For three years, KOOP Adventure Play has been bringing child-directed play opportunities to the Champaign-Urbana community. If you’ve watched your child bedazzle a cardboard box, build a car or pretend to be sledding during summer months at previous pop up adventure playground events, you know that there are no bounds to the imagination of children at play.
KOOP seeks to provide safe spaces full of interesting loose parts where children are free to follow their whims, realize their imaginations and access their creativity, all through play.
In April, KOOP announced that it would be offering a summer of pop up adventure play days with co-sponsors of the Urbana Arts Program and the Urbana Park District.
“We want to cultivate a community that values play and actively considers play provision within neighborhoods,” said KOOP Adventure Play executive director Kelsey Langley. “By hosting so many free pop up events and meeting children where they live, we are giving kids an opportunity to explore their interests, use their imagination and play through the creative process. Play is vitally important for children, yet play provision is so often overlooked. KOOP wants to be a part of rectifying that by bringing child-led play into communities.”
Check out KOOP Adventure Play for all these free events and learn more about their mission and programs.