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How playful is your city or town?

Playful City USA is a national recognition program honoring cities and towns that make play a priority and use innovative programs to get children active, playing, and healthy. Learn more about how your city or town can qualify for designation.

Facts about the 2013 Playful City USA communities:

  • 217 cities in 43 states
  • 16 Founding Cities are recognized for a seventh year as Playful City USA communities
  • 37 cities and towns have earned Playful City USA designation for the first time

What is Playful City USA?

Playful City USA, sponsored by the Humana Foundation, is a national recognition program honoring cities and towns investing in children through play. Recognized Cities and Towns make a commitment to play by developing tailored local action plans that increase access to play in their community. As a result, some of the most innovative programs and policies are developed and implemented in Playful City USA communities.

How does a city qualify for designation?

Playful City USA designees map local playspaces, complete a needs assessment, and develop and action plan that identifies a minimum of three policies, programs, or initiatives aimed at increasing access to play at school, in neighborhoods, and through community engagement.

 

Benefits of Playful City USA designation

  • Two Playful City USA highway road signs.
  • Connections to a network of city, municipal, and play thought leaders.
  • Access to on-line trainings and best practices and toolkits.
  • Playful City USA designation is embraced and highlighted by realtors, local Chambers of Commerce, Visitor Bureaus, developers and investors to highlight your community as a great place to live and raise healthy and happy children.

 

Playful stories from our cities

Imagination Playground in Yuma

Posted by Danielle Vetter on December 20, 2012

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Playful City USA founding city Yuma, Arizona has been making play a priority for its residents since 2007.  In order to increase the number of children in the community with access to play, Yuma applied for and received an Imagination Playground in a Box, an innovative new tool that brings a whole new type of play to children.

The Imagination Playground consists of three main elements to make the most beneficial and fun experience for children. Imagination Playground is a manipulable environment, meaning children can use multiple different materials to create the environment they want to play in. Imagination Playground uses Loose Parts that allow each play session to become its own new adventure. Finally, Imagination Playground features trained Play Associates that create a friendly, safe, and secure setting for children to enjoy.

When local teacher Jenna Watson (a supporter of the Playful City USA program) heard about the Imagination Playground grants from KaBOOM!, she urged fellow teachers to make time for the Imagination Playground in their classrooms. The play time with the Imagination Playground was a success because children loved the freeness and creativity they accessed during their time with the materials.

Yuma brings their Imagination Playground in a Box, fondly called “the Box,” to a variety of different community events such as park dedications, the annual Taco Festival, teen night, and the Come Out & Play Day

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Coventry gets safe

Posted by Danielle Vetter on December 12, 2012

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Coventry, Connecticut takes safety seriously. This Playful City USA community is taking a number of different action steps to ensure all children and families using Coventry playspaces have a safe and enjoyable experience.

April 23-27th is Playground Safety Week. By partnering with the local schools, Coventry is able to communicate with students and parents about how to play safe. Coventry is working with Parks and Recreation staff, parents, daycare providers, summer-camp staff, and teachers to promote their new Playground Supervision program. By using a certified playground safety inspector, all those interested will have the opportunity to learn about how to keep kids playing happy and safe.

The city is also working with the local library through a new display highlighting the city’s Playful City USA recognition. Coventry has also hired Sandra Libby for readings of her book “Hey, Let’s Play!,” a children’s book that focuses on playground safety. To help with public safety and encouraging exercise, new town trail maps will be available online to encourage outside play for all ages.

By helping educate the public on playground safety and the importance of maintenance, the city of Coventry is helping maintain public trust in public playspaces. This educational campaign will raise a greater awareness for all Parks & Recreation programs as well as the importance of play in daily routines.

If a playground is not up to the standards that parents expect, Coventry encourages parents to use the KaBOOM! Tag! app on their mobile phones to rate the playspace. By generating a community consensus, Coventry can focus their efforts on improving the lowest rated playgrounds.

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Play in the street

Posted by [field_author-raw] on December 6, 2012

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Moorhead, Minnesota, a Playful City USA community, is the home of the Healthy People Initiative (HPI). The organization focuses on making healthy changes to the community through childcare, schools, and most importantly, through play. HPI works to encourage healthy eating and the development of positive habits that children can use through their entire life.

To increase local awareness of parks, play programs, and the importance of play, HPI hosts a one of a kind play day called StreetsAlive! The city of Moorhead closes three miles of streets, banning automobiles from entering. Instead of cars, the streets become full of children, runners, bikers, skateboarders, inline skating and more. The theme of this year’s event was “Play 60 Minutes Every Day,” urging residents to make play a part of their everyday routine.

In addition to letting the residents play in the streets, the play day featured a number of adventure stations where residents could stop to participate in fun activities such as fitness classes, organized games, watching demonstrations, and enjoying delicious and healthy foods. Attendees of all ages enjoyed a community wide celebration. Capturing the spirit of the Playful City USA program, Moorhead shows the entire community that human powered fun is the best way to spend a day.

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