Earlier this month, several members of our steering committee were featured at GreenUrbanScape Asia 2015 – the region’s leading event for urban design, landscape and greenery. Co-chair Fran Mainella was the keynote speaker for the parks and recreation track of the conference held in Singapore. Her keynote address was “The Value of Play – A Key to Success for Cities and Nations.” Additionally, Fran offered a breakout session called, “The Play Prescription – An International Health Solution.”

Steering committee member and Playground Maintenance Training (PMT) Instructor Ken Kutska led a full PMT program as well as a session entitled “Facilitating the Balance between the Need for Safety and Risk: Whose job is it?” Both Ken and Fran participated in a panel discussion moderated by our own Tom Kalousek.

Grant funding is a distinctive feature of our annual Play Conference, and we are proud to have awarded $35,000 in funding to date. Through competitive funding opportunities, we offer both Action and Research Grants to playmakers and researchers whose work has the potential to improve and expand the Play Movement.

Our 2015 Research Grant Recipients from Appalachian State University have used our funds to pilot a pediatrician prescription program for outdoor play targeting children.  Currently, we have 3 local pediatricians providing patients and their parents with “Outdoor Activity in Nature” prescriptions and info on local places for play and why play is important.

One of our 2015 Action Grant Recipients is Play at the Core from Right to Play.  This year, using our Action Grant Funds, Play at the Core has piloted two different parent engagement formats—with the aim of familiarizing, and fostering confidence in using play-based learning practices in the home. They work in under-resourced Community Based Organizations (CBOs) in some of the most disadvantaged neighborhoods in New York City located in the Bronx, Harlem, and Washington Heights.

Our other 2015 Action Grant Winners were from Missouri State University. Their project looked at providing appropriate play experiences for children with autism.  They worked with 28 children, grades K-12, with ASD from the Rivendale Institute of Learning and Center for Autism in Springfield, MO, and approximately 25 undergraduate Kinesiology majors at MSU.

After Black Friday and Cyber Monday is #GivingTuesday. It is a global day dedicated to giving back. On Tuesday, December 1, 2015, the US Play Coalition will be a part of #GivingTuesday, encouraging YOU to support PLAY by donating to our Action and Research Grants to create our first ever #GivingTuesday Grants for playmakers and researchers whose work has the potential to improve and expand the Play Movement. We are calling it Giving TuesPLAY! (Get it?!) Big or small, your gift MATTERS!!

Our 2015 Research Grant Recipients from Appalachian State University have used our funds to pilot a pediatrician prescription program for outdoor play targeting children.  Currently, we have 3 local pediatricians providing patients and their parents with “Outdoor Activity in Nature” prescriptions and info on local places for play and why play is important.

One of our 2015 Action Grant Recipients is Play at the Core from Right to Play.  This year, using our Action Grant Funds, Play at the Core has piloted two different parent engagement formats—with the aim of familiarizing, and fostering confidence in using play-based learning practices in the home. They work in under-resourced Community Based Organizations (CBOs) in some of the most disadvantaged neighborhoods in New York City located in the Bronx, Harlem, and Washington Heights.

Our other 2015 Action Grant Winners were from Missouri State University. Their project looked at providing appropriate play experiences for children with autism.  They worked with 28 children, grades K-12, with ASD from the Rivendale Institute of Learning and Center for Autism in Springfield, MO, and approximately 25 undergraduate Kinesiology majors at MSU.

YOU CAN HELP US GIVE MORE PLAY IN 2016 WITH YOUR GIVING TUESPLAY GIFT!  JOIN THE GLOBAL MOVEMENT AND DONATE ON TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1!!!  YOUR GIFT MATTERS!!

Saturday, September 26 is Nickelodeon’s 12th Annual Worldwide Day of Play! The US Play Coalition is a partner for this FUN-omenal day! We are teaming up locally with the City of Clemson to have a Clemson Community Play Day from 12-3pm at Ashley Dearing Park in Clemson, SC. What are you doing in your community for the Worldwide Day of Play?!

We are pleased to announce the launch of our brand new website usplaycoalition.org

Our goal with this new website is to provide our visitors an easier way to learn about what the US Play Coalition does, why we do what we do, and how to get involved. The new website is interactive and gives better access to our content. It also features integrated social media buttons for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and LinkedIn to foster improved communication with our members. We will be constantly updating our content with helpful information, articles, blogs, newsletters, announcements and member successes.

We hope you find the new website has a fresh look, is easy to use and is informative. For any questions, suggestions, feedback or comments, please e-mail us.

Our first ever PLAYtalk presenter will be renowned psychologist Dr. Peter Gray. PLAYtalks are our Play Conference version of TED Talks.  They will be a series of 15-20 minute dynamic, entertaining, enlightening, engaging, inspiring, informative talks by thought leaders in the play world.

Dr. Gray is a research professor of psychology at Boston College, has conducted and published research in neuroendocrinology, developmental psychology, anthropology, and education.  He is author of an internationally acclaimed introductory psychology textbook (Psychology, Worth Publishers, now in its 7^thedition), which views all of psychology from an evolutionary perspective.

