April 28, 2021 New Resources from Trying Together As Month of the Young Child comes to a close, Trying Together is featuring several resources that were released throughout April. These resources further Trying Together’s mission to supports high-quality care and education for young children by providing advocacy, community resources, and professional growth opportunities for the needs and rights of children, their families, and the individuals who interact with them. New Resources DAP Series Parts IV, V, and VI As an early childhood nonprofit, Trying Together recognizes that a child’s parent is their first and most important caregiver. That’s why we created the Developmentally Appropriate Parenting (DAP) Series to assist parents and caregivers in creating high-quality learning experiences at the earliest stages of their child’s life. The series features digital and print content that provides information on critical early childhood topics. As of April 2021, six Parts have been published, including: Part I: Developmentally Appropriate Practice; Part II: Childhood Physical Health; Part III: Child Care; Part IV: Early Intervention and Inclusion; Part V: Safety and Emergencies; and Part VI: Social-Emotional Development. Resources will continue to be added through 2022 as additional Parts are finalized. Parenting Together Pathway The Parenting Together Pathway is a video-based learning series to provide high-quality information on early childhood development to parents and caregivers in Allegheny County and surrounding areas. Launched in April 2021, the Parenting Together Pathway provides families the opportunity to learn more about: brain development; play; interactions and relationships; technology; child care; and advocacy to better support their children’s healthy growth. Additional videos will be released through 2021. Recess Advocacy Toolkit In partnership with the Playful Pittsburgh Collaborative and thanks to support from The Grable Foundation and Remake Learning Tomorrow Grants, the Recess Advocacy Team created a Recess Advocacy Toolkit. As schools shift from remote learning back to in-person education, the importance of play and recess must be at the forefront of the conversation around reopening schools and helping children adjust to a changed educational environment. This toolkit highlights research, strategies, and advocacy opportunities for play and physical activity at home and at school.
April 27, 2021 New Recess Advocacy Toolkit Amid concern for the welfare of children during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Recess Advocacy Team, co-led by Trying Together and the Playful Pittsburgh Collaborative, have created a toolkit highlighting research, strategies, and advocacy opportunities for play and physical activity at home and at school. Families and educators may use the toolkit to discover new ways to play this summer and to advocate for playful learning next school year. About the Toolkit The Recess Advocacy Toolkit is designed to be a resource for educators and families on the importance of recess and play for the healthy social-emotional growth of children and includes: information on different types of play; research to inform educators and administrators on the benefits of recess; testimonials and tips from Physical Education teachers; and template emails and social media posts for digital advocacy. Learn More Families and educators may access The Recess Advocacy Toolkit on the Trying Together website. The creation of this toolkit was made possible by The Grable Foundation and Remake Learning Tomorrow Grants. For questions or suggestions, please contact recess@tryingtogether.org.
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.
January 31, 2020 Recess: A Community Conversation Physical movement and the freedom to play improves children’s social, emotional, physical, and cognitive skills. Children, their caregivers, and community members are invited to join the Recess Advocacy Team to discuss their school recess experiences. Families will also have the opportunity to play at the MuseumLab for FREE from 4:30–5:30 p.m. Conversation, activities, and pizza will begin at 5:30 p.m. in Learning Lab 1. The evening will include: conversation, playful activities, networking, pizza, and more! Registration To register, complete the following form: More Information For more information, email recess@tryingtogether.org. Share this flyer with your network.
October 11, 2019 Recess: A Community Conversation Children, parents, and community members are invited to join the Recess Advocacy Team on November 7 to discuss their school recess experiences. The evening will include conservation, playful activities, networking, dinner, and more! More Information For questions, contact recess@tryingtogether.org. Share this flyer with your network. Registration To register, complete the form below.
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)
