October 30, 2020 Recess Advocacy Team Community Conversation Are you interested in joining fellow advocates to discuss the important roles play and physical activity have in children’s lives? Join the Recess Advocacy Team on November 17 for a Virtual Community Conversation. About The freedom to play improves children’s social, emotional, physical, and cognitive skills. Children make sense of what’s happening in the world around them through play, and it impacts their mental health and wellbeing. The Recess Advocacy Team is convening a virtual space for educators, families, and community members to discuss play and physical activity while balancing health, safety, and remote learning in the time of COVID-19. We must ensure children have opportunities to safely experience play and physical activity. This virtual community conversation is for play advocates to come together to discuss successes, challenges, and share strategies to elevate play. Registration Sessions will be held virtually via Zoom. Please register to receive more information about accessing the sessions. Lunch & Learn November 17, 2020 | 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. | Register Dinner & Dialogue November 17, 2020 | 6 – 7 p.m. | Register More Information For more information about the Recess Advocacy Team and to subscribe to their newsletter, visit the Playful Pittsburgh Collaborative website. Please share this flyer with your networks.
September 17, 2020 Recess Helps Students Reach Their Full Potential As we begin a very different school year, the Recess Advocacy Team continues to elevate play and provide support to educators and families. Recess is key to helping students reach their full potential within the classroom and beyond. Several studies show that recess increases children’s attention span and productivity in the classroom. New Resources from the Recess Advocacy Team Send a letter to your child’s teacher The Recess Advocacy Team updated their student letter asking teachers to remember the importance of play to reflect our current times. Instructions: (1) Download the letter (2) Enter information for the teacher, your child’s name, and your name in the editable boxes (3) Save the letter with your information (4) Send the electronically signed letter via email If your child is attending school in person, you can still download, print, and share a hard copy. Play and Physical Activity Resource Guide for Educators and Families The Recess Advocacy Team compiled a list of resources for educators and families to make sure play and physical activity are a part of childrens’ days and serve as a foundation for their learning, growth, and development. This list includes resources, activities, and considerations for ensuring play shows up in our daily lives—and ways that educators and families can incorporate play/physical activity into children’s learning. Families are encouraged to share this resource when sending the letter to the teacher. Learn More About the Recess Advocacy Team The Recess Advocacy Team is a group of organizations dedicated to health, wellness, education, and play with a focus on recess practices and policies in pre-k through sixth grade. You can learn more about the Recess Advocacy Team on the Playful Pittsburgh Collaborative website.
April 26, 2019 Harnessing the ‘Power of Play’ to Build Equitable Cities When planners and community stakeholders are hashing out asset inventories and needs assessments to figure out the state of neighborhood amenities, a few things are sure to almost always make the list: more access to green space, safer crosswalks, more parking in business districts, gateways, and wayfinding signage. When planners design communities to be safer, healthier, more sustainable, and more walkable, how often do those efforts make a community more playful? The Power of Play Play is powerful. In the sphere of early childhood education, experts recognize the unparalleled importance of play in learning and development. In business, play is seen as a gateway to greater creativity, collaboration, and breakthrough innovation. In society, communities that play together stay together. Isn’t it time we embraced playfulness as a quality worth designing into our urban spaces? Perhaps the trouble is that the word itself seems just too playful to be taken seriously. We need more words for play. More Words for Play The Finnish language has no shortage of words for play. For Finns, playing a game is different from playing a sport, which is different from playing music. There are distinct Finnish words for children’s play and the play that adults engage in. There’s even a Finnish word that means both “work” and “play.” This rich vocabulary shows that in Finland, play is a valued part of life that isn’t confined just to kids’ stuff. Where else