According to Coach Amber, an AmeriCorps member and Playworks program coordinator at the Lee Academy Pilot School in Dorchester, "every day is a...
Why Play Matters
The Power of Play
Bring Play To Your City
From The Field
Playworks served with Habitat For Humanity on the National Day of Service to help repaint houses and build a fence around an East Oakland low-...
Play is children’s important work. The motivation to play is hardwired in the growing brain as an essential activity for developing skills that contribute directly to learning: adaptability, creativity, mastery and connecting with others, for example.
Scientists from a wide variety of fields are now documenting the importance of play:
A study published by Einstein University researcher Romina Barros, M.D., in Pediatrics, journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, examined data on 110,000 third graders. The children, and equal number of girls and boys, were divided into two categories: those with no or minimal recess (less than 15 minutes a day) and those with more than 15 minutes a day. It found that the children who received more recess behaved better and were more likely to learn more.
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, free, unstructured play is essential for keeping children healthy, and for helping them reach important social, emotional, and cognitive developmental milestones. Unstructured play also helps kids manage stress and become resilient.
Playworks supports play at hundreds of schools across the country, helping to transform recess into a tool to support learning. Our coaches become part of the school family, getting to know the students and staff and helping to make the playground a virtual classroom where students learn teamwork, conflict resolution, creative problem solving and other life lessons that stretch beyond traditional classroom activities. The result is a stronger learning community and a more positive educational environment.
