Workshops

                                               INTERNATIONAL PLAY CONGRESS (1-3 June 2025)

                                                                        Workshop Program

*The language of all workshops is Turkish, only Adolescent Play will be conducted in English.

**The morning "Play, Mathematics and Nature" workshop will be held between 11:00-13:30 am., and the other morning workshops will take place between 09:30-12:30 am.

Workshop 1 Name: Play, Mathematics and Nature

Facilitator Name-Surname: Prof. Dr. Serap Erdoğan

Workshop Assistant: Özge Aktaş

Special Requests/What to Bring: Participants can bring comfortable clothes, water and snacks.

Materials: Game and Mathematics Box bag / will be brought by the facilitator.

Workshop Purpose: The purpose of this workshop is to share examples of learning experiences mediated by play in children's discovery of mathematics in nature.

Workshop Gains:

They have a positive attitude towards nature.
They realize that mathematics is a daily part of life through play.
Their self-confidence is supported thanks to the opportunities offered by nature.
Their creative perspectives increase.
Their cognitive, physical and social emotional development is supported.
Their interest in mathematics increases.
Their mathematical thinking and problem-solving skills are supported.
They develop their problem-solving skills in life.
They develop their thinking and strategy development skills.
Their mental skills such as establishing cause and effect relationships and reasoning become active.
Their focus on the process and motivation to learn increases.
It forms the basis for new generation questions they will encounter in the coming years.
It supports coding skills.

Workshop Content/Introduction:

Introduction

Getting to know Math Box games with games
Applications of Math Activities in Nature
The seminar ends with the evaluation of the training with the reflection writings of the participants.

Workshop 2 Name: Play Based on Physical Activity in Early Childhood

Facilitator Name-Surname: Assoc. Prof. Taşkın TAŞTEPE

Special Requests/What to Bring: Sportswear appropriate for the season (tracksuit, shoes, hat)

Materials: Participants can personally bring yoga/pilates or a sitting mat. Other activity materials will be provided by the facilitator.

Purpose of the Workshop: It is aimed to provide application skills that support the movement development of children to professionals working with children in early childhood.

Workshop Gains:

Can define the movement development characteristics specific to early childhood.
Can explain the importance of physical activity in early childhood.
Can plan physical activity-based games appropriate for children's age and development levels.
Can organize safe play environments suitable for children's movement needs in indoor and outdoor areas.
Can develop family-based strategies that support children's participation in physical activity.
 

Workshop Content/Introduction:

Today, regardless of whether they are urban or rural, children live in isolation in indoor environments. Factors such as inadequate playgrounds, the appeal of digital technology, and unhealthy nutrition trigger children to become a generation that moves less and less and negatively affect physical-motor development. Moreover, when the effects of a life devoid of physical activity are taken into account, it is inevitable for children to encounter undesirable situations in terms of their health. Physical activity is necessary for the development of basic motor skills as well as bone and muscle development. Children gain control over their own movements with each new motor skill. This also allows the child to gain dominance over the environment in which they live. These experiences that children gain in order for their motor skills to be more effective and coordinated occur during early childhood. During this period, in order for children to continue their healthier development, their movement skills should be supported in accordance with their age and developmental characteristics.

Workshop 3 Name: Bonding with Children through Dance and Movement-Based Play

Facilitator Name-Surname: Dr. Şule ÇAĞLAR

Special Requests/What to Bring: -

Materials: -

Workshop Content/Introduction:

Dance and Movement Therapy (DHT), which combined Dance and Psychotherapy in the 1940s, has become a discipline in its own right today with its theory, research and management. Dance and movement therapy is defined by the American Dance Therapy Association (ADTA) as “the psychotherapeutic use of movement to develop the emotional, social, cognitive and physical integrity of the individual in order to increase health and well-being.”

DHT is widely used with children and includes a variety of approaches, including expressive movement, creative dance, role-playing, and a mix of structured and improvised movement experiences. It engages the child at a primary, nonverbal level. Once it has entered the child’s symbolic movement world, it helps expand communication skills and creates pathways from nonverbal to verbal dialogue. DHT is widely used with children in homes, schools, day programs, hospitals, and therapy centers. Research has shown that DHT is effective in promoting social interaction, improving mental health, reducing anxiety, and increasing self-awareness and self-expression in children.

This workshop is designed to provide examples of how DHT is applied with children beyond words, how dance and movement can be incorporated into the lives of parents and children, how the unspeakable can be expressed through movement, and how a stronger family bond can be created between parents and children through dance and movement.

Workshop 4 Name: End Inequality with Play
Facilitator Name-Surname: Cem Demirayak
Special Requests/What to Bring: We need a projection computer and sound system to make presentations and show digital games via screen sharing with 4 tables and 16 chairs.

Materials: “Söz Küçüğün” and “Neden Olmasın” Board Games, colored printouts

Workshop Purpose: The workshop aims to create a discussion on how inequality, discrimination, daily rights violations and solutions can be brought to children's playgrounds by having the participants experience the Söz Küçüğün Board Game produced in 2009 and its digitalized version in 2024, and the Neden Olmasın Board Game produced in 2012 and its digitalized version in 2021.
 

