Play Attention – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Technical and general information from the podcast's RSS feed.

Play Attention

A Podcast From Timberplay

Arts

Education

Society & Culture

Frequency: 1 episode/34d. Total Eps: 8

Play Attention is the podcast from Timberplay exploring how play shapes our world — from childhood development and urban design to health, creativity and community.

Hosted by independent play consultant, Beth Cooper, each episode invites thinkers, designers and changemakers to share stories and ideas that champion the right to play, and challenge us all to build more playful spaces, cities and lives.

Recent rankings

Latest chart positions across Apple Podcasts and Spotify rankings.

Apple Podcasts

🇬🇧 Great Britain - design
22/07/2026
#100
🇬🇧 Great Britain - design
21/07/2026
#78
🇬🇧 Great Britain - design
20/07/2026
#70
🇬🇧 Great Britain - design
19/07/2026
#66
🇬🇧 Great Britain - design
18/07/2026
#51
🇬🇧 Great Britain - design
17/07/2026
#35
🇬🇧 Great Britain - design
26/06/2026
#91
🇬🇧 Great Britain - design
25/06/2026
#73
🇬🇧 Great Britain - design
24/06/2026
#59
🇬🇧 Great Britain - design
23/06/2026
#45

Spotify

No recent rankings available

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

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https://www.instagram.com/timberplaylimited
8 shares
https://www.instagram.com/gla.studio
1 share

RSS feed quality and score

Technical evaluation of the podcast's RSS feed quality and structure.

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RSS feed quality

To improve

Score global : 48%

Publication history

Monthly episode publishing history over the past years.

Year

Latest published episodes

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Building a Play Strategy for England with Eugene Minogue

Season 1 · Episode 1

Thursday, November 13, 2025 • Duration 42:44

England is closer than it has been in years to a new national play strategy.

In this debut episode of The Play Attention Podcast, host Beth Cooper sits down with Eugene Minogue, Executive Director of Play England, to explore the long-awaited push for a play strategy in England - 17 years after the last one.

What you’ll hear about:

Why embedding play in planning and design matters now more than ever
Why play is the answer to arming children with the social and emotional skills to thrive in an AGI - Artificial General Intelligence - future
What a “play-sufficiency duty” could mean for every child’s access to time, space and freedom to play
How adults, designers and communities can support this shift in mindset, beyond the playground.

Play Attention is a podcast from Timberplay - exploring the thinkers, designers and changemakers shaping the future of play.

Hosted by Beth Cooper, Independent Play Consultant.

Theme music by Dave Mullen Jnr

Connect with Timberplay:
Instagram
LinkedIn

Timberplay

Read moreCollapse

Why Flattening Abstraction Flattens Play

Tuesday, March 3, 2026 • Duration 58:39

In this episode of Play Attention, Beth Cooper speaks with designer, educator and author Cas Holman about her new book, Playful, and why reclaiming free play matters just as much for adults as it does for children.

At the heart of the conversation is a simple design principle: name by function. Start with what something is really for - connection, risk, rowdiness, joy - before deciding what it should look like.

From rooftop playgrounds in Brooklyn to refugee encampments on the US-Mexico border, Cas reflects on what happens when we flatten abstraction into compliance, efficiency or tidy solutions.

Drawing on her work with urban schools, loose parts environments and Anji Play, Cas and Beth explore:

How releasing judgment helps adults rediscover free play
Bringing risk assessors into the play conversation
Designing playgrounds in places leaders cannot ignore
Letting children be rowdy
Why removing the outcome unlocks imagination

A energising conversation about resisting over-optimisation, and designing both playgrounds and adult lives with more possibility.

Find our More:

Cas Holman

Anji Play

Timberplay

Play Attention is a podcast from Timberplay - exploring the thinkers, designers and changemakers shaping the future of play.

Hosted by Beth Cooper, Independent Play Consultant.

Theme music by Dave Mullen Jnr

Connect with Timberplay:
Instagram

"We Call Ourselves Childhood Conservationists"

Friday, April 3, 2026 • Duration 48:11

In this episode of Play Attention, we sit down with someone we’ve admired for many years - Ash Perrin, co-founder and CEO of the Flying Seagull Project.

Timberplay and the Flying Seagulls have crossed paths time and time again through shared conversations, workshops and events, and through a deep, mutual belief in the power of play. We have enormous respect for the work Ash and his team do, bringing joy, laughter and meaningful play to children and families living through conflict, displacement, trauma and isolation, both across the world and here in the UK.

But this conversation isn’t only about extraordinary places or extreme circumstances. What becomes clear as you listen is that everything Ash does, believes in and talks about is hugely relevant to all of us who work in, design for, advocate for, or simply value play.

Ash challenges us to move play beyond the idea of “wouldn’t it be nice” and towards recognising it as something essential, something that supports healing, connection, development and dignity. In his words, play isn’t an add-on. It’s part of how children survive and thrive.

Throughout the episode, he shares powerful reflections from nearly two decades of working directly with children in some of the most complex environments imaginable, and reminds us that the lessons learned there apply just as much in our schools, parks, communities and neighbourhoods.

