A Playmaker is someone who TAKES ACTION for Play.
What is a Playmaker?
Someone who TAKES ACTION for Play.
This means they: speak, build, encourage, share, organize, repair, advocate, represent, activate, mobilize and PLAY!
How can you start? Head on over to our resources page, which has all kinds of actions you can do to get started at getting the word out in your community, then take a look at our blog archive to join the conversation on hot topic issues on play, theory, best practices, and success stories!
Each month we highlight one Playmaker as Playmaker of the Month. Read our past Playmaker of the Month interviews.
Last month I presented a workshop I called "Play Today:Play Tomorrow" ...it went great! Photos/videos at championofplay.com and facebook "champion of play."
Met some of the KaBoom staff at Clemson and gave away "uplifting toys"...
I'm a full-time playmaker/playster/frisbee champ/juggler/dancer...
Hi Fellow Playmakers and Play Advocates,
I am excited to report that next week my community will be hosting a "Last Days of Summer Park-A-Day Challenge," which is a collaborative effort amongst five local park districts and an early childhood advocacy organization. Each day throughout the week families will be encouraged to visit seven featured parks (one per day).
KaBOOM!'s Park-A-Day Summer Challenge was a large source of inspiration for this new program. To read more about this local initiative in the northern suburbs of Chicago, please see the following link:
Free Play For All With Park-A-Day Challenge!
Warmest regards,
Liza Sullivan
Dear Fellow Playmakers and Play Advocates,
The Global Play Memories Project (GPMP) needs your help in collecting meaningful play memories from around the world.
Please consider taking just a few minutes to tell us about your play memories!
All participants in the GPMP will be asked the same five questions listed below.
• Can you tell us about a favorite memory of childhood play?
• Were there things that prevented you from playing as a child?
• Is there anything about your childhood play that is still a part of your life?
• Do you think that children’s play has changed since you were a child?
• How does it feel to think back about your childhood memories of play?
The primary goal of the GPMP is to collect adults’ and children’s play memories from around the world. By interviewing individuals about their experiences and thoughts regarding play, the aim is to document a diverse collection of stories in order to understand and advocate for children’s play.
Please visit the GPMP website and take the survey now!
http://globalplaymemories.org/
Thank you in advance for your support and time,
Liza Sullivan
Done! Thanks Liza for passing this along.
I just filled this out, too. It's fascinating to start thinking about the ways you played as a child. Once you start thinking about how you played, you remember more and more of the activities that you loved -- and more and more you begin to reflect on how they have shaped you as a person, not to mention how they might differ from children growing up now.
I can't wait to hear the results of the Global Play Memories Project. It's going to be truly illuminating.
Thank you both for taking the time to complete the survey and letting us know your thoughts on the project. We truly appreciate your support, time, and reflections. Much appreciation, Liza
The Final Issue of Play Times
We're sad to announce that last week's April issue was the final edition of Play Times. The Playmaker Network, however, isn't going away, and KaBOOM! will continue to feature many of the same stories that Play Times focused on: highlighting fellow play advocates, showcasing new Playmakers of the Month, and sharing news focused on play from communities across the country.
If you want to continue to get that type of news in your inbox, sign up for the KaBOOM! Newsletter by clicking the purple "Get Newsletter" box at the top of this page. Remember to post your own stories about play and saving play right here in the Playmaker Group.
In case you missed it, you can read the final issue of Play Times online.
"The proof is in the pudding." This is not one of the cloquiums I have used frequently in my life, but if the shoe fits, wear it. Recently in the Huffington Post Darrell Hammond, Chief Executive Officer of Kaboom, a play advocacy group, wrote a piece describing what he believes to be an increase in bullying.
We have all heard the stories recently of teens, verbally tortured by their peers. Isolated, condemned, mocked to the point of suicide. He may be right. Bullying may be on the rise. And if you come closer, I'll tell you why.
Sit right down while I tell you the tale of a country that decided that tests were more important than play. It happened in a place not to far from here. Actually it happened right here and is happening right now right where you are sitting too.
I have this theory, something I hatched while scrabbling some eggs for three starving children, that children are getting more aggressive and showing less empathy because they have less time to play, less time to enjoy themselves. In his article Mr. Hammonds mentions that there is a studied correlation between children who have lacked play in their lives and inappropriate, violent social behaviors later in life, like murder. Now murder is an extreme action, granted, but I have a fun idea. Let's play a little guessing game. What is a five letter word that starts with "b" and rhymes with mully and is usually a perpetrators favorite kind of foreplay just before he or she throws the fist punch. Yep. You got it bully. So while every child that doesn't experience a good romp in the yard may not turn into a murderer, I think you have just drastically increased the chances of creating a bully by cutting play out of a child's life.
See play doesn't just give kids a chance to blow off some physical energy, it allows them to blow off emotional energy. For example, if a kid gets a bad test score and then has recess, can play some hoops with the boys and feel good about himself, the chances of him taking out his frustration about the test on someone else just decreased. On the other hand, imagine the same kid made to sit in class, boiling over with frustration and feeling bad about himself. Lunch time rolls around and the pretty new girl with the weird accent is standing in front of him. He cuts in front of her, mocks her newly acquired English and once again feels on top of the world.
So, you want evidence that we are going to have a bunch of sociopaths running our country in another twenty or thirty years, then look no further than the increased statistics on bullying. I think we'll find that the answer to what kind of people we are molding lies right there between the test, the tears and the tater tots.