would we see play show up in our plans, if only we had the words for it? What would we call the kind of play that brings strangers together? What would we call playing around with ideas and possibilities? It’s questions like these that motivated a coalition of public and private sector partners to start the Playful Pittsburgh Collaborative and organize a citywide movement to expand the presence of play in every community. As a mid-size, post-industrial city in the midst of dramatic changes spurred in large part by new development, we see a mandate to build greater public demand for play as an integral part of the city’s future. Playful Pittsburgh Collaborative Locally in southwestern Pennsylvania, the Playful Pittsburgh Collaborative is working to make play a part of the urban infrastructure. Since 2013, members of the Playful Pittsburgh Collaborative have been working together to find and remove the barriers holding communities back from experiencing the social benefits of play. These efforts have brought together leaders and representatives from the city’s parks and museums, human services and municipal agencies, arts and sustainability nonprofits, and community development groups. Along the way, we’ve encountered distinct manifestations of play that we really wish had their own name. Learn more about the work of The Playful Pittsburgh Collaborative and read the full article from the urban planning magazine Planetizen. (shared via Planetizen)
March 20, 2019 Ultimate Play Day 2019 Hosted by the Playful Pittsburgh Collaborative, Ultimate Play Day is a celebration of playfulness for people of all ages and is free and open to the public. Sunday, May 19, 2019 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. Whitehall Public Library The event will be held outside rain or shine. Translation services will be provided by partners at Global Wordsmiths and Smiley Cookies from Eat’n Park. Let us know you’re coming to the 2019 Ultimate Play Day by getting your (FREE) tickets at Eventbrite and learn more about Ultimate Play Day on the Facebook event page! Share this Ultimate Play Day event flyer (PDF) with your network.
September 21, 2018 UnConference: Play for Change In partnership with the Playful Pittsburgh Collaborative and Philadelphia Playful Learning Landscapes, join us on Tuesday, October 30, at the Carnegie Museum of Art in the Oakland community of Pittsburgh for UnConference: Play for Change, a day-long event to think critically about play. There will be keynote speakers, lightning talks, hands-on activities and action plan time. We will convene 25 teams of 5-7 individuals from neighborhoods, boroughs, and cities from across southwest Pennsylvania and West Virginia to: Explore WHAT is play, and WHY play? Understand the play continuum and the role of “playful learning,” such as the Six C’s (critical thinking, communication, collaboration, culture/community, creativity, and connectivity) and their importance in positioning our children for the future. Consider a “play community.” Why they are important? And, how to define a vision, mission, purpose, and goals in the creation of your own playful community. We’ll talk about lessons learned from the Playful Pittsburgh Collaborative and the Philadelphia Playful Learning Landscapes. Learn more about transforming public spaces into community play and playful learning spaces such as hands on installations of playful learning modules. Develop action plans for infusing play in your community. What challenges at the school, neighborhood or city-level do you think ‘play’ may help address in your own community? How do we design communities with intention to address these challenges? We’ll talk about the Hazelwood Play Trail case study. All while considering issues of equity, transportation, safety, play across the ages, community input and more. Registration is now closed. E-mail Conference Director Yu-Ling Cheng at conference@tryingtogether.org.
Play for Change Invites Team Registration For many, play is something children do. It can however be a powerful connector for children, adults, and communities to interact with one another, make decisions, and solve problems. In partnership with the Playful Pittsburgh Collaborative and Philadelphia Playful Learning Landscapes, teams are invited to register for UnConference: Play for Change on Tuesday, October 30 at the Carnegie Museum of Art from 8 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. 25 teams of five to seven individuals from across Southwestern Pennaylvania and West Virginia will convene for this day-long event to think more critically about play. The event will include keynote speakers, lightning talks, hands-on activities, and time for action planning. Registration is now closed. For questions, contact Yu-Ling at conference@tryingtogether.org.
