Play creates essential opportunities for children

The vision for every child in America
1200_ 4/23/12 - You know when Chris Pelley brags about this organization and then Forbes names the Playworks Founder to Forbes List of Top Social Entrepreneurs, we had to learn more. We're talking with Jill Vialet, CEO PLAYWORKS and Andrea Woolley, Denver Executive Director, PLAYWORKS. They've been here in Denver for two years and their work has been very successful as you'll hear. First we want to give you an overview of what Playworks does. Jill started Playworks 15 years ago. The key insight is that play and recess in particular, at schools, is this untapped opportunity of really promoting learning and getting kids moving. Currently Playworks is based in 300 schools across the country full time, and then provides training in 400 additional schools. The vision is that one day, every child in America will have access to safe, healthy play every day. Play creates essential opportunities for children to explore their imaginations, to connect with other people and to stretch and grow physically, emotionally and socially. Our experience is that diminishing opportunities for unsupervised play in our society have left kids with a very thin understanding of how to manage their own play and that it is important to have grown-ups introduce some basic rules to make play work. Playworks builds the culture of play at a school so that kids feel safe and included. This means that soccer games aren't running through four-square games, for instance. We also introduce games that that encourage kids themselves to take ever-increasing responsibility for the quality of play and for each other. Ultimately our unique brand of play fosters greater independence and leadership among children. Just yesterday Playworks announced, Stanford University released preliminary findings of a study from the first year - and there were statistically significant findings around reducing bullying...Listen for more, these kids will be your teammates in years to come...
Related Links: PLAYWORKS || Podcasting Directory || CIMCO || Social Entrepreneurs || Community Reach || Keywords: Jill Vialet, Andrea Woolley, Playworks, Essential Opportunities, Safe, Healthy Play, Bullies, Stanford University, Chris Pelley, CIMCO - bytes=6311500
LISTEN TO: Jill Valet & Andrea Woolley, PLAYWORKS

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