Play Partners

Playworks believes that all children deserve the opportunity to engage in safe and healthy play. We are excited about partnering with others who share this belief and recognize the positive benefits that investing in safe and healthy play can have in communities across the country. We seek to collaborate with and celebrate the successes of a range of partners focused on serving youth, changing adult practice, influencing decision-makers, and building awareness around this issue. If you are interested in making safe and healthy play a reality for many more kids each day please consider joining us in this effort.

Please get in touch if you are interested in being part of a broader effort to make safe and healthy play a reality for kids across the country.


The Action for Healthy Kids network seeks to mobilize school professionals, families, and communities to take actions that lead to healthy eating, physical activity, and healthier schools where kids thrive.

Playworks is excited to be a part of the broader AFHK coalition as a national member given the alignment in our missions and the opportunity to bring our shared tools and resources to many more schools across the country.

 

Active Schools is a national movement that aims to ensure that kids participate in at least 60 minutes of physical activity per day in K-12 schools across the country. Active Schools provides resources and tools to help schools increase physical education and physical activity opportunities for kids.  Active Schools is housed within Action for Healthy Kids,a network that seeks to mobilize school professionals, families, and communities to take actions that lead to healthy eating, physical activity, and healthier schools where kids thrive.

Playworks is a partner in the Active Schools movement and is excited to collaborate with the range of organizations involved in this effort.  As part of our collaboration with Active Schools, we are offering enrolled schools a 10% discount on our Power of Play workshop which is one of our most popular trainings. We have worked together to share play-based resources with educators in the Active Schools network.  Learn more

The Alliance for a Healthier Generation aims to empower kids to develop lifelong, healthy habits by equipping adults in schools and community groups with the tools they need to transform the conditions and systems that lead to healthier kids.

The Alliance for a Healthier Generation and Playworks are teaming up to increase awareness of and resources for social and emotional development among kids in schools and out-of-school time.

America’s Promise Alliance is devoted to helping  create the conditions for success for all young people, including the millions currently being left behind. Their work is powered by the belief that all children are capable of learning and thriving, and that every individual, institution and sector shares the responsibility to help young people succeed.

America’s Promise and Playworks are partnering to share play-based approaches that support social and emotional development among kids in schools as a part of the Every School Healthy campaign. Visit the EverySchoolHealthy.org to learn more about what it takes to make every school a place where young people feel safe, supported and empowered.

The Aspen Institute National Commission for Social Emotional Learning and Academic Development was created to engage communities in re-envisioning learning to encompass its social, emotional, and cognitive dimensions so that all children can succeed in schools, career, and life. The Commission’s members are leaders from education, research, policy, business, and the military. The Commission has energized a wide-ranging coalition of actors and organizations that are committed to making the social, emotional, and cognitive dimensions of learning part of the fabric of every school and community.

Playworks has participated in the Commission’s exploration of how to make social, emotional, and academic development part of the fabric of every school. The Commission and Playworks also partnered to spread awareness about the linkages between play and social and emotional skill development during the launch of the National Commission’s final report From a Nation at Risk to a National at Hope in January 2019.    

For more than 150 years, Boys & Girls Clubs of America (GreatFutures.org) has enabled young people most in need to achieve great futures as productive, caring, responsible citizens. Today, more than 4,300 Clubs serve 4.3 million young people annually through Club membership and community outreach. They provide a safe place, caring adult mentors, fun, friendship and high-impact youth development programs on a daily basis during critical non-school hours. Priority programs emphasize Academic Success, Good Character & Citizenship, and Healthy Lifestyles.  Learn more at Facebook and Twitter.

Playworks and BGCA are teaming up to provide professional training services that share a complementary set of play leadership essentials and strategies with national BGC trainers and instructor trainers that can be integrated into BGCA’s ongoing training programs.  

The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) is the world’s leading organization advancing the practice of promoting integrated academic, social, and emotional learning for all children. CASEL’s efforts are focused in three areas: research to build the evidence base; practice to implement, refine, and demonstrate high-quality SEL in school districts, and create scalable tools and resources; and state and federal policy to help create the conditions for success nationwide.

