BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND! Order your limited edition 10th Anniversary play shirt through August 1! Proceeds support our action and research grants!
Just in time for your summer PLAY days! You can PLAY in style!! There are 5 color options in unisex short or long sleeve AND youth short sleeve styles.
Go Up the Slide
Rough & Tumble
Jump in the Puddles
Take Risks
Play Outside
Make Believe
Roll in the Dirt
Run Your Fastest
Slide, Swing, Leap
Adapt, Imagine
Play for All
PLAY FOR LIFE
Order online before the campaign ends at 11:59pm EST on August 1!!
The Global Recess Alliance (GRA) is a newly-formed international collective of health and educational leaders that has provided evidence to suggest a quality recess is an essential component of an educational approach that considers the whole child. Given this, the GRA is urging school administrators to consider recess a critical priority as schools begin to reopen.
Hear from a special panel presentation by some of the founding members of the new Global Recess Alliance.
“Schools Re-Opening? Why It Will Be More Important Than Ever to Create A Play-Full Recess.”
Recorded with a live Zoom audience on June 24, 2020.
As schools reopen, a supportive school recess can guide both students and teachers back from months of interrupted routines, boredom, loneliness, family stress, anxiety and often a lack of physically active and social play. With voices from the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Australia, the Global Recess Alliance panel (detailed below) will highlight practices and policies to ensure that recess provides a setting where inclusive, meaningful safe play occurs.
The Conference on the VALUE of Play
The Play Conference, as it is commonly known, is an annual educational conference presented by the US Play Coalition. The latest research and practices in the field of play are presented at the conference, which brings together play researchers, park and recreation professionals, educators, health scientists, architects, landscape architects, designers, planners, business and community leaders, psychologists, physicians and parents from across the U.S. and beyond. The three day event has been moved ONLINE for 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is our first-ever online Play Conference! Learn more at usplaycoalition.org/playconference2020
Join our first ever Virtual Poster Session “Happy Hour,” Recorded Live on Zoom
Thirteen distinct play projects were shared live, each presenter giving a 2-3 minute “elevator speech” about the poster. Posters are available as part of the 2020 Online Play Conference Content.
Check out our lineup:
Patty Stine – “Play is Fun: How Play Professionals, Educators, and Other Child Experts Define Play”
Sharon Peck – “Reading Play: Making Literacy Learning Playful”
Lydia Jagodzinski representing a group of students from Minnesota State University – Mankato – “Playful Practices at a New Early Learning Center: Focus Groups with Parents and Staff”
Alexia Metz – “The Influence of The Number of Toys in The Environment on Toddlers’ Play”
Tyler Prochnow – “Sport Participation Effects on Adolescent Play Networks at Summer Care Programs”
Ilfa Zhulamanova – “Future Early Childhood Teachers’ Perceptions of Play”
Stephen Lewis – #natureismyhigherpower: Intersections Between Nature-Based Mindfulness and Social Media
Ahren Hoffman for 2019 Action Grant Winner ASTRA – “Make Way for Play: Brilliant Benefits of Toys”
Sue Pietrusza – “Physical Education Apps”
Brian VanDongen – “The Connections Between Play and Leadership”
Delfina Newton – “Sustainability of Self”
Farrah Zweig – “Empowered Play: Using Character Strengths and Social/Emotional Support to Spark Joy in Your Students”
Kristen Kohm and Fran Blumberg – “Siblings’ Problem-Solving Comments During Co-Play of a Puzzle Video Game” (PDF only)
The Conference on the VALUE of Play
The Play Conference, as it is commonly known, is an annual educational conference presented by the US Play Coalition. The latest research and practices in the field of play are presented at the conference, which brings together play researchers, park and recreation professionals, educators, health scientists, architects, landscape architects, designers, planners, business and community leaders, psychologists, physicians and parents from across the U.S. and beyond. The three day event has been moved ONLINE for 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is our first-ever online Play Conference!