The American Planning Association has released their Great Public Spaces of 2010. All of these places seem incredibly cool, and they've really thought through issues of community and gathering space.
Also, I love the criteria:
"The methodology... includes such qualities as how well the space accommodates pedestrians, bikes and transit; the sense of comfort and safety it provides; how the space utilizes the existing topography; and even a 'Is there variety, a sense of whimsy, or an atmosphere of discovery or pleasant surprise?'"
The full list is here, and I've included some snippets below on the great qualities of each of these spaces.
Charles W. Ireland Scupture Garden | Birmingham, Al.
The Charles W. Ireland Sculpture Garden breaks all preconceptions about a sculpture garden experience. Here is a place to have fun and interact with the environment and artwork, a place that is welcoming to all — even the visually impaired, who can "see" the sculptures through their sense of touch.
As a national leader in tours for visually disabled and blind visitors, it's clear that the garden's primary focus is accessibility and enjoyment for all. As Birmingham photographer Virginia Jones explains: "It is a wonderful place to introduce children to the world of art. They can run around, be noisy, and look at the eclectic mix of sculpture up close and personal."
The Emerald Necklace | Boston, Ma.
The first priority in selecting a site for the new public spaces, according to an 1875 report by the Boston Parks Commission, was "accessibility for all classes of citizens by walking, driving, riding, or by means of horse or steam cars."
Instead of one central park to be reached through one neighborhood, Frederick Law Olmsted envisioned a series of interconnected parks that capitalized on Boston's unique topography and waterways. He also stressed that the largest space — Franklin Park — should remain open because "openness is the one thing you cannot get in buildings."
Bryant Park | New York City, N.Y.
Besides the new design, contributing to the park's success is the continual assessment of how people are using the park. The Bryant Park Corporation notes that "virtually every decision is predicated on whether it will attract visitors or increase linger time." For example, Whyte's philosophy that movable furniture gives people a sense of empowerment led the park to provide 4,000 chairs and 1,000 tables that visitors can position where they want.
Interestingly, I can't find if any of these places have play structures or playspaces -- though they seem ideal for something like Imagination Playground. Should play be an element of any list of "greatest public spaces?"
photo (cc) Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the BPL
I'm posting this because I'm terribly curious as to what the KaBOOM! community thinks about this. There's been quite a bit of research recently on using video games to get kids active and playing, and it's rather interesting. I'll admit to being very pro-video games, and I'm kind of excited about where this could lead, though I can also see the downsides.
More info from a USATODAY article: Researchers offered children and adults the opportunity to play active games, and they’re looking to expand it to PE classes as well as if doing an active video game before tests improves performance.
Barbara Chamberlin, director of Learning Games Lab said:
"The power of exergames is they are fun and interesting and immerse the player in the activity so kids don't even realize they are exercising."
Furthermore, Wired has an article about video games needing an exercise rating, since quite a few of them now are moving towards motion-capture technology, like the Wii and Microsoft’s Kinect:
"...if the videogame industry puts its immense resources into developing fun games that give players a cardiovascular workout instead of simply churning out the type of couch-bound, pixel-hunting games companies have often been forced to defend, there is a real chance of striking a blow against childhood obesity, which has become a major public health crisis in the United States."
Tony Hawk, a pro skateboarder (and star of eponymous video game series) who also serves on California's Governor's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports says:
"It is important to get kids into the habit of being active so they continue that tradition into their adult life. We need more healthy activities for kids, and video games are a great catalyst."
What are your thoughts? Are video games helping? Hurting?
photo (cc) by popculturegeek.com
Any questions? Drop us a line: playmaker@kaboom.org
There's a neat new spin-off of geo-caching called "questing" that's taking off in Ohio. If you're not familiar with the concept, it's following a set of clues or GPS coordinates until you reach usually a hidden cache that you wouldn't know was there if you didn't have the clues. Most caches have books that you can sign, stamps that you can use to prove you found it, or other small items.
Most of the time, however, geo-caching has been the realm of individuals, and organizations like geocaching.com, but this questing initiative is a partnership between National Parks personnel, teachers, and volunteers, and they've already created 22 quests.
I love that it's a collaborative work between parks and the community - and it's a great way to get a Play Committee involved, or to take that step towards working with your local government.
More thoughts from the article:
''It adds a different dimension to the park experience,'' Moon said. ''It's a fun way to learn history while hiking. . . . It's not just educational but it's fun with clues written in poetry. It gives you more to do. . . . It's a thinking activity for adults and children.''
and
'It's a way to see new things and learn about things you would normally just walk past on the trails,'' she said. ''I hope it draws more people to the parks.''
So have you done anything like this in your parks? Are you looking for a good way to start up your relationship with your Parks & Rec department? Give questing a try -- maybe lead a path to a hidden playspace?
photo (cc) LollyKnit
Want to keep updated about play advocacy? Subscribe to Play Times! It's a monthly e-newsletter about taking action on behalf of play! We’ll share tips, tricks, and examples of exceptional advocacy from our Playmaker Network. Any questions? Drop us a line: playmaker@kaboom.org
Alex Gilliam of the Public Workshop posted a great piece on a playground / park in Berlin that's a miniaturized bike trail. It has all the different aspects that bike trails in Berlin have, only on a smaller scale, so kids can learn to ride. Awesome! (and well worth a look at the pictures!)
He starts out the article, however, by pointing out one of his major issues with playgrounds, which was something I'd never thought about -- and something I haven't decided whether or not I agree with:
...as you may know, I have mixed feelings about playgrounds that are created because we have not designed our streets or public spaces to be inclusive of different age groups and uses.
