I am taking a couple of days off to attend The Sandbox Summit in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Kids still play dress-up and build with Legos but many also play interactive games and use computers. The non-profit Sandbox Summit looks at how play is changing media and media is changing play, exploring how children today move seamlessly through multiple dimensions in their pursuit of fun. Innovators in children’s media, books, toys, virtual worlds, and education will share what they think are the new playrooms for 21st century literacy.

I expect I will have lots to share when I return and look forward to continuing the conversation at the upcoming Raising Kids in a Digital World event. See you soon!

While I am away enjoy posts from contributing writer Katy Killilea.

Good things happening in Providence and beyond. Edesia, a non-profit producer of life-saving Ready-to-Use Foods (RUFs), is the recipient of a $2 million multi-year grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Under the grant, Edesia will produce more than 300 metric tons of Nutributter® in 2010 designed to enhance the growth and motor development of children aged 6 to 24 months and used as a complement to traditional food. The packets will ensure the proper growth and cognitive development of more than 100,000 children by preventing the devastating effects of malnutrition. The grant was awarded through USAID’s Office of Food for Peace through the International Food Relief Partnership (IFRP) program.

Ready-to-Use Foods (RUFs) are important in developing countries because they do not need to be refrigerated or mixed with water. Children can open it and eat it directly. In addition to producing Nutributter® Edesia makes other RUF’s including Plumpy’nut® made with peanuts, sugar, milk powder, oils, vitamins and minerals and has all the essential fats, proteins and nutrients that a child need to overcome malnutrition and develop.

“Malnutrition affects 178 million children and results in more than five million child deaths each year. With Nutributter® and other RUFs, we now have a solution that addresses this silent crisis and allows us to take action during the most critical time in children’s lives,” said Navyn Salem, Executive Director of Edesia.

ABOUT EDESIA

Edesia is a new non-profit based in Providence, RI, and a sister organization to Industrial Revelation in Tanzania. Edesia is dedicated to U.S. production of Plumpy’nut® and other Ready-to-Use Foods (RUFs) designed to prevent and treat malnutrition in the developing world. Edesia will collaborate on nutrition research as well as support local producers of RUF in countries most affected by malnutrition.To learn more about Edesia go to www.edesiallc.org.

By Carly Loeper, Exhibit & Program Developer, Providence Children’s Museum

What makes a great plaything? At the Children’s Museum, this question is always on our minds as we select toys and materials for our programs, exhibits and Gift Shop. If, as Fred Rogers said, “Play is really the work of childhood,” then toys are children’s tools, for self-expression, pretending, and learning about themselves and how they fit in the world.

Open-Ended
I asked Museum staff and visitors which toys have had staying power in their children’s lives and noticed trends: Legos®, costumes, yarn for crafting, Play-Doh, trucks and small figurines, drawing paper and pencils. The American Academy of Pediatrics also advocates for these “true toys, such as blocks and dolls, with which children use their imagination fully, over passive toys that require limited imagination.”

A passive toy with a media tie-in, back story or computer-chipped flashiness doesn’t allow the child to bring it to life. The toys that spark creativity are the ones that let the child initiate how they will be used, that can be played with in lots of different ways. One parent shared a memory of how her now-teenage son surprised her by taking to an old-fashioned stick-and-hoop toy: “I loved watching him. He did everything with that toy – roll it, bang on it, hula hoop with it.”

Active Engagement
Another mother shared a favorite of her three boys: a wooden train set, emphasizing that it was “the kind you can put together yourself and push along the track.  They love to be creative on their own.”  Toys that have the best play value require active engagement.  Making connections between their hands and their brains, children develop hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills as they manipulate their environments and gain mastery. Toys like balls and scooters encourage kids to get moving and give them opportunities to use their bodies and take risks.

The Real Thing
As children explore the roles of the adult world, look for chances to let them experiment with real stuff. For the young school-age artist, assemble art supplies fit for a grown-up with quality colored pencils and a sketch book. Give handy boys and girls a collection of simple tools, chunky nuts and bolts, and a tape measure, and young doctors a kit of bandages, a stethoscope and other supplies.

Great playthings inspire, let the child direct the play and can be returned to again and again.

Resources

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Children these days  are scheduled with so many structured activities and often plugged into electronics daily—joined with a parent’s concern for their child’s safety—children seem to have very little free play time left outside (or in) to wander at their own pace and make discoveries without the help or guidance of an adult. The importance of open-ended play is being discussed more and more these days and parents are being reminded to help provide open play opportunities for their children. I am glad people are talking and taking action on this matter.

