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Ready! Set! Play!

Play On 2010 brings together some of the national and international experts in the field of play and physical activity. From sessions for play workers serving all ages of children, to presentations on social issues around play and physical activity, to hands on interactive recess and play design, Play On 2010 offers a world-class lineup of experts and sessions.

 Click here for the full program schedule and times

Access to Play as a Human Right, Institute for Human Centered Design
Through an interactive workshop led by Eli A. Wolff, participants will examine and address the concept of access to play as a human right in theory and practice. What does it mean, what does it look like, and why does it matter? Participants will have an opportunity to work together to discuss, analyze and strategize the value of access to play as a human right in local, national and international contexts. 

Active Start: Developmentally Appropriate Movement and Physical Activity for Children Ages 0-5, National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE)
Movement is an integral part of the overall learning process.  The ultimate goal of a quality program is to foster a feeling of success within each child.  At this session, learn about the progression of developmentally appropriate movement experiences from birth to age five and the five premises of quality movement programs for young children.  Also, become familiar with the many user-friendly resources available at no cost through the Head Start Body Start National Center for Physical Development and Outdoor Play and hear about actions being taken to make the National Physical Activity Plan strategy to “ensure that early childhood education settings for children ages 0 to 5 years promote and facilitate physical activity” a reality.

All in the Numbers, Fitness Forward and Playworks
 At a time when childhood obesity, diabetes, and mental illness continue to impact millions of children, the need to facilitate healthier lifestyles among youth is profound.  Social inequities block many children and parents from access to the opportunities, knowledge, and resources that can help them live healthier, happier lives. And what can data tell you about the impact of health, play and school climate? And how can we use this data to strengthen our most vulnerable populations?
 
Advocating for Play, Alliance for Childhood
Many of the people who make decisions about the design and management of our schools, parks, health care facilities, public housing, and other public spaces are uninformed about the central importance of play in human development. This has made it increasingly difficult for practitioners of play-based teaching and child care to do good work. Educators, health care workers, and other professionals can help reverse this situation if they are prepared to be change agents in their schools and communities. This session will focus on strategies and interventions for play advocacy, both locally and nationally, with attention to key goals, targets, techniques, obstacles, and potential allies.
 
Community Building Model: Building Playgrounds While Building Community, KaBOOM!
This session will discuss the evolution of KaBOOM! programming, which now allows any individual to rally their community to plan and execute a Community-build playground project using an online planner. This planner is a part of a suite of online tools and resources that empower individuals and communities to self-organize, plan and execute a number of different actions from planning Play Days to developing joint use agreements with schools, with each action designed to help increase the quantity, quality and access to opportunities for play in their communities. These tools include everything from assessing a local playspace to recognition as a Playful City USA.
 
Crisis in the Kindergarten - Why Children Need to Play in School, Alliance for Childhood
Child-initiated play and playful learning are key ingredients in effective preschool and kindergarten education. Yet they are being replaced by didactic instruction and even scripted teaching. Participants in this workshop will examine the current situation and explore strategies for change.

Encouraging Physical Activity in the Schools, Alliance for Healthier Generation
This session will focus on best practices curriculae and resources for before, during and after the school day. 

Filling the Emotional Tank, Positive Coaching Alliance
All children have "emotional tanks" that help determine how well they embrace the challenges in front of them. In this session, participants will get a clear understanding of the power of the emotional tank, learn how to diagnose kids with low tanks, and get a full tool kit of specific techniques to help youth in any situation feel better about themselves and more confident of their ability to deal with their challenges.
 
This workshop is designed to provide adults with some fun, yoga-inspired tools for children that will help develop strong, flexible bodies while cultivating a lifetime of joy, peace, and wonder. The workshop will help youth workers think outside the box of what they may (or may not) already know about yoga, and show them how they can gear it to children in a way that will engage them.

Girls in the Game, Team Up for Youth
Play and sports can be a powerful force in girls' development. Unfortunately, girls are
often found on the perimeter of the field, court and school yard. In this session, we will explore how to get girls in the game in their early years and keep them hooked through adolescence and into young adulthood. This workshop is interactive and will provide
participants the opportunity to learn through physical activities and coaching demonstrations.
 
GoGirlGo!: Developing Social, Economic and Community Capital Through Physical Activity for Girls, Women's Sports Foundation
This workshop will give participants concrete education and tools to better understand how to address the challenges involved in recruiting and retaining girls from the perspective of the girl and the coach.  It will also provide and facilitate ideas for solutions to address common roadblocks.  Participants will also have an opportunity to discuss challenges they face in working with their female populations.
   
Identifying Sedentary Behavior- Profiles on Youth Activity, HopeLab
From "busy bees" to  "kids gone gaming," middle-school aged kids and their lifestyles reflect a variety of physical activity levels. But what motivates them to be active? What keeps them from being active? HopeLab spoke with 11-15 year olds across the U.S. and identified eight distinct behavioral profiles that may help inform efforts to reach kids at risk for sedentary behavior patterns and obesity. HopeLab will share their insights with attendees. 
 