I can see his point on one level - it is frustrating sometimes to see spaces relegated to certain ages and types of activities. Any reader of this blog knows how much a fan I am of community gathering spaces I am, and it's something that hasn't quite caught on - that idea of the space being for everyone - but at the same time, I'd much rather build playgrounds and have them be that space than do without that space at all.
Of course, he's not arguing that, but it's still interesting to think about.
What about you? How is your neighborhood / town / city organized? Would you prefer a different way? Does it encourage community?
We've all been hearing quite a bit of chatter about the new film, Waiting for Superman, which analyzes the failures of the public school system here in the States. While that's something that we need to dive deeper into, in the meantime, I wanted to share some thoughts from Playmaker of the Month, June 2008, Myrdin Thompson's blog, that are in reference to reactions to the film, but can really be applied on a much larger scale.
In fact, a lot of discussion seems to be taking place...but no action. It seems like everyone is waiting for a superman, or superwoman, to save the day. Yet few are willing to BE that superperson to champion a cause. Or, people tend to criticize those in the trenches because they aren't doing enough, or didn't do this, or that, in this or that way. So we fall into a habit or pattern of thinking that "someone else will do it." Well, that someone has to be...you, and me, and our next door neighboor, and our children's teachers, our school administrators, our community.
Wow.
So... are you waiting for someone else to take action, or are you stepping up?
Kerala posted today about the fact that the Adventure Playground in Irvine, Ca. is in danger of being demolished - according to the Orange Country Register, the playground closed for renovations two summers ago, and had been subsequently scheduled to be demolished.
I really wanted to highlight how those that work and play at the Adventure Playground are taking a stand. It’s a great example of advocacy and working with your local government.
Look at the process this took, as chronicled on their blog:
- It was discovered by the Defenders of Adventure Playground that certain figures of authority in the City of Irvine had contracted to have Adventure Playground COMPLETELY demolished.
- These allegations were later confirmed to be true through dialogue with senior community service employees.
- Initial efforts to contact the persons involved in ordering the demolition proved unsuccessful.
- Unable to make any significant contacts in the city, the Defenders of Adventure Playground made public comment at the September 14 Irvine City Council meeting. We learned at this meeting that City Manager Sean Joyce is the primary decision maker regarding AP, that he considers the structures in AP to be dilapidated and therefore requiring demolition. He did ensure that the space would remain community land, but was unclear as to what would become of it after demolition.
- The city manager’s office contacted members of Defend Adventure Playground & scheduled a meeting to discuss AP’s future. This meeting will take place on Tuesday September 21st @ 3:00 pm in City Hall.
- Brian Fisk, the head authority of Irvine’s community services department, has assured to us AP will not be demolished prior to the Tuesday meeting.
- Reliable sources involved in current AP landscaping have assured that the trees and hillsides will remain intact.
This is a fantastic example of how to take action with your local government: first checking to see if the information they’d heard was correct, then following through with departments, escalating as necessary, and always making it clear what results you’re looking for and what solutions you’re offering.
Then, they use the blog to promote what a great space the Adventure Playground is, post videos of speeches they gave to the City Council, and share updates with followers on any new information they hear and upcoming events (they held a rally on the 19th).
How awesome is this sign asking for comments?
While their campaign hasn't drawn to a close by any means, they've made great headway:
When confronted about the fact that a bulldozer is currently sitting in Adventure Playground at this moment, Mr. Fisk remarked that the city’s initial intent was to demolish the entire site; but given the amount of community involvement in defending the site, there will be no demolition under further community dialogue takes place!
So take a look on their blog, share any experiences that you've had with working with your government, and lend them all the support you can!
Want to keep updated about play advocacy? Subscribe to Play Times! It's a monthly e-newsletter about taking action on behalf of play! We’ll share tips, tricks, and examples of exceptional advocacy from our Playmaker Network. Any questions? Drop us a line: playmaker@kaboom.org
I am a KaBOOM Playmaker who started blogging about playgrounds two and a half years ago. I have almost 160 playgrounds under my belt culminating from lots of outdoor fun and amazing readers who provide recommendations. I'm working to get ALL my playground post locations up on the KaBOOM Playspace Finder. You might be a playground blogger, too? Any of these symptoms sound familiar?
1. You have a strong sense of community.
2. You value outdoor spaces enough to fight for them.
3. You're a whiz at taking photos of a completely packed playground, without any kids visible in the frame.
4. You ride slides and swing on swings at least once a week.
5. You understand the importance of restrooms.
6. Your paycheck consists of pennies and smiles.
7. You are good at making up names for equipment, like the "swirly-spirally slide" or the "spinning gizmo that looks like a squiggly bowl, but doesn't have handles and doesn't stop when you want it to stop."
8. You make a considerable annual investment in sunscreen and wear wide-brim hats that make you look a little lame (but at least you don't walk around with a sunburn).
9. You can correlate your website traffic stats to weather patterns.
10. You like to write.
11. You talk to everyone at parks to get advice on other parks - and don't care if they look at you like a crazy person.
12. You'd rather spend time at a national park than an amusement park.
13. You are intimately acquainted with the KaBOOM Playspace Finder.
14. You have kids who like to play OFF the playground more than ON.
15. You crave new and different playground experiences -- except when you need a break (then you hang out at the neighborhood playground and leave the camera at home).