May 21, 2018 Advance Developmentally Appropriate Practice The framework and philosophy of developmentally appropriate practices (DAP) when teaching young children is based on available knowledge about learning and development that occurs from birth to age nine. While early learning professionals base their interactions with children on these principles, other adults who interact with young children may not be familiar with this information. To support better understanding of DAP and increase the quality of early learning environments for young children, the Pittsburgh-area nonprofit Trying Together publicly released its second white paper on the subject. “This document will be a resource for anyone who wants to have positive interactions with the young children in their lives,” said Cara Ciminillo, Trying Together Executive Director. “Our hope is to encourage and inform all adults about DAP.” The Trying Together white paper entitled, “Advance Developmentally Appropriate Practice” provides researched recommendations on DAP which include: changing policies for state licensing and training for principals; establishing a professional learning system to connect early educators with teachers in grades K – 3; emphasizing the importance of positive interactions between children and caregivers; creating recess policies; educating and engaging families; and conducting more research that highlights the benefits of play. “As lead organization for the Playful Pittsburgh Collaborative, we emphasize the critical need for play at any age, but know it is particularly important for young children,” said Ciminillo. “In Pittsburgh we are fortunate to have many opportunities for play, such as those highlighted in the recent publication from Remake Learning called, “If Kids Built A City.” The full DAP white paper is available for reading and download at tryingtogether.org. A one-page guide for families is also available for reading and download at tryingtogether.org.
May 18, 2018 Ultimate Play Day For the sixth year, the Playful Pittsburgh Collaborative will celebrate Ultimate Play Day. Each year the Collaborative provides this day of free, family-friendly activities at varying locations in the Pittsburgh area. This year, the Collaborative and its member organizations will hold the Ultimate Play Day on Sunday, May 20, 2018 at August Wilson Park, 1803 Cliff Street from 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. as part of Remake Learning Days. “We are so excited to bring the Ultimate Play Day to the Hill District community for our sixth anniversary. We have more than 20 providers signed on with more committing every week to provide hands-on play experiences,” said Sarah Siplak, Director of Playful Pittsburgh Collaborative. The PPC is dedicated to advancing the importance of play in the lives of children, families, and communities in the Pittsburgh region and works to: ● Raise awareness that play is a critical element in the lives of people of all ages ● Educate decision-makers (from parents to legislators) in our region so that their choices support access to play for all people ● Model (and inspire) through various activities the actions we hope our broader community will take in their daily lives Learn more about Ultimate Play Day and the Collaborative.
January 9, 2018 Playful Pittsburgh Collaborative The Playful Pittsburgh Collaborative is a group of organizations dedicated to advancing the importance of play in the lives of children, families, and communities in the Pittsburgh region by: Raising awareness that play is a critical element in the lives of people of all ages Educating decision-makers (from parents to legislators) in our region so that their choices support access to play for people of all ages Modeling (and inspiring) through various activities the actions we hope our broader community will take in their daily lives Visit the website and join the Collaborative! Trying Together is a proud member and co-founder of the Playful Pittsburgh Collaborative. Play Spaces in Pittsburgh “Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood.” – Fred Rogers Over the past year, the Playful Pittsburgh Collaborative completed three Play Stop projects in Hazelwood with artist Dylan Rooke, including Stops at Dylamato’s Market, the Hazelwood Community Garden, and the Spartan Center. To learn more about the Play Stops, watch Laura McDermit’s interview with Dylan. If Kids Built a City Remake Learning and Root+All released a play booklet entitled, “If Kids Built a City” that details the importance of play being built into the city of Pittsburgh, from parks and museums to doctor’s offices. Download the full booklet. Ultimate Play Day Hosted by the Playful Pittsburgh Collaborative, Ultimate Play Day is an opportunity for people from throughout the region to play together and raise awareness of the benefits of play at any age. Visit the Playful Pittsburgh Collaborative’s website for more information on Ultimate Play Day! Recess Advocacy Team In partnership with the Playful Pittsburgh Collaborative, Trying Together created the Recess Advocacy Team to establish a group of organizations dedicated to health and wellness, education, and play with a focus on recess practices and policies in pre-k through sixth grade. To learn more about the Recess Advocacy Team, visit the Playful Pittsburgh Collaborative page. See the Recess Advocacy Team flyer. Newsletter To receive the Playful Pittsburgh Collaborative e-newsletter, visit our sign up page. Previous Issues 2020 April | March | February 2019 December | November | October | September | August | July | June | May | April | March | February | January 2018 December | November | October | September | August | July | June | May | April | March | February