In the news: Julia Steiny, education columnist for the The Providence Journal wrote a piece about the importance of open-ended play and Providence Children’s Museum’s role in providing creative play spaces and encouraging greater understanding about the need for unstructured play. Thank you, Julie and Janice for the nice mention of Kidoinfo being a play resource for families. Read full article here at ProJo.com: R.I. Children’s Museum tries to encourage open-ended play

Providence Children’s Museum also recently launched a PlayWatch listserv. This is a great way to facilitate an open exchange of ideas and information on the subject of play. There have already been many interesting discussions taking place there. Sign up for the list using the link above if you’d like to join the conversation!

Kidoinfo is filled with ideas and ways to create play opportunities for your kids and lists places where they can play. Check the calendar, search the directory, and read from our archives.
Related story: Play Everywhere by Geoff Griffin

By Elyse Major

If you are a new mom or mom-to-be feeling overwhelmed and isolated, or maybe depressed, then Families First Rhode Island (Families First) may help to provide you with the comfort you need. Families First is a grassroots non-profit organization that pairs moms of newborns with highly trained volunteer mentor moms. Volunteer moms are compassionate, nurturing women who provide a shoulder to lean on. Services are free-of-charge to families throughout Rhode Island, regardless of insurance status.

Caring for a baby can be challenging
The challenges of new motherhood can be compounded by additional stressors like financial problems, health issues, and single parenting. Not everyone has a local support system to reach out to. That’s where Families First can help.

Since its inception in January 2008, Families First has successfully matched over sixty moms with volunteer mentor moms. The goal of the program is to restore confidence in the mother by offering her non-judgmental support, and to promote supportive relationships within her community. Feedback from both moms and mentor moms alike reveals a great sense of satisfaction from time spent together.

Being a Volunteer Mentor Mom can be a rewarding experience for many moms who have “been there and done that”
As a non-judgmental and caring mentor, volunteers provide a mom with support and compassion. The mentor mom meets with her new mom for approximately one hour per week for the baby’s first year. During visits, new moms can talk about concerns and ask questions confidentially with their mentor. Mentor support does not include chores, babysitting, or cooking meals.

First Saturdays
Families First holds voluntary monthly gatherings on the first Saturday of every month. These gatherings are a great opportunity for moms to meet other moms and receive information about parenting issues. Gatherings are open to Family First moms, their families and friends.

To be a volunteer mom, or a mom who may need support, please go to www.familiesfirstri.orgor contact: Sally Harrison, Clinical Program Director at 1-401-383-9933 or sally@familiesfirstri.org

Elyse Major lives in northern Rhode Island with her husband and 2 sons. A “mostly” stay-at-home mom, Elyse works as a communications consultant for Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island. In her fragments of spare time, Elyse can be found blogging or creating items to sell.

Photo Credit Linda Hawkins Photography, LLC

The Details:
Location: Lincoln Schools Ebner, Elson, Hart Music Center – 301 Butler Avenue, Providence, RI
When: Wednesday, February 4 from 6:30 to 8:30 PM
(This film was rescheduled to tonight because of last weeks snow storm.)
Cost: Free
For more information about the screening, contact Giovonne Calenda at gcalenda@lincolnschool.org.

There is a growing concern among pediatricians, mental health experts, educators and environmentalists that more and more children are growing up today with little or no opportunity for unstructured play, especially outdoors. A new documentary film, Where Do the Children Play? examines this issue. Providence Children’s Museum joins Lincoln School and Southside Community Landtrust to present a free public screening of this film. An audience discussion about the ideas explored in the film will follow.

Read more about the film.

Rescheduled to: Wednesday, February 4 from 6:30 to 8:30 PM

There is a growing concern among pediatricians, mental health experts, educators and environmentalists that more and more children are growing up today with little or no opportunity for unstructured play, especially outdoors. A new documentary film, Where Do the Children Play? examines this issue. Providence Children’s Museum joins Lincoln School and Southside Community Landtrust to present a free public screening of this film on Wednesday, January 28. An audience discussion about the ideas explored in the film will follow.

Where Do the Children Play? grew out of Elizabeth Goodenough’s work on “secret spaces of childhood” at the University of Michigan. The film was written and directed by Christopher Cook and produced by Michigan Television.

“Children need free time every day to discover their own abilities, desires, and limitations,” says Goodenough, who also edited the film’s companion volume, A Place for Play. “Open-ended exploration and play in woods, fields, vacant lots, or other semi-wild spaces enhances curiosity and confidence throughout life.”

