Studio Visit with Growing Places

Walking into Hayley Peacock’s Playoneering Studio feels a little like stepping into a living, breathing imagination. Light, materials, tools, and possibility all hum together in a way that makes you slow down, breathe differently, and remember something important… something we often forget as adults, that play is not just for children.

Play is how humans of all ages make sense of the world.

This truth sat at the heart of our visit, shared with our friends at Growing Places, who joined us for a day of exploration, curiosity, and connection.

The Playoneering studio, part atelier, part research space, part “Museum of Possibilities” is intentionally designed to provoke wonder. Inspired by Reggio Emilia and Remida principles, it invites you to touch, test, combine, dismantle, and reimagine materials in ways that feel both deeply intuitive and surprisingly profound.

Visiting with Growing Places made the day even richer. It always feels like a meeting of organisations who understand that creativity is not an “extra” it’s a foundation for learning and wellbeing.

One of the most powerful aspects of the space is how it reframes play as a universal human experience, not a developmental stage we grow out of.

We know that playing can:

  • Reduce stress and support emotional regulation
  • Build confidence, agency and problem solving
  • Strengthen relationships through shared and bonding experiences 
  • Help adults reconnect to parts of themselves left neglected such as creativity or self expression  
  • Give you a mental and physical break from stress that leaves space for meaning, imagination and healing

At Creatful, we see this every day in our creative wellbeing programmes. When women are given materials, time, and permission to explore without pressure, something shifts. They soften. They open. They reconnect with their own creativity and with each other.

Hayley’s studio reminded us that this isn’t accidental. It’s pedagogy. It’s design. It’s intentional. Hayley’s approach emphasises the facilitator not as an instructor, but as a co-enquirer; to take position as someone who listens, observes, and responds. Someone who plays alongside their makers.

All too often I have makers ask me ‘What are we making today?’. Facilitators are under immense pressure to provide direct instruction which leads to a ‘complete’ creation for makers to take home. Yet, the workshops where I see the most growth and connection are not driven by the final creation. I see the biggest results when we get lost in the process, when we forget what we are making because we are so busy exploring our materials and catching up. When I provide materials without instruction and ask our makers to explore, play, discover and invent, especially for those makers who feel they are ‘not creative’… I see their confidence in their own capability to problem solve, create and navigate the world immediately change.

What I’m Taking Forward

The visit left me inspired, grounded, and full of ideas for how Creatful and Growing Places can continue nurturing playful enquiry. Its nudged me more to resist the pull of our makers to focus on a final product. I feel renewed in my commitment to adult play as a wellbeing practice and tool for growth