resources on the value of play

We Believe™ that various forms of play, recreation, and physical activity are essential throughout life as they provide a healthy life balance and greatly enrich people of all ages and abilities. We Believe™ in the importance of safer, compliant, universally accessible spaces for children and families to gather and play - in schools, back yards, and in neighborhood communities. We Believe™ play is critical to children's development and to improving the fitness of future generations.

The following resources will give you access to a wide variety of organizations, points of view, and tools to help you learn more about why and how play is such an important part of life and is critical in shaping healthy bodies and healthy minds. We Believe™ play is essential and are committed to helping you understand why.

PlayCore Resource Series: The Value of Play


Evidence and research show a clear connection between children’s play and their social, emotional, physical, and cognitive development. It is essential that professionals, educators, and parents advocate for the value of play and create healthy play opportunities that positively impact children, families, and communities. These resources provide information about the power that play has on the health, well-being, and development of children and the positive relationship that play has on learning and academic achievement. Click here to download The Value of Play Resource Sheet.

Children's Play, Play Environments, and Development
by Dr. Joe L. Frost © 2007

This is an introduction to a series of four condensed reports of research sponsored by PlayCore, conducted by Joe L. Frost, EdD, LHD; Pei-San Brown, MA; John A. Sutterby, PhD; and Candra Thornton PhD.

"The extensive body of research published throughout most of the twentieth century and into the present century supports a positive relationship between play and social, emotional, physical, and cognitive development, play and learning, and play and academic achievement. Play also has therapeutic powers, helping children to adjust to unique circumstances, and to heal from trauma. Perhaps the most compelling evidence of the power of play for children’s development is the recent studies by neuroscientists showing an overall connection between play, learning, and development. Most of the billions of neurons in the child’s brain are present for the purpose of physical, cognitive, social, emotional, and language development. The case for play is further supported by studies of play deprivation, showing that absence of play in early childhood can result in devastating consequences for development. Further, play does not steal from learning and academic success, rather early play provides the framework – the early experiences and resulting pre-concepts – essential for later development and success in school..."

Click here to view the full document (PDF).

The Importance of Play
by Tom Norquist, GameTime, and Dr. Joe L. Frost

In a recent article entitled “The Importance of Play,” Tom Norquist, Senior Vice President of Product Development, Sales and Marketing for GameTime, and Dr. Joe Frost, Parker Centennial Professor Emeritus at the University of Texas at Austin, outline the wealth of historical and contemporary sources of evidence for the critical importance of spontaneous outdoor play. From ancient Greece and Rome to the present, the authors cite research that documents the importance of play for children’s health and child development including “ healthy brain development, creativity, exploration, practicing adult roles, developing multiple competencies, handling challenges, working in groups, decision making, developing leadership skills, developing physical skills, and engaging fully and joyfully in childhood imagination and passion… [and] prevention of obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes and heart disease…”

“Play is not merely important, but is essential for healthy child development. The solutions for the ‘sedentary generation’ are neither complex nor profound.” Click here to download "The Importance of Play" (PDF).

Evaluating Play Equipment
by Anne-Marie Spencer, GameTime

How do we, as adults and providers of play environments, assure that we are offering all that a child requires in a play environment? This document helps to simplify the process of choosing and evaluating play equipment. Written by GameTime's Director of Marketing, Anne-Marie Spencer, it covers safety and design considerations, types of play, budget considerations, and more. It’s an excellent tool to help you navigate your important playground purchasing decisions.

Click here to download "Evaluating Play Equipment" (PDF).

Playground Funding Guidelines and Grant Sources Informational Packet

GameTime’s Grant Sources document contains over 75 grants that are available for assistance in the playground purchases. In the guide, grants are categorically listed by national, regional and state, as well as several international sources. Unlike many online grant libraries, this collection illustrates only grants that will consider playground funding. The document contains highlighted hot links that take you directly to the fund’s website for details. To request a copy, visit the GameTime website at www.gametime.com. To access the request form, click on "Playground Grant Information" under "More Information" on the GameTime Site Map.

The Guide to Grant Writing will help you take the mystery out of writing a successful grant. Written in simple, easy to understand terminology, it helps you gather necessary information and organize it into a grant proposal that will get noticed. It also helps avoid common mistakes that first time grant writers may make when writing a proposal.

GameTime's Project Playground Handbook


Take the first step toward making your playground a reality. GameTime’s Project Playground handbook is a comprehensive guide that contains organizational tools, fundraising ideas, sign up sheets and tips for recruiting volunteers and donors - an excellent tool to assist you in your playground fundraising!

For more information, and to request a copy, visit the GameTime website at www.gametime.com.

Online Resources

Voice of Play
The “Voice of Play” is an internet resource sponsored by the International Playground Equipment Manufacturers Association (IPEMA) in an effort to educate the public about the benefits of play. It offers information about the physical, social, emotional and cognitive benefits of play, playground certification and safety standards, a resource kit for parents and an area to ask questions to our play experts. For more information visit www.voiceofplay.com/.


The Joe L. Frost Children's Play and Play Environments Research Collection
Housed by the J.E. & L.E. Mabee Library at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas, the Joe L. Frost Children's Play and Play Environments Research Collectionis one of the most comprehensive sources of research materials for the study of childhood play and play environments in the United States. The Collection includes books, journals, papers and a variety of other materials that are applicable for study and research across a broad range of academic disciplines including psychology, sociology, anthropology, human performance, and nursing.
For more information visit the library online at www.uiw.edu/frost/index.htm.


