Joe Frost dedicated the bulk of his academic and professional career to the creation and widespread adoption of safe play environments for children of all ages and abilities, fighting against entrapment areas, unsafe surfaces and installations, and hazards like hot metal slides. A pioneer in play science, he wrote or co-wrote more than 20 books and many academic articles, and directed the University of Texas at Austin’s Play and Playgrounds Research Program — a nearly 40-year research project on play and play environments that included observing children at play and designing safe, innovative playgrounds. He also consulted for the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, and numerous public and private organizations concerned with safe and accessible children’s play. His collection of more than 500 volumes of play-related publications resides in the Joe L. Frost Children’s Play and Play Environments Research Collection at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas.
Most Influential Work:
- A History of Children’s Play and Play Environments: Toward a Contemporary Child-Saving Movement (New York: Routledge, 2010) traces the history of children’s play and play environments, discusses the consequences of play deprivation, and advocates for prioritizing play in childhood.
- Play and Child Development (New York: Pearson, 2011; with Sue Wortham and Stuart Reifel), now in its fourth edition, is a popular textbook.
View all books and articles on our site by Joe L. Frost:
- History of Children’s Play and Play Environments – Toward a Contemporary Child-Saving Movement
- The Developmental Benefits of Playgrounds
- When Children Play: Proceedings of the International Conference on Play and Play Environments
- Play and Playscapes
- Play and Child Development (4th Edition)
- Children’s Play and Playgrounds
- The Young Child and the Educative Process