16. You are starting to recognize playground equipment by manufacturer.
17. You secretly wish every community had a dedicated playground blogger.
If you need any inspiration you can check out FunOrangeCountyParks.com.
Great post and advice from a Playmaker who's really making a difference - both online and on-the-ground in SoCal
Wow, you are committed, very cool example that you are.
A great blog over at the Public Workshop (with fabulous photos! go look!) made me think more about how we involve young people in advocacy projects. The Public Workshop runs a seven-day architecture workshop called the Taliesin Apprenticeship Program with the Chicago Architecture Foundation, and the real focus is as follows:
…a laboratory for testing the boundaries of how we can more directly engage young adults in making the places they live, work, learn and play. As always, we focus on upending the typical design process, rapidly accelerating how we work, design and learn by ‘doing’ rather than planning, drawing or making models.
How amazing is that?
It reminds me of the National Building Museum's CityVision as well, which
uses design as a framework to teach District of Columbia public school students how to become active participants in shaping their communities. Through extensive fieldwork and careful mentoring at the National Building Museum, students identify needs and propose solutions designed to help local neighborhoods.
I love how both of these programs are dedicated to involving high schoolers (in their cases) in design and planning processes. It also makes me wonder how much we involve young people like this in our own advocacy efforts. I'm guilty of this as well - so how can we reach out to those people that want to be engaged and involved with play advocacy?
Tell us what you think! Have you worked with young people who wanted to take action for play? Let us know!
"Our curriculum has narrowed . . . If you look at the average day for an elementary school kid, it’s reading, reading, reading, reading, reading, reading, math, math, math, reading, reading, reading, reading, math. I mean, kids are bored to tears. They’re hating school at an early age. There’s no joy. There’s no passion. And the results show that."
A fascinating quote from Karen Lewis of the New Jersey Teachers Union. This is just another piece of evidence that speaks to the change in focus towards testing and away from play that we're seeing in schools. We’ve been hearing more and more about play being sacrificed for recess, so I’ve decided to compile some resources on the elimination of recess.
Taking action for recess:
The importance of recess:
Has this happened at your school?
Has the policy changed at all - for good or ill?
What if we’re faced with the argument that there’s no time for play, that there’s no staff? How do we combat that?
GOOD has some coverage on a new playful business in San Francisco - The House of Air is a company that is basically creating one big indoor bounce house. Way cool. Even cooler, though, is that it's in a converted building.
A common refrain among preservationists is that a repurposed building should reflect that structure’s original use. A newly conceived space in San Francisco’s Presidio—the city’s historic former military base, now managed by a trust—is taking that sentiment quite literally. Housed in a former biplane hangar along Crissy Field, the old bayside landing strip, “House of Air” runs with the altitude theme of the former inhabitants—only the air it’s talking about comes from trampolines.
What I love about this are two things. First, it's aggressively playful, and it's catering to not only kids - they want to have people host business meetings there! Secondly, it's reusing space for play. It makes you think of what spaces are lying unused and might be the perfect spot we've been looking for to convert into a more playful space.
More to the point, too, is when was the last time we were aggressively playful? I don't mean pushing it in people's faces, but being unabashedly open about loving play?
Here's another look -- yes, that is a 40+ trampolines combined in that one room...
Want to keep updated about play advocacy? Subscribe to Play Times! It's a monthly e-newsletter about taking action on behalf of play! We’ll share tips, tricks, and examples of exceptional advocacy from our Playmaker Network. Any questions? Drop us a line: playmaker@kaboom.org
I really wanted to highlight this fabulous video about the benefits of play, particularly as kindergarten becomes more and more focused on academic achievement, at the expense of the myriad academic, social, physical and cognitive benefits of play.
One thing that KaBOOM! comes back to quite a bit is this push towards testing that’s happened in recent years in kindergartens. The Alliance for Childhood has joined us in online trainings and published research [read “Crisis in the Kindergarten” here] that comes out against it, but for some reason, testing still reigns supreme.
If you're interested in more research, we have some on early childhood education or feel free to explore kaboom.org/research.
So take a look at this video - The Role of Play in the Overly-Academic Classroom - and learn exactly how this is impacting the nation’s youth and changing early childhood classrooms. The video is narrated by Marcy Guddemi, Executive Director of the Gesell Institute.
What stood out to you?
What from this film could you share with your PTA, PTO, or other groups connected with schools to start the discussion about kindergarten?
How can we start the change in kindergarten?
We had our first Playmaker webinar - Sincerely Yours: Writing an Op-Ed or Letteto the Editor - this past Tuesday and it was an absolute blast. We talked about writing your first Op-Ed or Letter to the Editor, and I realized that I could listen to my co-presenter, Myrdin Thompson for hours. Myrdin’s currently the head of the PTA of the 14th district of Kentucky, and she’s been a passionate advocate for play for some time.
She talked about her Op-Ed, how she got it published, and the short and long term effects of that, and I’d highly recommend you listen to the webinar to learn more.
What I want to focus on here, though, is her thoughts on play, and using Op-Eds as that jumping off point for advocacy in our communities.
First off, Myrdin took action because she “thought it was important to take it a step further,” which I think is a good thing to keep in mind. We’ve talked about what first made us advocates for play, but it’s an interesting thing to question ourselves: what’s stopping us from taking it a step further?
