We organized pop-up adventure play days at both indoor and outdoor community spaces like city parks, local farms, schools, and museums. We have corroborated with the city of Portland with their Free Lunch + Playdays and Sunday Parkways too. Our goal is not only to provide free play opportunities but also to build a healthy community around play.​

UPCOMING EVENTS

September 3 (Sat) 12-4 pm​

Join us for the Adventure Play pop-up event!
We will be a part of the annual Alder Commons Festival, where people can participate in a raffle with rad prizes, a live letterpress printing station, and other activities.
​This is a free event, but pre-registration is required. Space is limited. RSVP required.

Past Event Reports

Movie in the Park
​@ April Hill Park

We were invited to a Maplewood community event and did a pop-up as part of their "movie in the Park." We had quite a lot of families participating, and not only children but also adults concentrated on building different creations. Also, many games were created between parents and children, such as "How high can you stack loose parts?" and "Can you put a ball in a net or a muffin molds?"

It was a real joy to see the children hesitating to finish their play even after the sun had set. We were honored to be part of a warm and joyful community energy.
08.20.2022

Portland Park Free Lunch Program
​@ Kenton Park

We have partnered with Portland Parks and Recreation and organized an pop up Adventure Play at Kenton Park park  as part of their free lunch program. Lots of neighborhood families joined us and with their limitless imagination, they created their own kitchens, drum sets, scarecrows, beaver dams, a castle and more. The sight of the children, who had just met, creating something together made us forget the crazy heat around us.
08.16.2022

Paseo Festival

We joined Portland Park's Pseo Festival and changed our street into the play zone!
07.16.2021

Zenger Farm Event

We set up the family free play zone at Zenger Farm during their community event.
06.18.2022

Pumpkin Smash

Our annual Pumpkin Smash was so successful. 

A heavy downpour came out, but the children showed no sign of worrying about it. Instead, they were smashing pumpkins, beating pumpkins, dropping pumpkins from high places, and battling with pumpkins in their own ways. They used hammers, wooden sticks, their feet, their hands, alone, with friends, and with their parents to smash the pumpkins. 

After mashing the pumpkins, they "cooked" the large amount of seeds.
11.06.2021

Trash for Peace Pop Ups

We partnered up with another amazing local nonprofit organization, Trash for peace, and we organized several different pop ups for different communities. 

We are delighted to be able to collaborate with a local organization who has similar values on sustainability and community building, and together we can empower children and PLAY!

August Pop-up
​​at Alder Commons

We had our monthly pop-up free play day along with Alder Common community festival! We introduced lots of new loose parts, and it was such a delight to see how the children used them in their play. Loose parts provided unlimited possibilities for their imagination and creativity! Lots of new structures, vehicles, and rooms were created, and new games were invented. Different types of pretend plays happened even with the children who they just met! It was fun to see the same loose parts kept changing their meanings in each play.
08.28.2021

Summer Pop-up
​​at Alder Commons

Our summer Pop Up was filled with beautiful chaos - a mix of lots of loose parts and non-stop moving creative participants! From a 0 years old baby to the grown-ups who came along with their children, each participant found their favorite materials and enjoyed creating-destroying-recreating play zones. 
7.24.2021

School Field Day with
​The Cottonwood School

On the last day of their outdoor education day, we organized the pop-up adventure play at Sellwood Park for the K-2 grade students from Cottonwood School. From the obstacle courses to a pretend school bus, they gave the loose parts so many different meanings, using their imagination and creativity. Some students worked on their own, while others collaborated and corporated with their friends. All of them enjoyed playing in the way they wanted, being who they are.

We look forward to providing them more play opportunities during their recess from the next school year.
06.10.2021

Pumpkin Smash!
​at Alder Commons

On the perfect day to smash pumpkin in November 2020, we organized the social-distanced pumpkin smash event. Both kids and adults used several different tools to smash pumpkins and all negative energies in the world.

