In and out the dusty bluebells, peevers, pitchie, marbles and skipping ropes… we’ve all got favourite games etched on our memories from childhood. But one multi-disciplinary, six-week-long playful project between Strathclyde staff and local people has seen some remarkable learning for adults and children alike.

Using Memories of Play

Ms Amanda Corrigan  from the Strathclyde Institute of Education was always interested in how Strathclyde could be a better neighbour to the local community, the city’s Royston area. Amanda had already set up an Engaged Scholarship hub in a local church, Re: Hope Royston, and was working with women who’d had poor experiences of school. An important project objective was to consider how school experience can be made better for children as a result of listening to those who haven’t had a great time. From there, an idea was hatched to use memories of play to support the local women to both build their skills and work with local children. 

The play project really got rolling with the support of Dr Catriona Ellis from Strathclyde’s Department of Humanities. Catriona worked with the Royston women, using archive film of street games to stimulate memories of their own childhood games. Not only did the women have a lively discussion about the games they remembered, they even went outside to play them - at one point using a cigarette packet for a game of peevers!

The process went to another level when Dr Cara Lamb from Education joined the group to watch as they played, asking questions about how the games are played, the rules and how they could be introduced to school children who are unfamiliar with them. That learning experience intensified even further at a subsequent session when the women were keen to learn more about teaching the games to local children. Collectively, the group developed instructions, modified some of the games, planned a layout of six games stations in the local quadrangle, and devised a reward system. Cara’s considered approach was not about telling the women how to teach the games, but she was on hand to offer ideas about useful teaching methods. 

Problems & solutions

Problems and solutions were explored, for example, children need smaller hopscotch squares than adults, and it’s no longer possible to play bools (marbles) on a drain cover with indents, so a chalked version was drawn on the ground. Once everything was in place, a group of 25 children from Royston Primary were invited to come out to play. The showcase event was deemed a huge success by everyone involved, including passersby.

For Amanda, Catriona and Cara, it has been simply brilliant seeing the enthusiasm of the women. Witnessing their confidence grow and their outstanding engagement with local children has been superb. The good news is that this remarkable group of Royston women are still collaborating with the local primary, where the children are now running their own games sessions, and are working on new ways to engage local children in fun and useful learning.

For Amanda, one of the very best aspects of this collaborative work is that it isn’t “owned” by the university. It belongs to the Royston women themselves. What’s more, as a group, they’ve discovered that learning can be fun after all, and they’ve got something useful and joyous to share with the children in their own community. It’s an outstanding win-win for everyone involved.