A marked decline in children’s spontaneous and creative play is a key factor in their increasing mental health problems, according to a recent statement from an international group of educators and children’s advocates. They called for “a wide-ranging and informed public dialogue about the intrinsic nature and value of play in children’s healthy development.”

Their letter echoed a recent warning from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP): children have far too little time for unstructured play, which leads to increased stress in their lives. Causes of the demise of play cited by the group include parental fears of “stranger danger” and the explosion of electronic entertainment—to the point of addiction for some—in the lives of today’s children. These and other issues are explored in the film.

The lead author of the AAP report, Dr. Kenneth Ginsburg of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, appears in the documentary, along with Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods, British “playworker” Penny Wilson, and other experts in child development, psychology, and urban planning.

Most striking, however, are the scenes of children themselves engaged in the rapt state of self-directed play and then talking about the importance of time and opportunity for free play in their increasingly hectic lives.

The Details:
Where Do the Children Play?
Location: Lincoln School’s Ebner, Elson, Hart Music Center – 301 Butler Avenue, Providence, RI
When: Wednesday, January 28, 2009 from 6:30 – 8:30 PM
RESCHEDULED: Wednesday, February 4 from 6:30 to 8:30 PM
Cost: Free
For more information about the screening, contact Giovonne Calenda at gcalenda@lincolnschool.org.

Related Articles on Kidoinfo:
• Play Power
• Play Everywhere

Image Credit: From the film, Where Do the Children Play?

After two months of extensive renovations – deinstalling and building exhibits, replacing windows, repairing brickwork, sanding, painting, recarpeting – the work has wrapped up and Providence Children’s Museum reopened and debuted Play Power, its newest learning environment.The major new exhibit celebrating the power of children’s play, Play Power gives kids plenty of opportunities for open-ended, unstructured play. They discover the awesome power of air by sending colorful balls and scarves winding and spiraling through giant air tubes and join friends to conduct a multi-sensory symphony at a one-of-a-kind pipe organ. At a curved metal wall, kids explore cause and effect as they form mazes from magnetic ramps, tracks and tubes and try to roll balls all the way to the end. They design vibrant patterns and pictures at a light wall that illuminates thousands of colorful pegs and build with translucent blocks on a glowing light table. Connecting hexagonal foam shapes and noodles, kids invent imaginary worlds and secret spaces in a new domed play structure.

By Janice O’Donnell, Executive Director
Providence Children’s Museum

I’m worried about children’s play. Their unstructured free time is dwindling. Schools, concerned about kids testing well, are eliminating or reducing time for recess. To keep them safe and give them extra opportunities, children are increasingly enrolled in structured out-of-school lessons and sports. Television and computer games, with their predetermined outcomes, claim huge amounts of kids’ time. Toys marketed to kids come with a Web or movie-based tie-in.

So I’m worried and I’m not alone. More and more books, articles, and research describe what is lost when children do not have ample opportunity to create their own fantasies, work out their own conflicts, make their own rules, and play just for play’s sake. The American Academy of Pediatrics reported that child-driven play is essential in every way to kids’ healthy development. The New York Times notes, “If you look at what produces learning and memory and well-being, play is as fundamental as any other aspect of life…’’ National Public Radio reported, “Playing make-believe actually helped children develop critical cognitive skills.”
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Providence Children’s Museum reopens on Tuesday, October 28, after being closed for extensive renovations. Yesterday my boys and I got a sneak peak of Play Power, a major new exhibit celebrating the power of children’s play that will be the centerpiece at next week’s reopening at the museum. The exhibit encourages kids to experiment, explore, invent, and imagine as they investigate air, light, magnets, motion, and sound. The message? Play is powerful! Although there were many pieces still being built and installed when we visited, there were a few things ready-enough for the boys to play with and get an idea of what’s to come.

Boys explore the Light Wall which looks like a giant Lite Brite. (This one is my favorite.)

Boys build with translucent plexi blocks and shapes at the Light Table.

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For over 60 years, Meeting Street has been a pioneer and leader in designing and advocating for early intervention, inclusion, education and therapeutic services for children with various needs. They are experts in childhood development and education who are committed to the success of every child.

Meeting Street is where infants, preschoolers and children of all ages and abilities receive individualized attention from highly trained, dedicated educators, therapists, and staff who work as a team, sharing strategies and identifying solutions to bring out the best in each and every child.

Find a list of summer programs here. Learn more about Meeting Street by visiting their website.