Something else to consider when rallying your community was brought up when we were talking about backing up your letter with statistics. I had discussed finding research on the kaboom.org/research page, but Myrdin took it a step further, talking about the necessity to know the state of play in your own community first:
“As those of us who deal with play in our communities understand, just because there is a park doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s accessible to the entire community”
Finally, I wanted to share some of her closing thoughts. This was when we were discussing what the effects of the letter being published were, and Myrdin mentioned something I hadn’t even thought of: when our letters ensure we take action:
“I have to now live that letter. I said that I was going to make a change in my community, and I have to walk that walk, to make that change and will continue to do so. As long as there’s a school outdated equipment or doesn’t have any equip I’m right there helping that school doing whatever I can, because those kids… they need play.”
For those of you that have listened to the webinar, what did you think? For those that haven’t, share your thoughts! What topics would you write on, if you were writing an Op-Ed today?
Want to keep updated about play advocacy? Subscribe to Play Times! It's a monthly e-newsletter about taking action on behalf of play! We’ll share tips, tricks, and examples of exceptional advocacy from our Playmaker Network. Any questions? Drop us a line: playmaker@kaboom.org
You may have heard about this already, but we're so excited to announce the first Playmaker and advocacy-focused webinar!
It's called Sincerely Yours: Writing a Letter about Play, and it's all about writing Op-Eds and Letters to the Editor to newspapers. We had the fantastic Myrdin Thompson who talked with us about an Op-Ed that she wrote about playground funding in Louisville, Ky.
Here's more information:
This training covers
So what are you waiting for? Listen to the training on-demand here!
Already written an Op-Ed or Letter to the Editor? Let us know! Email us the letter at playmaker@kaboom.org or post it in the "I am a Playmaker!" group and you'll earn the "Sincerely Yours" badge!
The Mommy Files in the San Francisco Chronicle wrote a piece recently about moving and discovering that they’d moved to a community with a very tightly knit neighborhood – and how wonderful that was. There isn’t anything that we haven’t talked about before when we talk about the benefits of good neighbors, like the ability for kids to run free, spontaneous get-together, community investment, etc, but it’s still a nice refresher on why that’s such a great environment (and not just for kids!)
I grew up with these kids, exploring and discovering the world. We climbed trees, caught frogs, picked cattails, and made mud pies. We rode our bikes up and down the street, organized games of kick the can, and built tree houses and rope swings.
My neighborhood friends taught me that you get up when you skin your knee and that learning to ride a bike without hands takes practice. They taught me that you help your friend when she falls in the frog pond and you set up a lemonade stand when you want a new bicycle.
These were life lessons that came about in an unsupervised, unmanaged environment--and that I wouldn't have ever learned as easily through a lecture by mom.
The documentary New York Street Games also covers (in a more roundabout way) this concept of the tightly knit community. Each of the people interviewed, from wherever they lived in New York City, all told stories of knowing all the kids that lived nearby, as well as each neighborhood having elaborate message systems that would be passed from parent to parent to adult to eventually reaching the child in question, telling him it was time for dinner.
I can’t express how important this is to me. I grew up in the middle of suburbia:
And the streets (this is my old street, actually 
) pretty much always looked like this:
Empty. There were a few kids, but no one ever playing in the street, so we hung out in our backyard and played. How different would things have been if we had seen kids playing outside every day?
Another note from the Mommy Files:
Here on our street in San Francisco we're slowly getting to know our neighbors. The other day a dad knocked on our door with his 18-month-year-old and invited us to a neighborhood watch meeting. A girl across the street just introduced herself and asked if she could babysit. We were also excited to learn from a neighbor that there's a block party at the top of our street every fall.
Wonderful. I love that they’re inviting people to be a part of a neighborhood watch by going door to door – and really, what a great way to get people involved in your Playground Watch or Play Coalition!
What ways have you worked to involve your neighbors? Do you make sure you or your kids are outside, visible, and playing in the streets?
If not, what's stopping you?
Want to keep updated about play advocacy? Subscribe to Play Times! It's a monthly e-newsletter about taking action on behalf of play! We’ll share tips, tricks, and examples of exceptional advocacy from our Playmaker Network. Any questions? Drop us a line: playmaker@kaboom.org
Via the Next American City City/Culture blog – which is all about “independent creative people undertaking tasks that might otherwise be considered the purview of government workers,” we found a link to the awesome Public Matters, LLC, a group that takes on projects of civic engagement.
Check out their mission here:
Leaders need to be creative thinkers, capable of responding to situations that have few precedents. Public Matters, LLC is committed to developing a new generation of informed and engaged community leaders: innovative thinkers and problem solvers with a deep awareness and appreciation of their neighborhoods. We believe that art and new media have a tremendous capacity to portray community life and serve as a connective force across race, class and generations.
Public Matters generates innovative, artistic, place-based projects that build creative, civic and social capital in communities. Our projects develop creative community leaders. We engage residents in the creation of media-based neighborhood narratives that illuminate its history, character and conditions and integrate the results with broader civic processes, advocacy efforts and community initiatives. Our work addresses social issues through long-term educational projects. Our interdisciplinary approach is creative and analytical, left-brained and right-brained. We establish long-term sustainable programs that evolve beyond our initial involvement and are ultimately shaped by the community and its needs.
Our goals are to build social capital, bring forward unknown aspects of community life, and give future leaders a diverse and effective set of skills to work on behalf of their communities.
Recently they’ve done two amazing projects, one looking at connecting people across generations in Historic Filipinotown in Los Angeles, and organizing a group of students in South Los Angeles to work on “market makeovers” – encouraging grocery stores to provide healthier food.
