PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
The professional education component of play:groundNYC’s programming is designed to disseminate the knowledge and tools to support the many ways that children play. By collaborating with educators, caregivers and professionals who operate in fields with tremendous influence on children's lives, we hope to leverage our resources to help you foster more and better play. play:groundNYC’s professional development sessions provide examples of playwork, both theoretical and experiential, to increase the integration of self-directed play into school curricula and other environments.
“Hearing from the playworkers gave us many opportunities to connect and deepen our understandings [of play]. And the opportunity to be in the space and recall our own experiences of play grounded all that we talked about. The thoughtful interactions between playworkers and young people were so powerful. It is rare to be able to see adults being with children so respectfully.”
We have delivered professional development programs for many groups and individuals, including: The NYU Tandon School of Engineering, Montclair Kimberley Academy, Stuyvesant Heights Montessori, the NYC Department of Education, and Sarah Lawrence College’s Child Development Institute.