Join us on Tuesday, May 26 at 7:00pm EST as we welcome moderator Ariana Brazier from ATL Parent Like A Boss, Inc. to discuss the topic, “Race, Play and Restoration.”
New this year, #WePlayChat has a new look at feel. We are changing the flow of these professional learning opportunities to cover the what, how, and why during chat. We look forward to the enriching dialogue this will create each month.
About The Moderator
Ariana Brazier is a play-driven community-organizer and educator. She is an English, Critical & Cultural Studies, Doctoral Candidate at the University of Pittsburgh. Ari conducts community-based ethnographic research with Black students and families living in poverty in the southeast United States in order to document how Black child play functions as a grassroots praxis. She is the Founder and CEO of the 501(c)3 nonprofit, ATL Parent Like A Boss, Inc. (Parent LAB). Parent LAB’s mission is to enhance generational literacies through PLAY in underserved African American communities.
Here are the questions Ariana will be covering during #WePlayChat:
Q1. What is the relationship between race and play?
Q2. How does play reveal racial inequities in our own communities?
Q3. How does play celebrate racial differences in our communities?
Q4. Why should we engage play as a restorative project?
#WePlayChat is our monthly Twitter chat for anyone seeking to gain knowledge around the wide-open field of play. Launched in 2016, it is the longest-running monthly play-based chat in the world. Our #WePlayChat participants come from 9 countries, spanning 5 continents – all tuning in to connect around PLAY. This FREE professional learning opportunity is a great way to connect with fellow play enthusiasts, teachers, and experts from across the globe.
Join us and contribute to the global conversation around the value of play! When the time comes for our chat, jump on Twitter, and search for the hashtag #WePlayChat and follow along on the “Latest” tab. Feel free to like, reply, and retweet. Just be sure to include the hashtag #WePlayChat so your input is part of the feed!
Learn more about #WePlayChat online by clicking here.
The U.S. Play Coalition is proud to announce the 2020 recipient of its annual Joe L. Frost Award for Distinguished Research. This award is given annually in recognition of a body of exceptional research that has enhanced and expanded the study of play. The award honors its namesake, Joe L. Frost, the contemporary father of play advocacy. Frost was influential in the creation of the U.S. Play Coalition, serving as a steering committee member since the organization’s beginning in 2009 until his passing in early 2020.
2020 Joe L. Frost Award for Distinguished Research Winner Stuart Brown, MD Founder of the National Institute for Play
Trained in general and internal medicine, psychiatry and clinical research, Dr. Stuart Brown first recognized the importance of play by discovering its absence in the life stories of murders and felony drunken drivers. He is founder and president of the National Institute for Play. Dr. Brown’s book: Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul has been translated into twelve languages.
Upon learning he had won this year’s award named for his longtime colleague and friend, Dr. Brown said, “To be the recipient of an award named after my special friend Joe, and with the blessing of the Coalition is such an unexpected honor. Such affirmation warms my heart.”
Dr. Brown’s years of clinical practice and review of over 6000 personal play histories affirmed the importance and need for healthy play throughout the human life cycle.
His independent scholarship and exploration of the evolution and neuroscience of human and animal play have led to the establishment of the National Institute for Play. The mission of the National Institute for Play (NIFP) is to bring the unrealized knowledge, practices and benefits of play into public life.
Dr. Brown co-teaches “From Play to Innovation” at the Hasso Plattner School of Design at Stanford University, and is the “Key Strategist” for the Nevada Medical Center’s Global Play Science Institute. He continues to produce regular creative scholarly contributions and enjoys other international corporate and academic consulting on play and its many contributions through their engagement with it, as it enhances overall human well-being. As the information base about play grows, it is evident that play is a public health necessity. Our species, Brown says, “is built for play, and built by play.”