I just love that they really highlight those things that matter. Other projects include “engaging communities in projects that help interpret the community’s character, meaning and history” and “using the creative process to inspire neighborhood-building and a sense of place” and “generating process-based projects that stress public participation, input and narration.”
The thing that sets them somewhat apart is their use of artists and not just city planners. I think that’s a fascinating result of a real asset mapping – seeing those assets and people that you might not have realized were such a resource in your community.
What underused resources have you found in your community?
Have you started any projects like this? Were they successful?
Want to keep updated about play advocacy? Subscribe to Play Times! It's a monthly e-newsletter about taking action on behalf of play! We’ll share tips, tricks, and examples of exceptional advocacy from our Playmaker Network. Any questions? Drop us a line: playmaker@kaboom.org
We're not advocating creating these kinds of spaces without prior consent, but I thought this was a fascinating little tidbit, from the Canadian Centre for Architecture’s exhibition a few years ago called Actions: What You Can Do With the City, which revolved around 99 actions that “instigate positive change” in cities around the world.
Here's the blurb about this basketball court that was created in an unexpected place:
Part of a basketball court drawn on the pavement of a new public housing complex in Amsterdam. The court ends abruptly with a footpath, where a basket was installed by the city shortly after the court markings were painted. The markings were removed once they were identified as unplanned, but the basket remained.
An artist working in the medium of illegal “spatial adjuncts,” Harmen de Hoop considers his projects successful if they merge with their environment. He has installed public furniture, including a communal gardening-supply stand, as “suggestions” for urban improvement. His work increasingly involves activities with other people, which he calls “permanent outdoor sculpture.”
I LOVE the idea of the communal gardening-supply stand, and I think this is an interesting way to think about changing the space around us for good (and play).
What kind of small actions can we take in the space around us (not breaking laws, mind you!) that will change the way people look at or use a space?
How can we encourage play by these "unplanned" actions?
They also have a website people created to find "outlaw playgrounds" - areas that were carved out of other spaces. Fascinating...
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DIY Streets is an initiative of Sustrans (a sustainable transport charity in the UK) that "brings communities together to help them redesign their streets, putting people at their heart and making them safer and more attractive places to live." They piloted the program in 11 communities across England and Wales, and the results are astonishing not only in the way the streets look, but the involvement of the community.
It's a real example of the ideas of working with your community that we espouse here at KaBOOM!, as well as I love their philosophy of how easy it is to make change.
Their Simple Guide is an overview of the whole process (well worth a read) and makes it clear what the priorities are (and the audience!):
anyone interested in changing their street into a place where people are the focus, rather than cars. It shows how simple, affordable changes can really help, and how you can make it happen
Fantastic. They also list their design approach, which includes:
The street is not simply a thoroughfare for cars. A fundamental principle is that a street should be designed as a place in which people can meet, socialise and play.
Check out the 11 Completed Projects here!
Has anyone done this kind of project in their own community?
How could we use this model to make DIY places to play (that aren't necessarily playgrounds)?
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What unbelievable advice. I love this note. I love its simplicity, its clarity, and its seriousness. How it makes it clear what the priorities are.
How many of these priorities do we keep?
How many can we re-implement in our lives?
What would your list say?
I'm going to give it some serious thought over the weekend, and make sure to let me know your thoughts!
Play is hard to maintain as you get older. You get less playful. You shouldn’t, of course.
Richard Feynman, American physicist 1918-1988
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A new study has come out in England about our relationships with green spaces, and I wanted to share what the study found. Called “Community green: using local spaces to tackle inequality and improve health,” it found four main findings, and I’ll include snippets that expand on those:
Green space is a public resource with a proven track record in improving people’s health, but too many local green spaces remain unused
The green space that mattered most to people in our study was the local park, which received a resounding vote of confidence despite varying levels of quality and use.Less than 1 per cent of those living in social housing (21 per cent of our interviewees) reported using the green spaces in the housing estate they live in. This may be due to concerns about safety, lack of access, or poor quality.
People’s concerns about safety affect their use of local green space and vary by ethnicity
Our survey data shows a relationship between the use of green space and perceptions of safety – those who use their green spaces less also tend to feel less safe in their area.
Improving the quality of spaces will encourage more active use and exercise
People mentioned the loss of well-used and valued facilities such as football and cricket pitches as reasons why they used space less. This was especially true of young people. Having nowhere to sit was also cited as a barrier to use.
Local people are best placed to know what they want from green space
The provision of green space services must take into account the preferences and needs of local people. ‘One size fits all’ green space does not work: only flexible spaces will meet the needs of a diverse community.As the ethnic and age profile of the UK changes, green space managers need to understand the attitudes, needs and different reasons for green space use among local groups. They must work harder to involve their community in the management, planning and delivery of spaces, and existing ways of working may no longer be appropriate.
I loved the last part the best – I know I often forget that we have to be flexible to the needs of our parks and playspaces now as well as what they can become in the future.
Has anyone seen a change in park use at their parks? Have you been making changes to a park in its current state?
More importantly, how can we encourage all kinds of use of our parks and places to play? How do we think of parks that might have been considered unconventional 50 or 100 years ago -- or vice versa?
photo (cc) pinksherbet
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Some inspiration for our Thursday! Another snippet from the newly updated Playwork Primer, by Penny Wilson and the Alliance for Childhood. If you have a chance, I highly recommend reading it cover-to-cover, because it has some wonderful thoughts on play and playwork that are applicable to everyone (not just people who work with play)
At any rate, Penny talks about liminal spaces
These are spaces of undefined purpose, becoming different things at different times. The seashore is water at one time, rock pool sat another, and a dry, rocky, sandy stretch at a third. We know that these spaces appeal greatly to us. They draw us to them. Why do folks gather and walk on a beach? Also remember that Simon Nicholson, who created the term “loose parts,” cited the seashore as being the richest of spaces because of its manipulability, its loose parts. The ultimate loose part is the sea and the earth and the space where they meet.
