Stories of Play

Every day educators, parents and community members go above and beyond to support our children. It is with support from these wonderful people that our kids are able to shine.…

It was with the passion to make change in children’s lives that then 25-year-old Jonathan Reid moved 3,000 miles away to Los Angeles for his first cross country experience. After…

If You Can company's Trip Hawkins is the 2013 Playworks Most Playful CEO. As former CEO and Founder of the large gaming company Electronics Arts, Hawkins knows a lot about…

Principal Adam Parrott-Sheffer (Mr. P) of Mary Gage Peterson Elementary in Chicago Public Schools embodies the Playworks core value of healthy community. “We have a mechanism that families care about…

Every year at Playworks, we honor a first year Playworks program coordinator who is doing great work leading play and physical activity in their school. This person takes their service…

Both as a mother and former pediatric nurse, I see kids today spending less and less time just playing! Kids’ play should entail running, skipping, jumping and hopping, using their…

As a child, I lived for the two months each year I spent at a sleepaway sports camp in the Catskill Mountains. I loved everything about camp: the people from…

Two months after finishing my AmeriCorps service with Playworks, I moved to Egypt. I have gotten my Masters of Art in International Human Rights Law and am working as a…

Releasing today… Everyday Heroes, featuring 50 nonprofit leaders who are changing the world. Playworks CEO and Founder Jill Vialet is one of those changemakers – remarkable everyday people who care…