Inspiring Creative Minds
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SHOP
EVENTS
ABOUT US
PLANKS
OTHER PROGRAMS
EVENTS
Sorry, no public events currently scheduled.
ABOUT US
Just as the ‘de Bono coloured thinking hat‘ suggests, we are educators with an interest in creativity.
Green Hat Workshop was established over a decdae ago by primary school teacher and STEM specialist Cam Lee, in order to model and inspire ways of implementing pedagogies of increased child-centered creativity and open ended play.
At Green Hat Workshop we believe in a life of playful experimentation and constant engagement with the elements of our world.
We are dedicated to providing workshops and products that foster lifelong learning and creatively inspire all ages.
Our resources are:
- Abundant
- Loose and able to be moved freely
- Require no explanation
Many of our workshops occur in schools, away from public view however we reserve the right to collect images of artifacts of play and how they are used.
HOW WE WORK
Inspired by Melbourne’s progressive schooling movement of the 1960s and influenced by the field of Playwork, Green Hat Workshop emphasise a play-based, participant led, activity model, where possible. We create and provide resources and environments that first and foremost authentically engage participants and engender fun and play.
We acknowledge that we are in partnership with our participants during our workshops, enabling and encouraging their natural instinct to play with pattern, aesthetics, order and symmetry, representations of narrative and the world around them, shelter & cubby building and role play as well as comparison and intrinsic challenge.
Green Hat Workshop’s approach is to work within existing school cultures and in public spaces to empower natural curiosity and creativity in all ages, with as few instructions and rules as possible, thereby engaging all participants at their own level of cognitive and physical ability, be they adult or child, neurotypical or diverse.
We do not write programs that emphasise content or specify a valued outcome but rather value authentic participant-lead programs that provide environments optimum for shared creativity.
Green Hat Workshop provide simple, abundant, impermanent resources where possible, as we believe this encourages individuals to experiment, share and explore.
We believe:
- Engagement comes first
- We think our way into maturity and successful skill adoption
- Children come to us with knowledge
- Self-directed play is the best way to learn
- Humans learn when they are ready and cannot be compelled to do so
- The goal of every teacher is to become obsolete*
TEAM
Safety and the independence of the workshop participant is the priority, in some situations however Facilitators scaffold potential uses for resources, create environments where creative challenges are accessible for all ages, support participants’ own ideas, manage hazards and help out when needed, preferably without directing or controlling.
We provide opportunities for creative expression linked to practical learning and within the constraints of timetable and environments of our clients and their institutions.
Cam Lee
Education and Operations Manager
With over 30 years experience teaching in Primary Schools across Australia and in the United Kingdom, Cam has been a science communicator, run exploratory mathematics centres, woodwork programs, and worked as a classroom teacher and STEAM specialist from Kindergarten to grade 6.
At Green Hat Workshop Cam specialises in a play-based, self-directed learning model and engages large groups of all ages, in schools and public spaces with blocks and stuff.
Cam is also Operations Manager at Reverse Art Truck Inc. which is an iconic Melbourne-based resource centre that uses a ‘remida’ or scrap-store model. Previously known as Reverse Garbage, Reverse Art Truck have been collecting resources that are destined for landfill and returning them to use through resourcing arts and education, for more than 50 years.
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PLANKS
LOOSE PARTS
MAKING PLAY
PLANKS are dynamic building blocks designed to inspire creative minds. Totally inclusive, PLANKS encourage a wonderful mix of creativity and skill, social development and imagination.
The flexibility of our PLANKS’ rectangular prism shape and Green Hat Workshop’s philosophy of self directed, play-based learning, provides opportunities for all abilities to participate and to challenge themselves at their own level, enabling participants to simply stack towers of impressive height or to create sophisticated cantilever bridges, 3D shapes and more.
Green Hat PLANKS Workshops offer an abundance of PLANKS, promoting the opportunity to share and celebrate diverse expressions of creativity, Mathematics, Engineering, interpersonal skills and resilience.
OUR WORKSHOPS
Abundant large cardboard boxes, tape, finger-friendly cutters, cloth and utilising our natural behaviour for sheltering and nesting, Green Hat Workshop’s ‘Box Play’ workshop generally addresses design and technology curriculum outcomes.
This workshop has two variations, one that includes MakeDo™ products, that are returned or paid for at the conclusion of the session, and another variation that utilises string, pipe cleaners, sticky-back sheets and ribbon to join materials in a range of ways.
Anything goes, and groups often create townships, monsters, sports areanas and more with the option to retain their creations and continue play long after the workshop has been concluded and Green Hat Workshop have left the venue.
A mix of ‘found’ and manufactured objects curated to give as many prompts for different types of unstructured play as possible.
Green Hat Workshop’s collection of Loose Parts and our Playworker inspired management of make this workshop memborable, enabling children an opportunity to play expressively, dramatically and in ways that feel right to them without excessive risk or adult interferance.
MAKING TABLE
Participants make whatever they want at this craft, STEM-play Making Table, resourced with Reverse Art Truck™ resources.
A range of manufacturing offcuts, packaging surplus, wool, plastics, artificial grass, leather, small cardboard boxes and tubes, household recycling, lids, material and paper, as well as a selection of tools such as tape, staplers, textas & glue open the activity to constructive possibilities for all ages.
Design, technology, materials.
Please email us to let us know about your organisation and any ideas you have about how this might work for you.
LANTERN MAKING
Displayed as a parade or a night-time gallery of luminous hand-made shapes at the conclusion of a series of weekly lantern making workshops for all ages, participants use gaffer tape and rattan cane to create whatever shapes or objects they wish, then skin them using paper and cellophane.
A variation on this activity may also include electrronics with the addition of light circuits and wiring with simple switches.
Shape, design and simple circuits.
Please email us to let us know about your organisation and any ideas you have about how this might work for you.