Traditionally, luminal spaces are connected with magic and have a mystical quality. They are the spaces of poetry and myth. In play terms, children are drawn to spaces that are neither one thing or another, but can be whatever the children need them to be.
I love the idea of play spaces as magical spaces with so much possibility – do you remember how special the places you played were? If you have children, do they cherish certain spaces?
How can we help people that might be skeptical of play remember these memories?
photo (cc) by joe_andrews
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In her recent book, Dance with Me in the Heart, exploring the relationship between infants and caregivers, author Pennie Brownlee stresses that "[n]ext to being loved and nurtured, play is the most important thing in the baby's world. Play is the generic intelligence; it is the activity that opens the files of all other intelligences. Play for your baby means being free to move in her body because moving is playing for a baby. Play also means being free to choose what to play with (from the selection you provide) and being free to play with it as little or as long as she wants. Then there is the play that lays their foundations for their lifetime of playing with others. This play includes singing lullabies, songs and jingles, dancing around the kitchen with your baby partner in your arms, making funny faces, and just generally hanging out."
This statement seems to speak directly to Emily's recent post concerning social play and how it informs our adult lives, how it introduces us to membership in and interaction with groups, with society. It also expands that to remind us of play as a general grounding, as one of the most basic structural requirements for a healthy person. That's why play advocates are so crucial! Play is a piece of that (ideally) strong foundation upon which everything else is built. It is more than a gateway to learning; it is learning. If we were to brainstorm, as adults, all the values or types of intelligence or skills we learned in play, we might be listing into the upcoming year.
For example, every time I thought about sliding down the playground firepole (I was a notoriously hesitant kid), I was learning to calculate risk.
Let the list begin:
How does our time on the playground influence our adult lives?
When I was visiting family this weekend (and subsequently talking about play advocacy), my mother said “I think it’s so funny you're involved with play, because I remember you on the playground, telling kids what to do, keeping things organized, and being queen of the playground.”
While I don’t exactly remember this, I know that those kinds of social interactions I had as a kid are directly reflected in what kind of person I am today. I know how to deal with people because I learned how – on the playground.
Fergus P. Hughes – one of the first people to chronicle the myriad types of play there are, categorized social play in his book Children, Play and Development:
“In the most general sense, social play, encourages children to focus on the rules that underlie the play episode and makes them aware that certain rules underlie all social interactions.”
The book Play, Development and Early Education has some fascinating thoughts on it as well:
“We should not think that the development of play, and social play in particular, is a process that is taking place only in the individual child.”
“Peer cultures of young children are characterized by social participation and control. A need to affiliate motivates children to want to partake in community life in the class room, to share play worlds with playmates. At the same time, a need for self-definition and personal meaning motivates children to do their own thing and possibly to try and control others. This is the yin and yang of play. Children must balance social togetherness and individual meaningfulness.”
For further reading: Janson, U. (2001). Togetherness and diverseity in pre-school play. International Journal of Early Years Education, 9(2), 135-143.
What I love most about this is these aren’t things we consciously remember learning – it’s something that we learn as we play, and it’s as much a part of play as gross motor skills are.
Do you remember learning this? Have you seen how it influences your life instead? How would you start a conversation with someone about the social benefits of play?
photos (cc) by foundphotoslj and Dalephonics
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Following up on my post a few weeks ago on What’s Holding Play Back, here’s another idea why: Play is undervalued in our society.
Ellen Galinsky wrote an article for the Huffington Post about the recent 2010 Aspen Institute Ideas Festival, which had sessions devoted to “The Power of Play.” KaBOOM! CEO Darrell Hammond presented with Ezekiel Emanual, one of the creators of Michele Obama’s Let’s Move campaign, about the importance of play in reducing childhood obesity – it’s well worth a listen, as is the presentation on Imagination and Play with David Rockwell and Patricia Sellers.
Galinsky, in her column, digs deep into this idea that play is misunderstood, and this is something we’ve only just begun to discuss: not just the state of play, but the state of what people THINK about play. Galinsky says flat-out that play is underrated, and what it comes down to is we still create a dichotomy of play and learning, instead of seeing them as intricately linked.
Playworker Penny Wilson laments this as well, in The Playwork Primer, published by the Alliance for Childhood, saying that “This is a state of mind that perceives and positions play as trivial fripperies that are permissible for a few years in early childhood at a time when children (generally considered to be adults in training) can waste time with idle inane fun.”
I’ll invite you to check out a few of the sessions – Kerala did a lovely overview of Stuart Brown’s talk on the Neuroscience of Play, in her blog called “Why Play Is Serious Business,” and you can see the other videos on the Aspen Institute website.
So here’s what I’m wondering – apart from your elevator speech about play, what’s your first defense when people say that play isn’t important? How do you respond? What benefits do you highlight? What examples come to mind?
photo (cc) bmente
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The City Parks Blog (well worth a follow) just shared an interview they had with Peter Harnik of the Trust for Public Land, about his new book, Urban Green: Innovative Parks for Resurgant Cities. While the interview is mostly park based (in the sense that it doesn’t explicitly mention places to play) it has some wonderful recommendations as well as provocative questions that we can ask ourselves about parks and places to play in our communities.