Founded in 2009, the U.S. Play Coalition is an international network of individuals and organizations that promote the value of play throughout life. The coalition is housed in Clemson University’s Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management department, part of the College of Behavioral, Social and Health Sciences. Our membership comes from a cross-section of industries and professions – play researchers, educators, park and recreation professionals, health scientists, architects, landscape architects, designers, planners, business and community leaders, psychologists, physicians, parents and more. Learn more at usplaycoalition.org
Michael J. Hynes, Ed.D., rounds out the headliner lineup for the 2020 ONLINE Conference on the Value of Play: PLAY FOR ALL. Hynes speaks on “Creating a School Vision of Play and Wellness: The Importance of a Balanced Approach to Education,” addressing how do schools can create a vision and mission that embody a balanced approach to education with play and wellness as its main driver.
Michael Hynes is an educator, scholar, and thought leader. As a superintendent of public schools on Long Island, New York, it is his mission to spread the importance of a holistic approach to educating children. Dr. Hynes is also an Associate Professor at Long Island University/Post and Stony Brook University, teaching courses in School Law, Curriculum and Instruction and School Leadership and has published numerous articles and podcasts on school leadership and his belief in public education. His article “Kids Need Play and Recess: Their Mental Health Depends on It” was #1 for 2018 in EDUCATION WEEK.
Special Note: Dr. Hynes will also be leading a virtual roundtable for school administrators registered for the 2020 Online Play Conference (details to come!).
This session is part of the 2020 ONLINE Conference on the Value of Play, launching on May 1 and featuring more than 50 recorded headliners, educational sessions and research symposium presentations. All “live” headliner presentations leading up to the official launch are open to registered online conference attendees. All live sessions are recorded and included in our online conference content (so don’t fret if you miss any!). There is still time to join some of the live sessions leading up to the online conference launch!
The Conference on the VALUE of Play
The Play Conference, as it is commonly known, is an annual educational conference presented by the US Play Coalition. The latest research and practices in the field of play are presented at the conference, which brings together play researchers, park and recreation professionals, educators, health scientists, architects, landscape architects, designers, planners, business and community leaders, psychologists, physicians and parents from across the U.S. and beyond. The three day event has been moved ONLINE for 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is our first-ever online Play Conference!
The US Play Coalition and IPA-USA invite you to join us for “The Relationship between Play and Relationships” with Rusty Keeler, Claude Stephens and Megan Dickerson.
Holding space for play in our communities is built upon developing relationships and then continuously working to improve them. That isn’t always straight forward work and it doesn’t always go as planned.
This session will explore how the concept of emergent strategies supports relationship development and what might spring from that. Plan on being part of the conversation.
Rusty Keeler
Rusty Keeler is a natural playscape designer and author who for nearly 30 years has traveled the world designing outdoor play environments and speaking about the benefits and beauty of saying “yes” to children’s play. Described as a blend of Mister Rogers and Jerry Garcia, Rusty is the author of multiple books on play and playscapes including the upcoming book Adventures in Risky Play: what is your yes? He is the co-founder of the social justice initiative the “Just Play Project” in Ithaca, NY which works to support all children’s right to play. With Rusty’s help the city of Ithaca declared itself America’s first “Free Range Kid” city to support children’s rights and initiate community conversation about children’s play, equity, and mobility.
Megan Dickerson
Megan Dickerson is an exhibition experience developer, playworker and community organizer. Her twenty-year museum career has included work at contemporary art museums, historic sites, and children’s museums. At Boston Children’s Museum for over a decade, Megan oversaw museum-community partnerships. Bringing pop-up museums to public housing, community centers, libraries and parking lots. In her current role as Director of Exhibitions at San Diego’s The New Children’s Museum, Megan collaborates with artists to develop emergent, site-specific artworks for a family audience.
Megan is one of the first Americans to earn a Masters in Play and Playwork, a practice that originated on adventure playgrounds in the United Kingdom and in Scandinavia. Her research work has recently been published in the book Practice-Based Research in Children’s Play, and a new project, Occuplay Museums, seeks to continue the work of her mentor, the late Stuart Lester, in exploring possibilities for playfulness in museum settings.