We also get a special sneak preview of Ash’s forthcoming book, Forgotten Games: A Compendium of Play, due for release in early 2027 - a joyful collection of more than 100 children’s games from across cultures and history, celebrating the timeless universality of play.

Find out more:

The Flying Seagull Project

Play Attention is a podcast from Timberplay - exploring the thinkers, designers and changemakers shaping the future of play.

Hosted by Beth Cooper, Independent Play Consultant.

Theme music by Dave Mullen Jnr

Play Isn’t a Place. It’s the Whole Plan.

Season 1 · Episode 6

Wednesday, May 6, 2026 • Duration 39:22

In this episode of Play Attention, we sit down with Scott Chalmers, Head of Green Infrastructure at Urban&Civic, to challenge the assumption that play belongs in a designated, fenced-off area.

Drawing on years of experience delivering large-scale communities, Scott shares why play should never be “dropped in” to meet planning requirements, but embedded from the very first moment of design.

From removing fences and rethinking risk, to creating landscapes that invite people to stay, dwell, and connect, this conversation explores what happens when play is the foundation, not an afterthought.

You’ll hear:

Why play space should be an open canvas, not a box to tick
The reason fencing dominates playground design, and why it often points to a problem in the design process
How nature, landscape, and play can work together to build stronger communities
The commercial case for play, and why better spaces actually drive value
What developers, planners, and designers need to do differently to raise the standard everywhere

Find out More:

Urban&Civic

Priors Hall Park

Play Attention is a podcast from Timberplay - exploring the thinkers, designers and changemakers shaping the future of play.

Hosted by Beth Cooper, Independent Play Consultant.

Theme music by Dave Mullen Jnr

Connect with Timberplay:
Instagram
LinkedIn

Creating Space for Risk: Lessons from the Fear Less Play Project

Season 1 · Episode 7

Monday, June 8, 2026 • Duration 48:57

"You can have the most beautifully designed play space, but if the adults standing around the outside are flooded with anxiety, that is going to impact the function of that space."

In this episode of Play Attention, Beth Cooper is joined by Helen Dodd, Professor of Child Psychology at the University of Exeter, and Dr Sarah-Louise Hurst, Clinical Psychologist and founder of Fortitude Mums.

Together, they discuss the Fear Less Play project, an innovative piece of research exploring the connections between adventurous play, parental anxiety and children's development.

Drawing on expertise in child psychology, mental health and play, they explore why risk is an essential part of childhood, how adults can support rather than limit children's opportunities for challenge, and what this means for the design of play spaces and the wider systems that shape children's opportunities to play.

In this episode, you'll hear:

Why children need opportunities to experience risk and uncertainty through play.
How parental anxiety can influence children's play experiences.
What "graduated risk" means and why it matters.
The role of adventurous play in building resilience and confidence.
What designers, planners and local authorities can learn from the Fear Less Play research.

Find Out More:

Fortitude Therapy

Play Attention is a podcast from Timberplay - exploring the thinkers, designers and changemakers shaping the future of play.

Hosted by Beth Cooper, Independent Play Consultant.

Theme music by Dave Mullen Jnr

Connect with Timberplay:
Instagram

The Spaces That Shape Us

Season 1 · Episode 8

Thursday, July 9, 2026 • Duration 42:40

This week on Play Attention, Beth is joined by India-based landscape architect Parth Divekar, founder of Grade Landscape Architecture, whose work spans luxury residential developments, public landscapes and civic projects across the country.

Having grown up in India, studied at Cornell University and worked on landmark projects in the United States - including the Gathering Space Playground in Tulsa - Parth brings a unique perspective on how culture, childhood and urbanisation shape the way we design places for play.

Together, Beth and Parth explore what designers can learn from different cultures, why play should be viewed as a fundamental quality of landscape rather than a designated space, and how rapidly growing cities like Mumbai are forcing us to rethink childhood, community and public life.

This is a conversation about far more than playgrounds. It's about the environments that shape us, and the responsibility designers have in creating places where children, families and communities can thrive.

What else you'll hear:

Why Parth believes "play is the most fundamental thing of spaces."
Growing up in India and how childhood has changed in just one generation.
What studying and practising in the United States taught him about landscape architecture.
Why landscape architects should design entire landscapes - not just playgrounds - to encourage play.
The relationship between aesthetics, luxury residential development and meaningful play.
Why unresolved landscapes encourage imagination, exploration and critical thinking.
What landscape architects around the world can learn from India's rapidly changing cities.
Why "play is not sport" - and why one cannot replace the other.
The importance of designing for agency, risk and discovery.

Find out More:

GLA Studio

The Gathering Place, Tulsa

Play Attention – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

RSS feed quality and score

Publication history

Latest published episodes

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Play Attention – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

Other15

Instagram2

RSS feed quality and score

Publication history

Latest published episodes

Similar podcasts and content

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Other15

Instagram2

LinkedIn1

Apple Podcasts

Spotify