The mission of the Homeless Children's Playtime Project (Playtime) is to cultivate resilience in children experiencing family homelessness by providing and expanding access to transformative play experiences. We do this by: - Creating ongoing play opportunities that nurture healthy child development - Challenging systemic injustice by advocating for policies and...
The Recess Project
The design of a schoolyard can impact how students connect with each other - a connection that carries over into the rest of their school day. During the school day, children need regular opportunities to play, socialize, rest, and re-energize. These opportunities improve mood, well-being, resilience, and social harmony -...
Center for the Developing Child – Harvard University
This site has a great deal of valuable instructional information on what parents and caretakers of children can do to optimize their children's development. Be sure to check out, under the "Science" menu the "Key Concepts" topics, particularly the material on "Serve & Return" which explains how particular types of...
Why play matters – Family Lives
Family Lives provides targeted early intervention and crisis support to families who are struggling. The issues we support families with include family breakdown, challenging relationships and behaviour, debt, and emotional and mental wellbeing. Family Lives was formed over forty years ago by volunteers, with the aim of ensuring that all...
Challenge Success
Challenge Success is an organization based in Palo Alto, Calif., that helps schools make research-backed changes to improve children's mental health. OUR MISSION Challenge Success partners with schools, families, and communities to embrace a broad definition of success and to implement research-based strategies that promote student well-being and engagement with...
WINGS -Helping Kids Soar
Our mission is to equip at-risk kids with the skills they need to succeed in school, stay in school, and thrive in life. THE NEED Growing up is tough, growing up without the resources and support you need is even tougher. Low-income kids oftentimes experience significant trauma, are exposed to...
Defending the Early Years
Our mission is to work for a just, equitable, and quality early childhood education for every young child, by informing educators, administrators, and parents about how children develop and learn best and advocating for the active, playful, experiential approaches to learning informed by child development theory and evidence-based research. DEY's...
Early Years Alliance
The Early Years Alliance is the largest and most representative early years membership organisation in England. A registered educational charity, we represent 14,000 members and support them to deliver care and learning to over 800,000 families every year. - We offer information and advice. - We produce specialist publications. -...
IPA – International Play Association – World
IPA is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961. It provides a forum for exchange and action across disciplines and across sectors. IPA member groups initiate a wide variety of projects that promote the child's right to play, with members in close to 50 countries. These include seminars, conferences, study...
IPA – International Play Association – USA
IPA-USA carries forth the mission of its parent organization, IPA World. To accomplish the Vision, Mission, and Guiding Principles, IPA-USA does the following: Advocates for the ratification by the USA on the Convention of the Rights of the Child Acts as a resource for other national and international organizations and...
Kaboom!
Our Mission We unite with communities to build kid-designed playspaces that can spark joy and foster a sense of belonging for the kids who are often denied opportunities to thrive. Our mission: end playspace inequity for good.
Learning Policy Institute
The Learning Policy Institute conducts and communicates independent, high-quality research to improve education policy and practice. Working with policymakers, researchers, educators, community groups, and others, the Institute seeks to advance evidence-based policies that support empowering and equitable learning for each and every child. Nonprofit and nonpartisan, the Institute connects policymakers...
Let Grow
We Are Leading the Movement for Childhood Independence Let Grow believes today's kids are smarter and stronger than our culture gives them credit for. We reject the idea that they are in constant physical, emotional or psychological danger from creeps, kidnapping, germs, grades, flashers, frustration, failure, baby snatchers, bugs, bullies,...
Learning Through Play – Lego Foundation
Children already know play is their superpower. We’re here to convince the grown-ups Children are born scientists and explorers Watch children play and you’ll see them experiment, imagine, work together, and overcome emotional ups and downs. They’re stretching their minds as well as their muscles. They’re learning. And they’re picking...
PlayBoard NI
PlayBoard NI is an independent charity and the lead organisation for the development and promotion of children and young people's play in Northern Ireland. OUR MISSION Leading the Play Agenda. OUR CORE VALUES 1. We believe that play is a fundamental right of childhood and is central to children and...
PlayWorks
Playworks has been helping educators re-think playtime since 1995 We help kids to stay active and build valuable life skills through play. Playworks brings out the best in kids, through play Playtime is kids' time. But schools can and should create play environments that help kids be their best. Studies...
TASP – The Association for the Study of Play
The Association for the Study of Play (TASP) is the premier professional organization in academia dedicated to interdisciplinary research and theory construction concerning play throughout the world. Presently the Association publishes a quarterly newsletter titled Play Review and an annual volume titled Play & Culture Studies. The Association's broad multidisciplinary...
The Alliance for Self-Directed Education
Imagine what would happen if, instead of sending children to conventional schools where their natural ways of learning are curtailed, we provided them with the resources that would allow their curiosity, playfulness, and other natural ways of learning to flourish. That is "Self-Directed-Education" (SDE): education that derives from the self-chosen...
