridge Play Charter (Photo: Lethbridge News Now)

The lunch and learn portion of the January 21 event, running from 11:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m., is $15 for those who wish to attend. It will include presentations from eight local organizations highlighting play programs, spaces and opportunities in Lethbridge.

During the summit portion (1 to 4:30 p.m.), Dr. Kirova will give a keynote speech, stakeholders will re-sign the Play Charter and there will be presentations from Dr. Robbin Gibb, play therapist Danielle Lukenar-Olivieri and Dr. Mike Mahon. The summit section of the day is $20 to attend.

Hazelwood said they will also be offering a free community presentation to wrap up the day’s events. That runs from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. and will feature a speech from Dr. Kirova. Registration is needed for this timeslot and can be done at lethbridgeplays.ca/summit.

by Justin Goulet

Play! Summit event in Lethbridge next week

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