Improving the health and well-being of children through safe, meaningful play
Playworks strengthens the social, emotional, and physical development of children—and supports learning—by providing safe, healthy and inclusive play and physical activity to low-income schools at recess. Playworks teaches children to resolve their own conflicts that arise at recess and carry over to the classroom, restoring valuable teaching and learning time and preventing bullying.
RWJF believes that investing in physical, social, and emotional development in children is critical to forging a healthier future in America. Playworks takes a completely new and radical approach to play as a positive force for children’s development–transforming recess into an opportunity for children to grow physically, socially and emotionally. This can also enhance children’s learning, thus contributing to their future health as adults. RWJF is supporting the national expansion of Playworks, as well as an evaluation of how well the model improves children’s physical, social, and academic skills.
At a Capitol Hill Briefing on February 27, RWJF shared results from a randomized trial which found that a healthy recess with Playworks reduced bullying and exclusionary behavior and helped students transition back to classroom learning.
Congratulations to Playworks Founder Jill Vialet for receiving a 2013 Leadership award from the James Irvine Foundation. The Leadership Awards are given to six Californians who are successfully addressing some of the state’s most critical challenges.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recently released a policy statement asserting that recess is a crucial component of a child’s development. Playworks puts a trained coach in elementary schools to engage every kid in fun, active play. At Playworks schools, bullying is reduced and kids return from the playground to the classroom more focused and ready to learn.
In a Philadelphia Social Innovations Review article, Playworks CEO and Founder Jill Vialet and Philadelphia Executive Director Marjorie Nightingale discuss both the strategies for getting Playworks established locally and scaling the program and movement nationally. The vision? Schoolchildren across the nation can engage in healthy play, every day.
Playworks, a grantee of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, provides children at elementary schools across the nation with the opportunity to engage in healthy play every day. Their approach, which transforms school climates in ways that help kids be more healthy and ready to learn, was on display in Times Square through November 2012.
Strengthening recess transforms the school climate, paving the way for less bullying and more focus on learning, according to new evaluation findings from Mathematica Policy Research and Stanford University.
Jill Vialet believes that playing is essential to human development, and addresses significant education reform issues by encouraging greater creativity and problem-solving skills. This approach, she says, creates learning environments where kids feel safer, more engaged, and more connected.
In this Gallup poll, school principals reported overwhelmingly that recess has a strong positive impact on academic achievement.
Read the report
Recess offers nearly half of the available opportunity to promote physical activity among kids during the school year. Trying to improve children’s health without focusing on recess forfeits our best chance for reaching students with the greatest need.
Read the reportPlayworks is improving the health and well-being of children through safe, meaningful play.
$8,488,328.00 awarded to Playworks- Supporting Playworks in expanding operations to every major metropolitan area in the United States
$1,256,384.00 awarded to Playworks- Expanding the randomized experiment of Playworks
$552,859.00 awarded to Playworks- Evaluating physical activity in the randomized experiment of Playworks
$1,765,656.00 awarded to Playworks- Evaluating Playworks' model that uses exercise and play to maximize students' physical, social and academic skills
April 11, 2013 - Edutopia: A safe and healthy recess supports physical activity and social and emotional learning, preempts bullying and develops "soft skills" like teamwork, cooperation, and empathy.
February 4, 2013 - Fast Company's Co.Exist profiles the work of Playworks and how new studies show that one of the best ways to help educational performance is to let kids play more.
February 1, 2013 - Playworks founder Jill Vialet speaks with The Next Woman Magazine about social enterprises, Playworks and her relationship with RWJF.
December 23, 2012 - More than 400 elementary school kids turned the Detroit Lions' field into one big playground December 22, 2012, showing off the innovative recess activities they've learned through Playworks.
December 12, 2012 - This New York Times summary of notable causes and nonprofits mentions the work Playworks is doing to improve recess and early education.