Gray’s recent research focuses on the roles of play in human evolution and how children educate themselves, through play and exploration, when they are free to do so. He has expanded on these ideas in his recent book, Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life (Basic Books, 2013). He also authors a popular blog called Freedom to Learn, for Psychology Today magazine.

We are thrilled that Dr. Gray will be with us for The Play Conference 2016! Learn more about the conference by clicking here.

Early bird registration is now open!

The US Play Coalition was highlighted along with LiveWell Greenville at the Greenville Drive game on Sunday, September 6.  Students from Clemson University’s Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management (PRTM) program lent a hand by staffing pre-game kids activities…and150 PRTM EDGE students were supporting us in the stands…not to mention all these PLAYful friends that joined in the fun! Check out the highlights from a GREAT day at the ballpark that ended with a WIN for the Greenville Drive!

The U.S. Play Coalition is proud to announce that Rue Mapp, founder of Outdoor Afro, will be a keynote speaker for The Play Conference 2016: Rebooting Play, April 3-6, at Clemson University.

Outdoor Afro is a community that reconnects African-Americans with natural spaces and one another through recreational activities such as camping,hiking, biking, birding, fishing, gardening, skiing – and PLAY!  Learn how this cutting edge concept grew from Rue’s modest blog in 2009 to a national network that has captured the attention and imagination of millions through a multi-media approach, grounded in personal connections and community organizing.  Rue will share the Outdoor Afro model for creating opportunities to build community and leadership by PLAYing together in nature.

In 2010, Rue Mapp was invited to the White House to participate in the America’s Great Outdoors Conference, and subsequently to take part in a think-tank to inform the launch of the First Lady’s “Let’s Move” initiative. She was appointed program officer for the Stewardship Council’s Foundation for Youth Investment to oversee its grant-making program from 2010-2012.

Since that time, Mapp’s work has been featured in publications including The Wall Street Journal, Backpacker Magazine, Ebony Magazine, Sunset Magazine, NPR, and many others.

Rue’s ongoing work has been recognized with numerous Awards and Distinctions: The Root 100 as one of the most influential African Americans in the country, Outdoor Industry Inspiration Award, 2014 National Wildlife Federation Communication award (received alongside President Bill Clinton) and in May 2015, Family Circle Magazine selected Rue as one of America’s 20 Most Influential Moms.

Rue is proud to serve on the Board of Rails to Trails Conservancy, American Camp Association, and the Outdoor Industry Association. Most recently, Rue was appointed to the California State Parks Commission by Governor Jerry Brown.

A graduate of UC Berkeley (with a Degree in Art History), Rue’s skills and background make her a unique voice via the programs she has instituted through OA and enlightened a diverse community to the wonders and benefits of the outdoors. Rue resides in Oakland CA, and is the proud mother of three active teenage children.

We are thrilled that Rue will be with us for The Play Conference 2016! Learn more about the conference by clicking here.

Early bird registration is now open!

The US Play Coalition is thrilled to announce that Lenore Skenazy will be the first keynote speaker for The Play Conference 2016: Rebooting Play, April 3-6, at Clemson University.  She is founder of the book, blog and movement, “Free-Range Kids”, which launched the anti-helicopter parenting crusade.  Her keynote presentation, “Free Range Kids: Raising Safe, Self-Reliant, PLAYFUL Children without Going Nuts with Worry,” will examine our culture’s obsession with risk, and how to flip it to an obsession with play.

A public speaker, Lenore Skenazy has lectured everywhere from Microsoft headquarters to the Sydney Opera House. She’s also a frequent guest on talk shows and has written for everyone from The Daily News (where she was a reporter for 14 years) to Mad Magazine. Yep. THE Mad Magazine (She’s funny!).  Skenazy has been profiled in The New York Times and The New Yorker, and was recently featured on The Daily Show with John Stewart.

The goal of Free-Range Kids is “fighting the belief that our children are in constant danger from creeps, kidnapping, germs, grades, flashers, frustration, failure, baby snatchers, bugs, bullies, men, sleepovers and/or the perils of a non-organic grape.”

A graduate of Yale and Columbia, Lenore Skenazy lives in New York City with her husband and teen sons who are half-Free-Range and half social media addicts. Then again, so is she.

Learn more about The Play Conference 2016 by clicking here.

Early bird registration is now open!

The VERY FIRST to register for The Play Conference 2016 is Sarah Cosco from British Columbia (seen front and center in the boxes pictured right). The three time Play Conference alum says this about why she keeps coming back: “What I love most about the conferences: the people and the energy! There is so much passion about play and it comes from within people from all different backgrounds. The interdisciplinary lens captures the magnitude of play’s influence across the lifespan, and across the globe, and having the opportunity to connect with experts in play from all of these different backgrounds brings our collective learning to a whole new level. But we don’t just talk the talk at the conference, we walk it too! I have so much fun playing with so many people, and each time I go I meet new friends and get to reconnect with familiar faces. It honestly feels like coming home. I can’t wait for next year’s conference, I’m so excited to see what everyone has been up to and what playful shenanigans we can get into while we’re there!”

Join Sarah and hundreds of other play advocates at The Play Conference 2016: Rebooting Play.  Early bird registration is now open!