Imagination Playground. Bringing loose parts back to the urban playground, New York City Parks
 In July, 2010n NYC Parks opened Imagination Playground at Burling Slip near the South Street Seaport Museum. Designed by David Rockwell the aim of this innovative play space is to encourage child-directed, unstructured play. Participants in this session will learn about the 5 year journey to the opening of the playground including details about the design process, loose parts pilot sites, the imagination playground in a box, and how we involved children in the project.We will also offer a field trip down to the Seaport to visit the playground.
 
No Equipment? No Space? Bad Weather?30 Minutes a Day™ Everyday!, The After School Corporation
Studies show that students in urban, low-income schools are less likely to have recess than students in other schools. In this workshop participants will learn tools to turn any environment into a safe space for children to play while learning how to transform everyday school objects into equipment that can be used for play. No more movies in the auditorium! Students should be able to participate in 30 Minutes of physical play daily regardless of cold-weather days and space or equipment limitations. This workshop will be hands-on and high-energy and participants will leave with a packet of ideas and tools used during the workshop to help them transform their academic space into a space that benefits students overall health and well-being.
 
What makes a good partnership? How can partnering with a company or organization impact your strategy? What do you need to do to identify and partner with organizations that share your goals? Hear from like-minded organizations that share common goals work together to fulfill their objectives of increasing opportunities for play and physical activity for our youth.
 
 Pass the Power of Play: Become a Play Advocate in Your Community, Playworks
This interactive workshop provides participants with ideas around tapping into local schools, coalitions, community centers, and local CBO’s. Through experiential learning participants will explore how to message the importance of play in their communities while bringing new activities to the organizations they touch.
 
Play Matters, KaBOOM!
Play Matters features 12 innovative best practices, focusing on how cities have increased the time and space for play. Advocates and officials can identify effective policy and programmatic solutions, and methods for increasing the quantity, quality, and access to play in their communities – dramatically impacting community health and wellness.

The Power of Play, Playworks
This highly-interactive session provides a hands-on and sneakers-on-the-ground approach to introducing, exploring and increasing play in all areas of your community.

Recess Design: From the Playground to the Classroom, Playworks
Are you ready to remove the pandemonium from the playground so that students can return to the classroom ready to learn? Want to learn the skills, strategies and secrets behind making recess a complete success for both students and staff? Join us for an experiential workshop that highlights core games, group management strategies, facilitation techniques and everyday community building to support your recess program. This workshop is two consecutive breakout sessions (2 hours and 45 minutes long).
 

School Wellness - A Call to Leadership, Action for Healthy Kids
Want to create some new excitement for the adopted school wellness policies in your district? Want solutions for how to improve the nutrition and physical activity environment at your school? Then don’t miss hearing about the support and resources available at the national and state level from Action for Healthy Kids. Gain insight about the AFHK volunteer model and the research from AFHK’s Progress and Promises Report describing the implementation challenges and successful solutions tested in states across the nation. Learn how the local Teams in every state can assist you in reaching various stakeholders including students and parents; and the benefits of membership/partnership with this organization

A Simple Guide to Presenting Games and Activities, Asphalt Green
The Asphalt Green Recess Enhancement Program (REP) gets kids active in New York City public schools by engaging staff and students in a variety of cooperative games.  In this workshop you will learn how Asphalt Green Recess Specialists introduce new games and activities using a simple and clear system that allows the activity leader to adapt to students’ needs.  This is a hands-on workshop where you will have an opportunity to teach and learn a few of Asphalt Green’s tried and true REP games that get groups of kids playing in no time.  In the process, we’ll explore and discuss the group dynamics of elementary-age children and offer solutions to common challenges in running group activities.  This workshop will be particularly useful for audience members who work directly with children in an active setting. 
 
Transforming the Community Through Play, Beyond the Ball
Play can be a powerful tool for community development, especially in neighborhoods with high rates of violence and crime. In this session we will demonstrate ways to engage community members, reclaim public space and play peacefully together. This workshop will offer frameworks and practical ideas that Beyond the Ball has developed over the past 10 years for community organizing through play.
 
Using Social Media to Advance the Play Movement, KaBOOM! and Playworks
Heard the buzz, but scared to jump on board with social media? Join us and learn how to use social media to reach our goal to provide healthy play opportunities for youth each and every day. For the inexperienced to well-versed, this workshop will share tools and tips to using social media to propel the play movement. Beginning with the meaning, value and uses of social networking, we'll use our shared knowledge to develop some key actions to further the play movement using social media.

The Value of Play and Reconnecting to the Outdoors, US Play Coalition
Popular media has really begun to identify the importance fo outdoor play for the healthy development of America's youth. Throughout her career in the Florida State Parks Service Director and as the first ever female director of the US National Park Service, Fran P. Mainella developed a passion for the human nature connection. As the co-chair for the U.S. Play Coalition, Director Mainella has begun to assemble a partnership to make play available to people of all ages. In this presentation Director Mainella will address the importance of outdoor play in the social, emotional, physical and cognitive development of America's future generations.