Claude Stephens
Claude Stephens is the Facilitator of Outreach and Regenerative Design at Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest in Clermont, Kentucky and the director of the Children at Play Network which is an ongoing project of Bernheim focused on working regionally to ensure equitable access to landscapes for play. The CAPN values play as part of healthy child development and as a means to reconnect children with nature in order to foster the next generation of environmental stewards. Claude has more than 34 years of experience working in museums and environmentally focused organizations. His academic background is in evolutionary ecology and biology which continues to frame his approach to how humans might build deeper and healthier relationships with the natural world.
This session is part of the 2020 ONLINE Conference on the Value of Play, launching on May 1 and featuring more than 50 recorded headliners, educational sessions and research symposium presentations. All “live” headliner presentations leading up to the official launch are open to registered online conference attendees. All live sessions are recorded and included in our online conference content (so don’t fret if you miss any!). There is still time to join some of the live sessions leading up to the online conference launch!
The Conference on the VALUE of Play
The Play Conference, as it is commonly known, is an annual educational conference presented by the US Play Coalition. The latest research and practices in the field of play are presented at the conference, which brings together play researchers, park and recreation professionals, educators, health scientists, architects, landscape architects, designers, planners, business and community leaders, psychologists, physicians and parents from across the U.S. and beyond. The three day event has been moved ONLINE for 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is our first-ever online Play Conference!
The full detailed schedule is coming soon…but until then, below is an alphabetical list of the Educational Sessions and Research Symposium Sessions that have been recorded for the 2020 ONLINE Conference on the Value of Play: PLAY FOR ALL.
Adapting Play for Adults with Intellectual Disabilities
Advocating for Risky Play
The All New Voice of Play Website: How to Maximize This Exciting New Resource
The American Association for Promoting the Child’s Right to Play – IPA USA Information Session
Applying a Task-Person-Environment Approach to Designing Play Studies
“As a parent, if I can…”: Parents’ Perception and Design of Children’s Out of School Time
Building an Outdoor Classroom Anywhere
Child play network influences on physical literacy in Mexican-heritage Colonias
Creativity and Outdoor Play – The recipe for all children
Designing Successful Play Partnerships: PlayBuild + Tulane University
Determining obesity rates in children with multiple play breaks in schools daily
Documenting Children’s Play: Including the Child’s Voice
Empowering LGBTQ+ Youth Through Meaningful Play and Recreation Opportunities
Encouraging Time Outdoors in Naturalized Learning Environments in S. Carolina Childcare Facilities
Examining the link between recess quality and classroom behavior in elementary school children
Free Aquatic Play in a Controlled World
Furnishing for Adult Play: Developing a social play space for a multidisciplinary research community
Green Schoolyards : Neighborhood Amenity to National Necessity
Guide to Implementing Play Streets in Rural Communities: A Tool to Increase Active Play
How Principles in Play Connect to Pedagogy in Gifted Education and Talent Development
The Influence of Preschool Educators’ Beliefs About Play-Based Learning on Instructional Delivery
Is Your Recess Toolbelt Equipped?
Joining In: Parent Perspectives on Specially Designed Inclusive Play
Keeping the Recess in Indoor Recess: Creating Playable Spaces Anywhere!
Leisure & Late Adulthood: Examining the Benefits of Participation during Retirement
Local Sources for Play Space Materials and Labour – Its the Design that Counts
Lost Opportunities: How Teaching Interferes with Learning
Messy, Muddy, and Marvelous: Forest Schools, Education and Play
Movement & Learning: What’s the Connection?
Movement in Middle School – Application of the Transtheoretical Model for Physical Activity
Pedaling to Safe Play: Factors Related to Youth Self-Efficacy for Injury Prevention Bicycle Skills
Play and Family
Play ranging with the Hidden Children: Notes from the field
Play, Dementia & Alzheimers: Life and Fun Following Diagnosis
Playing the Eduspeak Speak Game: Tips on Aligning Lessons with Play Principles
PlaySchool: How to Infuse Play into K12 Education
Raptors & Ruderals: What do we mean by ‘nature play’ in an urban environment?