Some kids played with the loose parts while the others were smashing pumpkins. What a beautiful chaos they created!
​​11.7.2020
11.8.2020

Radical Free Play:
​Outdoor Movie Night
​at Alder Commons

We had lovely outdoor film + play nights at Alder Commons.

We screened The Land, an award-winning documentary about exploring the value of wild, risky, child-directed play at an adventure playground in Wales, and several short videos about adventure playgrounds around the world. Also, we have a short presentation by Portland Free Play cofounders, Leon and Katie.

​Of course, the pop-up Playground with lots of loose parts and trained playworkers were open for the kids while the adults are enjoying the films and presentations.
9.26.2020
​9.27.2020

PORTLAND PARKS & RECREATION
​Sunday Parkway
at NE Everett x Park Ave.

Again, we joined Portland Parks and Recreation Sunday Parkway. This time it was in the Peal district. As always, it was so impressive and joyful to see how many varieties of structures, objects, and stories behind them that the children created with the loose parts we provided. 
8.25.2019

PORTLAND PARKS & RECREATION
​Sunday Parkway
at McCoy Park

We brought tons of loose parts to McCoy Park to be part of the Sunday Parkway event organized by Portland Parks and Recreation.
Under the blue sky, with the beautiful live music, so many children (and adults) enjoyed making-destroying-remaking their own structures and playing with them.
​6.30.2019

PORTLAND PARKS & RECREATION
​Free Lunch & Play Program!

Starting in summer of 2017, we have been partnering with the Free Lunch & Play program of Portland Parks to bring Adventure Play opportunities to kids in the lunch program!  We bring the parts and facilitate a creative free play experience for the kids & families who attend.  So far we have visited 5 different parks serving communities of need around Portland.

ADVENTURE PLAY DAY at the Portland Design Museum!

As part of the Portland Design Museum's exhibit: Extraordinary Playscapes, we organized this pop-up adventure play day with lots of loose parts and creative chaos! We used the newly revived classic interlocking  Play Panels designed by Richard Dattner to add another dimension the the constructive play!

PUMKIN SMASH PLAY DAY 
at Zenger Farm!

This was a celebration of the joys of destructive play, transforming the left over pumpkin harvest into mush compost!  With the help of lots of kids and some rubber mallets!

BUILD IT!
PLAY DAY 
at Zenger Farm

Back again to Zenger Farm for a day of creative construction and fort building!  We also added Builder Boards to the suite of play materials this time.

MUD PLAY DAYS 
at Zenger Farm!

Back again with more muddy fun, this time hosted by the amazing Zenger Farm!  We organized two incredible Mud Play Days in August and September of 2016.

MUD DAYS
at Ivy School!

In celebration of International Mud Day we organized a mud play event at the Ivy School Children’s Garden. We brought in lots of clean topsoil and added water.  What else do you need?

PLAY DAY  
at Sacramento Street Community 
​Corner

As part of a VBC community building event in this NE Portland neighborhood, we gathered boxes as well as clay, sand, and sticks for local kids to create with!  And of course hilarity ensued.  A cardboard mega-fort was one of the highlights!

CHILDREN'S VILLAGE
​at the Portland Saturday Market!

This event was held on the grounds of the Portland Saturday Market at Waterfront Park, and organized in conjunction with the Village Building Convergence in May of 2015.  We brought the boxes and tape, and the children arrived!
​

FOREST PLAY DAYS
​at Beach Street Community Garden

The Beech Street Community Garden was the site of a couple of exciting days of play.  We explored the woods the amazing woods they have on site, climbed trees, played with water and mud and tested our limits!

Our very first Pop-up Adventure PLAY DAY!

This is what started it all!  This one day play event was held atTaborSpace in the spring of 2014.  We gathered junk materials like cardboard boxes, tubes and fabrics and invited kids to come out and play!  Over 100 people attended that first play day event, and fun was had by all!
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