There is a pedagogical theory that physical activity spaces adapted to children's needs and inspired by children's own culture create more joy and movement. This thinking has been crucial to the development of the Aarhus Gymnastics and Motor Skills hall, which is a unique example of rethinking a typical Danish sports facility. The same argument has also been crucial for a new initiative, which has been developed and tested in the same Gymnastics and Motor Skills hall which was designed by C.F. Møller in 2010. The idea is to install specially developed nets in sports halls in such a way that a web is formed as an activity landscape for children. A landscape which should be both playful and motivating, and at the same time challenging and stimulating the motor skills – and of course super fun. These webs can in principle be established in any sports hall or other facility with sufficient space. In those kinds of environment, the play-webs can complement the usual types of sports and provide an exciting alternative to the more classical training and sports activities. From sports to art But webs designed for play can become more than a piece of equipment. They are also visual and physical experiences that can shift the focus from sports to art, where children become active parts of an artistic expression that surprises and changes the typical spaces for sports. The many opportunities offered by net installation in sports buildings are described in a new ideas catalogue developed by the Danish Foundation for Culture and Sports Facilities (LOA), the Aarhus Gymnastics and Motor Skills hall and C.F. Møller, and co-funded by the Aarhus Sports Collaboration and the Danish Gymnastics and Sports Association DGI. Bo Vestergaard Madsen, head of Research in the Danish Foundation for Culture and Sports Facilities, state about the catalogue of ideas: "We hope that play-webs can help to change the typical sport hall spaces and other facilities for physical activities. These nets offer a relatively simple way to transform a space to a very large effect. They can provide sports halls opportunity to create areas for a new and different free motion culture where children can play and develop their motor skills without the need for a coach to tell them the right way to do things." The ideas catalogue can be downloaded for free via the link below:

 

See the Ideas Catalogue here
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