Same Game, Different Play
Seniors and preschoolers design toys together: An intergenerational play project in Finland
Unstructured play in schools is linked to positive health benefits for teachers
#WePlayChat: How to Use Social Media to Drive the Value of Play in a Virtual World
Wilding nature play for children and families
Yes, And: The Power of Teaching With Improvisational Play
The Conference on the VALUE of Play
The Play Conference, as it is commonly known, is an annual educational conference presented by the US Play Coalition. The latest research and practices in the field of play are presented at the conference, which brings together play researchers, park and recreation professionals, educators, health scientists, architects, landscape architects, designers, planners, business and community leaders, psychologists, physicians and parents from across the U.S. and beyond. The three day event has been moved ONLINE for 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is our first-ever online Play Conference!
What is the state of Play? Explore the worldwide changes that are shaping the Future of Play and ‘Play Workshops’ that create a lens into the understanding of our playful minds.
“Magic of Play and Play Workshops” with Yesim Kunter, Monday, April 27, 10:30am EDT/7:30am PDT
(Registered 2020 Online Play Conference attendees will receive Zoom details by email.)
According to Yesim Kunter, “As designers, developers, and practitioners, anything we design has a fundamental power, power of creating versions of ourselves and societies. We are the magicians of play! And we should be mindful of using that power!”
So if we are the developers of the Magic of Play, what is the state of play?
In order to predict upcoming dynamics, behaviors, needs and desires of children and adults, designers, developers, practitioners have used the methodology of play.
There are many dynamics that are shaping the Future of Play – from trends that are shaping children’s intellectual, cognitive and physical development to parenting styles that are impacting their risk taking abilities and macro trends that are technologically, socially, politically and environmentally impacting all generations.
In this “Play Hour” session, Yesim Kunter provides secure settings and inspiring materials for the participant to feel comfortable enough to examine variety of possibilities through unknown perspectives and create new connections in order to form new meanings. The experience of these settings are like time capsules.
Yesim Kunter is a recognized play expert and a creative strategist understanding behavior of people to create new experiences and define new opportunities.
As a consultant; develops “playful” experiences for Fortune 500 Companies, Universities, Communities by applying ‘Play Philosophy’ to products, environments, communities, culture creation as well as market research with future scoping; She has facilitated numerous successful ‘PlaytoInnovate® Workshops’ in training organizations with diverse backgrounds from kids to professionals for leveraging Creative Thinking and held talks at prestigious conferences.
Previous to her consultancy she had worked for Toys R Us, Lego and Hasbro as a play futurist.
This session is part of the 2020 ONLINE Conference on the Value of Play, launching on May 1 and featuring more than 50 recorded educational and research symposium sessions. All “live” headliner presentations leading up to the official launch are open to registered online conference attendees. All live sessions are recorded and included in our online conference content (so don’t fret if you miss any!). There is still time to join some of the live sessions leading up to the online conference launch!
The Conference on the VALUE of Play
The Play Conference, as it is commonly known, is an annual educational conference presented by the US Play Coalition. The latest research and practices in the field of play are presented at the conference, which brings together play researchers, park and recreation professionals, educators, health scientists, architects, landscape architects, designers, planners, business and community leaders, psychologists, physicians and parents from across the U.S. and beyond. The three day event has been moved ONLINE for 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is our first-ever online Play Conference!
The 
Catherine Ramstetter, Ph.D.
William V. Massey, Ph.D.
Join our first ever Virtual Poster Session “Happy Hour,” Recorded Live on Zoom
Upon learning he had won this year’s award named for his longtime colleague and friend, Dr. Brown said, “To be the recipient of an award named after my special friend Joe, and with the blessing of the Coalition is such an unexpected honor. Such affirmation warms my heart.”
the unrealized knowledge, practices and benefits of play into public life.
Michael J. Hynes, Ed.D., rounds out the headliner lineup for the 
Rusty Keeler
Claude Stephens
Yesim Kunter is a recognized play expert and a creative strategist understanding behavior of people to create new experiences and define new opportunities.