Ash Perrin - The Real Play Revolution: Why We Need to Be Silly with Our Kids--and How to Do It

Ash Bash Perrin is the founder and CEO of The Flying Seagull Project, a UK-based charity that brings happiness to children around the world.

The Flying Seagull Project is a troupe of entertainers who engage children and adults in games, art, music, craft, circus skills and performances. They have worked in a wide range of settings, from childrens hospitals, orphanages and refugee camps to schools, festivals and parties. The Flying Seagull philosophy is that everyone man, woman and child has the right to put aside the cares of life and smile for a while.

The Real Play Revolution is Ash Perrins first book.

The Real Play Revolution

Ash Perrin

This edition first published in the UK and USA in 2019 by

Watkins, an imprint of Watkins Media Limited

Unit 11, Shepperton House

8993 Shepperton Road

London

N1 3DF

Design and typography copyright Watkins Media Limited 2019

Text copyright Ash Perrin

Illustrations copyright Jack Kelly

The author has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without prior permission in writing from the Publishers.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Designed by Georgina Hewitt

Typeset by Integra

Printed and bound in the UK

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-786782-23-6

www.watkinspublishing.com

To Master Joey Coconut, for being your full self, making us laugh until our bellies hurt, and for reminding us it doesnt have to make sense to be funny!

INTRODUCTION

What is play? How do we do it? And why does it matter?

My name is Ash Perrin, although Im also known as Bash the clown. I am a professional noise-maker, childhood conservationist, rabble-rouser and life-long play enthusiast. I have spent over 15 years working with children in every corner of the globe, from the billionaires of London and Dubai, to children living on the streets of Ghana and Cambodia. With my devoted and wonderful team who make up The Flying Seagull Project, we have shown love through laughter and play in orphanages, hospitals, refugee camps, conflict zones, homes for the elderly (yes, they like to play too) and just about everywhere in between!

WHO ARE THE FLYING SEAGULLS?

I had been working for a while in various forms of performance art, play work, entertainment and leading workshops when, in 2008, the moment came for me to pull it all together by creating The Flying Seagull Project. The name was inspired by Richard Bachs book Jonathan Livingston Seagull. The main message of that book became the founding principle of my work: that there are no limits other than those we put on ourselves, and that everyone has the incredible potential to be happy and feel confident.

For over a decade, I have led this amazing team of clowns, dancers, puppet makers, circus artists and energizers across four continents in 23 countries, sharing play with more than 115,000 children, and now I want to try to share with you some stuff weve figured out along the way. With The Flying Seagull Project, Ive played Bulldog with societys forgotten communities, as well as Pirates at the UKs biggest festivals. Ive worked one to one with kids with behavioural challenges in England, and led circus sessions with more than 800 children at once in rural Ghana. I once even ran a play week in the Amazon rainforest! I tell you all of this just so you will believe me when I say Ive thought about this a lot and the one thing I am now more sure of than ever, is that there is an urgent need for play in all areas of society.

Im talking about Real Play, where voices are loud, and eyes sparkle, and imaginations soar, and laughter is in abundance.

WHY IS PLAY IMPORTANT?

During the course of my work with The Flying Seagull Project, I have come across many individuals around the world who feel disempowered, disenfranchised and down-right unhappy and far too many of these have been children. While there are many reasons for their distress, including societal position, disability, religious intolerance, poverty and war forcing them to flee their homelands, the linking factor for all of them is their resulting sense of not being good enough and not belonging.

This is why The Flying Seagull Project aims to combat these situations by creating childhood experiences, games sessions, creative workshops and cultural happenings that allow the children to connect with their innate right to feel good, whoever they are and wherever they are.

We have been blessed to learn a craft that is in danger of slipping from mainstream society and have seen first-hand its ability to return energy, confidence and mile-wide smiles to kids faces. That craft is play, Real Play, and in this book I hope to explore what that really means, figure out the best way to deliver it, and once and for all establish it as an essential part of everyones life.

HOW DOES THIS BOOK WORK?

Whether you are a parent, teacher, play worker or any sort of professional working with children, I will be offering you practical guidance, top tips and real-life evidence that shows just how important play is for all of us. We will be looking at the art and philosophy of play and at how to play well.

In , Start Your Own Real Play Revolution, brings it all together to set you on the path to doing just that!

TOOLS FOR REAL PLAY

Throughout this book youll find plenty of game plans and activity suggestions to help establish an optimistic and positive rapport with kids, whether in the classroom, after school or at home with the family. Theres a mixture of traditional games, some of which you might recognize, as well as brand-new games and unique activities invented by me and the team at The Flying Seagull Project. Toward the end of each chapter, youll find a lucky dip of extra group games for you to enjoy. While most of the games are suitable for kids at primary school level, I have purposefully not listed suggested age ratings for these activities, so that you are free to use your own judgement and adapt them according to who is playing.

As far as basic kit goes, as a troupe of professional clowns, The Flying Seagull Project is lucky to have lots of resources to hand, but here are the only essentials you need:

a sense of humour

low-to-no sense of shame

imagination

and lots of enthusiasm and energy!

Music can also help to create a playful environment. For extra energy, play fast music during speedy activities, gentle music for quieter activities, suspicious music for games like Wink Murder (see ) and upbeat music to get the room feeling positive at the start. If you have the skill to play an instrument and make live music then that is even better!

A few other pieces of improvised kit (e.g. from thrift stores/ charity shops or raiding the wardrobe) are optional extras. With encouragement, and your example, most kids will only need a bit of imagination to enjoy a game.

PLAN AHEAD

Whatever game or games you are going to play, I recommend planning ahead (see ). And I also recommend you have at least twice as many activities as you think you are going to need. I call this double plan, by which I mean you have double the amount that you think youll ever get through. This allows you to be flexible, change your mind on the spot if necessary and never get to a point where you feel like youre buying time. Whatever youre planning, double it, and then at the very least you can do everything twice as fast and still not run out of activities.