Safe Return to Play & Recess Guidelines

  1. Updates

Playworks is helping schools continue to reimagine recess.

For the past 24 years, Playworks has partnered with elementary schools to help kids stay active and build valuable skills through play. As schools prepare re-opening plans, we want to help provide resources for implementing both in-school and virtual play or recess experiences. We developed Recess Guidelines to include options for what recess could look like based on CDC and state guidelines as of July 2020. We know states, districts, and individual schools are developing many plans for reopening, and no matter what variation of online or in-person experiences they offer next school year, Playworks is here to help.

View the Recess Guidelines


COVID-19 is changing the way we move, interact, and play on or off the playground.

As we move toward a new school year that will be impacted by COVID-19, we need to approach play differently. This game guide will help with transitioning to in-person play and is appropriate for adaptations of the school experience for kids. It uses Playworks best practices and games and The Aspen Institute’s Return to Play Guidelines to break down the return to play into three phases by using a stoplight system to define risk categories. The recommendations below will help you understand how games can safely be integrated as kids, teachers, and school staff go back to school.

Risk categories are assigned relative to other ways of participating in that game or activity, based on the public health and scientific understandings of COVID-19 and how it can be transmitted as of July 2020. Activities are segmented into three types of risk posed both to participants and others.

 

Download the Safe Return to Play Guide

 

For more information about Playworks or any of our programs please contact info@playworks.org.

More Updates


November 25, 2025

Playworks Celebrates 30 Years of Play ›

What began as a way to make recess more joyful on one playground has grown into a nationwide effort to make play part of every kid’s day.  In 1995, Jill…

November 14, 2025

Recess Matters: Why Belonging, Joy, and Play Are the Hidden Keys to School Attendance ›

It started with a familiar moment. A first grader, dressed and ready, stood by the door and asked quietly: “Do I have to go to school today?” There was no…

September 30, 2025

6 Game Tips for a Strong Start to the School Year ›

We are wrapping up our back-to-school blog series with some tips to help kick off the year with play! The first few weeks of school have a huge impact on…