Association for Childhood Education International
The Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI) recognizes the need for children of all ages to play and affirms the essential role of play in children's lives. ACEI believes that as today's children continue to experience pressure to succeed in all areas, the necessity for play becomes even more critical. ACEI supports all adults who respect, understand, and advocate legitimizing play as an essential pathway to learning for all populations of children. For more information visit www.acei.org/.


Play: Essential for All Children
“Decades of research has documented that play has a crucial role in the optimal growth, learning, and development of children from infancy through adolescence. Yet, this need is being challenged, and so children's right to play must be defended by all adults, especially educators and parents. The time has come to advocate strongly in support of play for all children.” Available online at
www.thefreelibrary.com./Play.+essential+for+all+children.+(A+Position+Paper+of+the+...-a093348877.


ACEI Speaks: Play’s Role in Brain Development
This brochure outlines the connections between brain development and play and offers suggestions for approaches to play that will enhance and support healthy brain development in children. By Doris Bergen. Available online at www.acei.org/brainspeaks.pdf.


Prevent school stress: Balance child's activities and play
By Faith Peppers, University of Georgia
Starting a new school year can be stressful for students. University of Georgia experts say a child’s fun after school activities can add to his or her education. But they caution parents not to overload a child's schedule, to choose activities carefully, and to remember good old fashioned playtime. Available online at http://georgiafaces.caes.uga.edu/pdf/3169.pdf.


The Value of Play: A Common Good Initiative to Restore Recreation to America's Youth
Fear of lawsuits, excessive safety regulations, and society’s growing aversion to risk have fundamentally altered the nature of play and recreation in America. Playgrounds have become boring – stripped of seesaws, swings, and jungle gyms – and recess is becoming a thing of the past. Opportunities for sledding, swimming, and diving are disappearing as well. Yet we know that play is critical to children’s physical, social, and mental health. And the loss of recreational opportunities is particularly troubling in this age of rising childhood obesity rates. Because of this, Common Good is working to protect and restore play and recreational opportunities to American life. For more information visit http://commongood.org/f-vop.html.


Government's advice to parents: make sure your child plays conkers
By Lucy Ward, social affairs correspondent, UK
It is the stuff of every grown-up's nostalgic reminiscences of childhood: epic conker showdowns, playground snowball fights and long hours playing outside, away from the watchful eyes of mum and dad. Now ministers are calling on risk-averse parents to stop "wrapping their children in cotton wool" and allow them to enjoy the delights of outdoor play and traditional rough-and-tumble fun. Available online at society.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,330213262-108861,00.html.


National Association of Early Childhood Specialists in State Departments of Education(NAECS/SDE)
RECESS AND THE IMPORTANCE OF PLAY: A Position Statement on Young Children and Recess
NAECS/SDE takes the position that recess is an essential component of education and that preschool and elementary school children must have the opportunity to participate in regular periods of active, free play with peers. For more information visit naecs.crc.uiuc.edu/position/recessplay.html.


Where Do The Children Play?
This Michigan Television production explores how children experience growing up and play in inner cities, suburban areas, and rural America, their connection to nature, and the effects of these on their intellectual and physical well-being. Why has outdoor play begun to disappear in many areas? What happens when we build communities without play spaces? Where Do the Children Play? examines the creative magic that can arise when children are allowed and encouraged to play with abandon. The film and its outreach seek to engage communities in a conversation about the role children and nature must have in order to thrive and be sustained. They seeks to build a movement based on the recognition that restrictive patterns of sprawl, endless suburbs, and a variety of other cultural factors across the nation are altering children's development. Available online at www.wfum.org/childrenplay/play.html.


ERIC Digest
The Nature of Children's Play
In play, children expand their understanding of themselves and others, their knowledge of the physical world, and their ability to communicate with peers and adults. This digest discusses children's play and its relationship to developmental growth from infancy to middle childhood. The digest also suggests ways in which educators and other adults can support children's play. Available online at www.ericdigests.org/pre-9211/nature.htm.



Fair Play for Children: Campaigning for Every Child's Rights to Play
Based in the United Kingdom, Fair Play for Children exists to promote understanding and action on every child’s right to play through developing Fair Play for Children attitudes and activities worldwide. For more information visit www.fairplayforchildren.org/.


The American Association for the Child’s Right to Play – International Play Association (IPA)
The purpose of IPA/USA is to protect, preserve, and promote play as a fundamental right for all humans. Play makes possible maximum development of self and society by facilitating creativity, individuality and, social, physical and intellectual growth. Play encompasses experiences that provide enjoyment and emotional fulfillment that will ultimately lead to productive and contributing members of society. Specific interests include environments for play emphasizing universal access, leisure time facilities, programs that develop the whole child, play leadership training, toys, and play materials. For more information visit www.ipausa.org.


Alliance for Childhood
Restoring Play
Gillian McNamee of the Erikson Institute in Chicago describes the ability to play as one of four vital signs of a child's health and well-being, the others being patterns of eating, sleeping, and toileting. Yet parents, educators, and health professionals report a steady decline in children's ability to generate imaginative play. The Alliance is committed to restoring play for children of all ages (and adults, too). At the same time, they are placing a special emphasis on returning play to preschool and kindergarten education, where it fosters physical and social development, language development, imagination, and creative thinking, and enhances all forms of learning. For more information visit www.allianceforchildhood.net/projects/play/index.htm.


Strong National Museum of Play®
The second-largest children’s museum in the United States and one of the nation’s largest history museums, the Strong National Museum of Play® boasts one the most comprehensive assemblages of dolls, toys, and other objects of play in the world. Their website includes some excellent resources about play, the benefits of play, and the role of recess and play in supporting learning. The resources about play are available online at http://www.strongmuseum.org/about_play/index.html.