Your book addresses many age-old questions about parks and cities. Let’s start with the big one — how much parkland should a city have?
“Should” is the wrong verb. “Should” implies that the outcome is decided by planners. The right verb is “want”: “How much parkland do we as residents and taxpayers want?” It’s a political issue, and it’s got to be approached politically by building a base of active park supporters. Every city has a different geography, a different history and a different culture — it’s not one size fits all. I think people sometimes use the word “should” in the hopes that someone else will do the work for them. No great park system was created solely by planners using official standards.
Let’s look at this again, replacing parks with “playspaces” – the points are still supremely valid.
The right verb is “want”: “How much space to play do we as residents and taxpayers want?” It’s a political issue, and it’s got to be approached politically by building a base of active playspace supporters. Every city has a different geography, a different history and a different culture — it’s not one size fits all.
He also mentions comparing the parkland in your city with other cities and towns. The Trust for Public Land has records from FY 2008 of city parkland at tpl.org/cityparkfacts and they’ve also compiled statistics on which communities have the most playgrounds per person – fantastic!
Here's more on promoting innovation:
The subtitle of the book is “innovative parks for resurgent cities.” What does it mean for parks to be innovative?
When cities are young, small and expanding, parks are added on the leading edge of the growth margin. They consist of natural lands that are donated or purchased — farms, forests, woodlands, wetlands, deserts. The process is known as conservation.
In older cities that are “all built out” there is nothing natural to conserve besides the already-existing parks. New parks there must be created through development rather than conservation. To make a park from a derelict parking lot, for instance, you wouldn’t conserve it — doing that would merely retain a derelict parking lot. You’d have to tear it up, regrade it, plant it, and fit it out with a playground or a sports field or a fountain or whatever the community wanted.
The goal in built-out cities is to use innovation — acquiring no-longer-needed parcels from other government agencies, sharing land with other users, utilizing previously wasted surfaces like rooftops and highway air rights, installing gardens in gap-toothed neighborhoods, pushing developers to donate land for parks, even just making better use of existing parkland. Every one of these approaches is happening in some city right now, and a few cities are doing almost all of them.
There’s also a discussion about how to classify parks, in that there’s such a wide range of kinds. The same can be true of playgrounds, though I’m not sure what the scale would be called (though please feel free to share on the message boards!)
“I do like the new concept coming out of Portland, Ore., where planners talk of a spectrum that ranges from spaces of extreme sociability to spaces of extreme ecological purity. They created a three-way classification they call “people-to-people” places, “people-to-nature” places, and “nature-to-nature” places.”
It ends on a great reminder: “The purpose of my book is to open people’s eyes to the many possibilities out there — all of them proven — but each will have to be analyzed on the local level as to feasibility.” These ideas to change the way your community looks at parks and playgrounds IS do-able!
Make sure to read the full article here.
What does your community think? Are they innovating, or are they not sure where to start? How can you use this information to convince those that are hesitant?
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I’ve talked before about the idea that new urbanism –the initatives to create walkable communities with defined centers, places for community gathering and better use of space – doesn’t have play as a priority.
It’s interesting, then, to see a new project called Picturing Smart Growth by the National Resources Defense Council, that creates images of what communities could be: using Photoshop to create mixed-use buildings, trees, and public transit, in an attempt to show that all communities can, in a certain sense, reclaim spaces that people think are unsavable – even parking lots around big box stores!
In all honesty, this is fascinating, and well worth looking at, though I found myself looking to see if playspaces were incorporated in these plans, and couldn’t find them. This seems strange. When creating a central gathering place, why would you not incorporate play?
The closest I could find was:
Public Spaces: Parks, plazas, sitting areas, building entrance areas, sidewalks, trails, piers and similar places that the public may frequent. They should be attractively designed and have amenities such as benches, lights, plantings or fountains.
I’m not downplaying the importance of parks and public spaces (though I think they should be separate), but this would be an ideal category to include places to play as well.
An example is this one, from Hololulu, Hawaii. Note that it looks like a great plan, with places for people to sit, but then a public fountain takes over what could be a great open field for playing in. While fountains and spray parks are wonderful on hot days, but why pave over that grass?
So how do we get the message to city planners that play is important, and should be incorporated into upcoming planning? We recommend meeting with your city council, writing letters, and gathering a group of like-minded advocates to have a strong united front when you’re arguing your case.
Is this happening in your community? How would you go about making change if it was?
(Thanks to Sustainable Cities Collective for the link to this project!)
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Hi, Gary! I met you at the Conference on the Value of Play. You taught me all sorts of cool frisbee tricks. I felt like a Harlem Globetrotter. Are you going to the ACEI Global Summit on Childhood this week by any chance?
Not planning on it...but then again I wasn't planning on going to Clemson... should I? If I can't will you tell me what I missed? When is your next staff playday?
I had a great time last year. The conference brought together a good group of educators, teacher educators, and advocates for children. This year is shaping up to be awesome, with a lot of great partners on board: the Alliance for Childhood, Gesell Institute, Rutgers. Plus I read that over 600 delegates had signed up. I can definitely keep you updated, if you can't go. I'll tweet out as much as I can from @mapofplay -- and I'm sure @njoyplay and @balmeras will be tweeting, too!
As for the next staff playday, it's tomorrow! I have to miss it for the conference, unfortunately.