Playworks has provided the Power of Play workshops to selected schools in CASEL’s Collaborating District Initiative, sharing knowledge about how to build social emotional skills through play.  

Centervention® believes that every student deserves an opportunity to be successful in the classroom and in life.  They accomplish this by providing online games to help students in grades K-8 improve social and emotional skills. These games are fun for students, automatically gather data so educators can monitor progress, and include supplemental lessons to reinforce learning. With Centervention®, educators can meet students where they are, address their unique needs, and do so in a fun, effective way.

Playworks and Centervention® have partnered to share play-based resources that support social and emotional development with educators across the country.

As the nation’s health protection agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) saves lives and protects people from health, safety, and security threats.

CDC has developed a nationally used tool called the School Health Index to help schools improve their health and safety policies and programs.  Playworks provided input on strategies for recess and safe and healthy play in schools for this tool given our expertise in this area.

EduPaths is a free professional development portal for educators in Michigan and beyond. These on-demand courses are designed to expand understanding on a wide variety of topics and help educators share best practices. Courses are available online and are completely self-paced and intended to help educators personalize their own learning plan anytime and anywhere.

 

EduPaths and Playworks collaborated to design an introductory course about the power of play, which presents a number of strategies that teachers can leverage to integrate play into their classrooms.  To get the most out of this course we recommend completing the Recess Checkup and visiting the EduPaths portal to enroll.

Since 2001 the Greater Good Science Center (GGSC) has been at the fore of a  new scientific movement to explore the roots of happy and compassionate individuals, strong social bonds, and altruistic behavior – the science of a meaningful life.  GGSC sponsors ground-breaking research into social and emotional well-being and helps people apply this research in their personal and professional lives.

GGSC and Playworks have partnered to share resources for play-based approaches that support social and emotional development among kids in schools with their community.

Good Sports gives all kids the lifelong benefits of sport and physical activity by providing new equipment, apparel and footwear to those most in need.

Playworks has partnered with Good Sports and their equipment kit program to share our game guide and Recess Checkup alongside the equipment kits donated to schools in the Good Sports network. For more information please visit www.goodsports.org.

The National Network of State Teachers of the Year (NNSTOY) is a network of State Teachers of the Year and Finalists who use their teacher leadership to ensure that every student receives an outstanding education. NNSTOY seeks to improve student learning across the nation by defining, sharing and advocating for effective teaching practices and policies.

Playworks has partnered with NNSTOY to share resources for play-based approaches that support social and emotional development among kids with educators in their network and has also participated to share strategies around safe and healthy play at NNSTOY’s annual conference.

The School-Based Health Alliance works to improve the health of children and youth by advancing and advocating for school-based health care given the belief that great things can happen when health and education come together.

Playworks and School Based Health Alliance have partnered to share resources for play-based approaches that support social and emotional development and physical well-being among kids in schools.

StriveTogether is a national nonprofit working to improve education across the country for every child. The organization helps a network of 70 communities get better results for six cradle-to-career goals and close gaps by race, income, gender and zip code. StriveTogether coaches and connects partners to solve problems with data; uses a rigorous approach to define and measure progress; and pushes people on changing behavior for lasting change.

Playworks has supported StriveTogether in sharing measurement frameworks and tools that can help communities develop and deepen their respective approaches around social emotional learning.

Transforming Education (TransformEd) supports educators in fostering the development of the whole child so that all students, particularly those from underserved populations, can thrive. They envision a future in which all students become thriving adults, able and empowered to lead personally meaningful lives and to contribute to their communities.  TransformEd partners with educators to identify and implement evidence-based practices and policies that create positive learning environments and support students’ social-emotional development.

Playworks has supported TransformEd to share resources for play-based approaches that support social and emotional development among kids in schools.  

Wide Open School by Common Sense Media was established to support educators and families in response to the pandemic and the transition to virtual learning. Wide Open School is a free collection of the best online learning experiences for kids curated by the editors at Common Sense. The site curates and organizes resources from over 25 partner organizations so teachers and families can easily find it and plan each day.

Playworks has contributed games, videos, and other resources to help families and educators keep kids active and engaging in safe and healthy play every day.