Workshop Gains:
1) To make the participants think and discuss the inequalities experienced in daily life and the ways to seek rights.
2) Opening up a sharing space for participants on using games as an educational tool on issues that are difficult to talk about with children, such as children's rights, human rights, and gender-based discrimination

Workshop Content/Presentation: Within the scope of the workshop, two games developed by the Istanbul Bilgi University Child Studies Unit will be experienced by the participants and a discussion will be held together on how games can be a tool to talk about inequalities and solution methods.

Söz Küçüğün Game:
Söz Küçüğün was designed as a board game in 2009. The game, aimed at children aged 9-12, includes events from children's daily lives. The aim is for children to think about, discuss and learn about their own and others' rights through these events. Due to the needs of the developing digital age and to make the game more widespread, the game was digitized in 2024 to be played on tablets and computers with an internet connection.
 

Neden Olmasın Game:
Neden Olmasın is an educational game developed by the BİLGİ Child Studies Unit to talk about gender equality with children. Two versions of the game have been developed: Card Game and Digital Game. The aim of both games is to ensure that children become aware of sexist situations they encounter in different environments (school, home, work, street, etc.) and to transform these situations with a non-sexist approach, so that they can talk together and become stronger. The game supports children in asking the question WHY NOT? regarding gender equality and contributes to raising awareness about combating inequality.

Workshop 5 Name: Play with Stone Tales

Coordinator Name-Surname: Instructor Elif Konar Özkan & Ümit Yaşar Özkan

Special Requests/What to Bring: Each workshop participant must bring a handful of pebbles. In addition, one A4 paper, pencil/crayon is required for the number of participants.

Materials: Stone, paper, pencil/crayons.

Purpose of the Workshop: In the Play with Stone Tales workshop, which we have been experiencing with different age groups since 2016 based on the Stone Tales book set, it is aimed to stimulate our imagination with the stone, which is a natural material/being, and to try to see/know/hear the tale/story of that being and the game it plays in nature, and to produce new games using stones.

Achievements of the Workshop:

1) To make the participants think and discuss about connecting with nature by getting to know stones.

2) Opening up a sharing space for participants to experience how children can create games with their imagination using natural elements, and using games and fairytale-like stories as a means of entertainment, spending time, socializing, sharing, therapy and education.

Workshop Content/Introduction: Participants who want to witness the fairytale/story/game of stones that have survived from time to time and beyond places will be introduced to stones, creative games and language games will be produced with stones, ideas will be shared and brainstorming will be done on what kind of games can be produced based on fairytales/fairytale-like stories that will support creative thinking skills, language skills etc., and how a connection can be established with nature.

Stone Tales:

Who can say no to fairytales and games?

The Stone Tales series invites you to a fairytale game.

Stones, the simplest and most easily found material in nature, are our playmates. In this series, creativity, awareness and problem-solving skills are supported with stones, while acting together, sharing, respect, love, friendship, accepting the different etc. many values ​​are included.

After reading/listening to these tales, you can go out with your child to collect stones. Let him collect the stones he wants. If you want, you can even collect stones with him. Then, let him use the stones he collects to make pictures as he wants, play games, and tell stories. Enjoy playing by telling stories together.

Workshop 6 Name: Play and Creativity Toolkit

Conductor Name-Surname: Gulsah Eker

Special Requests/What to Bring: You can simply bring your curiosity.

Venue Requirements: Outdoor space, room for movement, chairs, tables.

Materials: Colored Post-its, A4-sized paper, and pens.

Workshop Purpose: This workshop aims to explore the cognitive benefits and problem-solving skills of playing games, and to experience how more play can be integrated into adult life.

Workshop Gains:
In this workshop, participants will:

• Play games – this is the only activity where the reward is simply the activity itself.
• Learn about the cognitive and creative benefits of playing games.
• Learn a new creative thinking tool and apply it.
• Create a pilot of their own film/story.

Workshop Content/Introduction:

• Invoking creative minds:
• Now-here-attention! We’re playing a game!
• We will discuss the cognitive and creative benefits of play, and why we should play.
• A method from the creativity kit: Morphological Analysis
• Write the pilot line of your own movie!

We will first play warm-up games to activate our creativity and talk about the cognitive and creative benefits of play. In the second part, individually or in groups, we will create a film pilot based on our imagination. While doing this, we will learn the morphological analysis* technique. This technique can be used in various contexts in both personal and professional life.

*Morphological analysis can be used to generate additional ideas that would not normally spring to mind. The technique involves considering the function of a generic solution to a problem, and breaking it down into a number of sub-systems or sub-functions. The morphological analysis creativity tool relies upon the user's selection of sub-function options to synthesize an overall solution. The user can explore the design space systematically using their experience to guide the outcome, or experimentally.