At some city public schools, there is no recess at all – deep budget cuts mean there are not enough adults to monitor students' playtime.
But at McMichael Elementary in Mantua, children troop out onto the schoolyard in orderly lines, pledge to be respectful and kind, then break out into orderly but joyous games of football, dodgeball and foursquare – blowing off steam with a genial man known as Coach Steve.
July 28, 2022
“You can’t do SEL, trauma, or equity work without each other,” Jennette Claassen, Head of Evaluation, Playworks. As Playworks continued to progress on our equity journey, we explored a critical question: what are the intersections between play, social and emotional learning, physical activity, and trauma? A working group focused on this question decided, among other…
August 24, 2021
Play brings out the best in every kid. Over the course of 25 years since Jill Vialet founded Playworks, she and her colleagues, as well as researchers and play experts, have demonstrated precisely how and why play works to help kids learn and grow in the most positive and healthy ways. Jill gathered stories from people…
March 25, 2021
As more and more schools transition back to in-person learning, we know educators are looking for games that are physically-distant and don’t require equipment. The need for play is more important than ever due to the isolation that our kids have endured during COVID-19. Play encourages creativity, flexibility, teamwork, and other critical social skills. We’ve…