Key takeaways:

- Greg’s Background and Advocacy: Greg, a former assistant head and early years specialist, is a global speaker and bestselling author of books like *Can I Go and Play Now?* and *School and The Magic of Children*, passionately advocating for creative, imaginative play in childhood, aligning with Tales Toolkit’s mission.

- Play Projects and Initiatives: He created Play Projects, Adventure Island, Message Center, Drawing Club, and Playschool TV (launched during COVID), all aimed at fostering creativity and play in early years education.

- Co-Play Philosophy: Greg emphasizes “co-play,” where adults and children engage together in play, exchanging gifts—children’s creativity, curiosity, and collaboration for adults’ academic skills, presented joyfully as a “gift” rather than formal instruction.

- Story Dreaming: A brief, 30-second activity in “Carpet Kingdom” where children lie down and imagine vivid scenarios (e.g., a pink elephant on a tiny bicycle), sprinkled with rich vocabulary to spark imagination without assessment.

- Nonsense and Musicality: Greg uses playful nonsense (e.g., “Grand Old Duke of Cheese”) and musical phrases (e.g., “ding dang day”) in co-play to engage children in language, encouraging them to invent and play with words.

- Memory Messaging and The Shush: In memory messaging, children are given a word (e.g., “enormous”) to recall later, playfully building memory and vocabulary. The Shush, a make-believe character under the rug, “takes” children’s whiteboard drawings, fostering quiet focus and collective storytelling.

- Engaging Adults in Play: Greg suggests adults recall childhood moments where “time disappeared” to reconnect with play, encourages parents to prioritize childhood over academics, and proposes “play permits” for teachers to model playful behaviors, enhancing a playful environment.

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