HOME |
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 PLAY
has suddenly begun receiving renewed attention and support from a
variety of sources. Leverage our expertise in play as a way to
support individual health and happiness as well a connected, vital
communities.
All of a sudden,
PLAY has re-surfaced as an important issue in our society. Whether
it be overweight or over-scheduled children or over-stressed adults,
people and organizations are beginning to shine a new light on this
critical aspect of growth, development and survival.
Helping People
Play!
In our
over-worked, over-stressed, and nonstop treadmill lifestyle that
people live, one emerging and critical role for parks and recreation
is Helping People Play!
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Come Out and
Play
 An
info-imaged, quick page turner that helps the overworked and
overstressed among us recapture the promise and potential
that plays hold for them. It's perfect to send to decision
makers... Works well with staff... And makes a nice gift as
well. |
$12
each
$10 each
when purchasing 5 or more
+$2.00
S&H |
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Leisure
Awareness Clinics (LAC)
These workshop in a play pak can help departments spur
people to physical activity to help relieve stress,
recapture that childlike love of life and raise awareness of
your department, attract new participants. Plus, help an
overworked, over-stressed, overwhelmed generation of adults,
families, and children who don’t or won’t recognize the
positive benefits of playing as adults.
Each pack includes complete directions, materials for 25
people, promotional information, and power point.
Leisure Awareness Clinics available for the following topics
and groups:
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9 Ways to Play: Leisure Awareness for adults;
particularly good for newcomers to an area, singles, and
pre-retirees
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Healthy Pleasures – Good Times that are Good for You:
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Getting Ready for the “R” word – Recreation Not
Retirement
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Pleasurable Linking Activities for Your Family
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$137
+$5.00
S&H |
Stanford University Study on Play: Addressing the Crisis of
Inactivity Among America’s Children
If you thought PLAY wasn’t important, then you need
to think again. A new coalition to encourage and support Play
Everyday for Children is up and running. As a response to the
growing obesity and physical inactivity crisis in this country,
Stanford University was commissioned to conduct a study of play, its
role in obesity and society, and to develop a list of
recommendations for parents, schools, communities, private sector,
and government to undertake.
The Stanford School of Medicine “Building Generation
Play”:
Addressing the Crisis of Inactivity Among America’s
Children” recommends the following tips to help children achieve 60
minutes of physical activity every day. The recommendations will
impact everything from parents and schools to healthcare, mass
media, industry, communities, and government:
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Design community evaluation tools,
such as a “Community Play Index” that incorporates measures of
the availability of opportunities for physical activity.
Communities should be encouraged to use the index to assess and
improve opportunities for physical activity in the community,
and to build model communities of play.
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Encourage parents to support and
facilitate physical activity both in and outside the school
environment.
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Place limits on sedentary leisure
pursuits such as television viewing and other screen-time to no
more than 2 hours per day.
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Implement daily PE classes taught
by qualified instructors.
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Foster awareness of the benefits
of physical activity and encourage active lifestyles through
community-based advertising campaigns.
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Conduct routine healthcare
monitoring of children’s weight status and health behaviors
including physical activity participation.
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Create products that promote
physically active entertainment.
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Encourage new development projects
planned with designs for promoting physical activity (e.g., bike
paths, sidewalks, mixed land use, no barricades between home and
schools, pedestrian promenades).
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Increase venues such as
recreational facilities, community-based organizations, parks,
and playgrounds that are accessible to all children and al
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Power
of Play: Recently Published Book
Now here’s a book title that we have
always believed to be true: The Power of Play: How Spontaneous,
Imaginative Activities Lead to Happier, Healthier Children.
A warning from the book’s author,
David Elkind, a Professor of Child Development at Tufts University:
children’s play—their inborn
disposition for curiosity, imagination, and fantasy—is being
silenced in the high-tech, commercialized world we have created.
You might almost think this professor
has been overhearing the conversations among some park and
recreation professionals who bemoan the loss of spontaneous pick-up
games that at one time filled neighborhood parks and backyards
everywhere. Other pointed and significant quotes from this expert
includes the following:
Over the past two decades,
children have lost 12 hours of free time a week, including 8
hours of unstructured play and outdoor activities. In contrast,
the amount of time spent in organized sports has doubled, and
the number of minutes children devote to passive spectator
leisure, not counting TV but including sports viewing, has
increased fivefold from 30 minutes to over 3 hours.
The health consequences for
children resulting from the disappearance of play (obesity,
attention deficit disorder) are already apparent.
Another interesting statistic from
this book: On a typical day, a child is six times more likely to
play a computer game than ride a bike.
Editor’s Note: It is very time to
take back the power and potential of play – for all human beings –
but most especially for children – the time is right!
(Source: The Power
of Play: How Spontaneous, Imaginative Activities Lead to Happier,
Healthier Children. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 2007)
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