This Wednesday, when the school bell rings, something a little different is happening at Camp Australia After School Care services across the country.
Children will drop their bags, sit down, and find a pile of LEGO bricks waiting for them. Not as a reward. Not as an after-school treat. As the main event. Because on 11 June, World Play Day, we are bringing every one of our services together for a national LEGO play moment at the same time, on the same day.
Last year we brought children together for a national Stop and Play moment. This year we’ve gone further, and we are genuinely excited about what that looks like.
New research from the LEGO Play Well Study shows that nine in ten Australian parents wish they could play more as a family. That number stopped us in our tracks, because it tells us something important: parents want this for their children. Life just keeps getting in the way.
That is exactly why we take what happens in After School Care so seriously. The hours your child spends with us are not a gap to fill between school and home. They are time that belongs to them, and we think it should feel that way.
“Too often, after school care is seen as a holding pattern between school and home. We fundamentally reject that idea. The hours children spend with us are some of the most important of their day, and we have a responsibility to fill them with experiences that genuinely matter. Partnering with LEGO Australia to create a national play moment is not a marketing exercise. It is a statement about what we believe after school care should look like.”
– Craig Napier, CEO, Camp Australia
Our partnership with LEGO Australia is something we are proud of. LEGO bricks have been used in educational and therapeutic settings for years because of what they give children: the freedom to make decisions, experiment, and create something entirely their own. There is no right answer with a pile of bricks, and that is the point.
“Play gives children a way to process their world that does not require words. When a child builds something, makes a decision, knocks it over and starts again, they are developing skills that formal learning alone cannot teach. The confidence that comes from that is real and it lasts.”
– Kerry Evitts, Artist and Psychotherapist
On World Play Day, every child attending a Camp Australia service will take part in the national play moment and take home their own activity book. And the fun carries on from there. Our Ultimate Week of Play runs from 12 to 19 June, with a national challenge for children to collectively reach one million play minutes. We will be keeping track, and we would love for your family to be part of it.
If you want to find out more about what is happening, click here
We hope it is a day your child talks about at dinner.
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