Exciting News from the Playful Pittsburgh Collaborative
As the summer winds to a close and we look to a new season of play, the Playful Pittsburgh Collaborative has lots of playful news to report!
Work on the Elizabeth Street Parklet and Hazelwood Play Trail continues! Once planting and paving are complete, we'll host a community day in late September/early October. Stay tuned!
Our Recess Advocacy Team is hard at work looking at next steps. Sign up for our newsletter (first one coming soon!) to learn more.
We are in planning stages for a Play Convening to happen in Pittsburgh in October. Some goals are to deepen understanding about playful communities and the value of playful learning as well as to share our regional story of play as a change agent. More information coming soon.
We also continue to highlight playful opportunities in and around our region. Check out our events below!
Visit our website to learn more!
Events (Playful Pittsburgh Collaborative hosting or participating)
Alphabet Trail and Tales
Saturday, September 8, 2018
10:00am to 1:00pm
Blue Slide Park
Beechwood Blvd. at Nicholson Street
Sunday, September 9, 2018
11:00am to 2:00pm
Wightman Park
5612 Solway Street
Buzzword Pgh Talk & Play in Hazelwood
Tuesday, September 18, 2018
6:00pm to 7:00pm
KaBOOM! Playground and Elizabeth St. Parklet
5113 Lytle Street
Member Spotlight
Each month we will spotlight one of our wonderful partners and the work they do through audio collected and edited by SLB Radio.
Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy - Click the name to hear conservancy staff discuss the importance of play in their work. Pittsbourgh Parks Conservancy is a founding member of the Playful Pittsburgh Collaborative!
Monthly Blog
This article is part of our Member Blog Series, which showcases Playful Pittsburgh Collaborative Members' efforts and commitment to ensure that play is a critical element in the lives of people of all ages. Each month, a different member organization will share their take on how play is a part of the work they do.
September 1, 2018
Playful Pittsburgh Collaborative Member Blog
Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse
Work Your Creative Muscles by Choosing to Reuse!
Our Creative Education Team meets a lot of people (especially adults!) who claim they aren’t creative. We respectfully but emphatically disagree! We believe that everyone has the capacity to be creative, they simply need to exercise their creative muscles. Play is a wonderful way to do this. Using reclaimed materials to enhance play can take this “creative workout” even further.
Most of our Creative Education activities are, in one way or another, a form of Loose Parts Play. Loose parts are wonderful for so many reasons: they are open-ended, they are movable, they are captivating, and they can be revisited again and again with different results. They provoke exploration and risk-taking.
“Ritual grew up in sacred play; poetry was born in play and nourished on play; music and dancing were pure play.... We have to conclude, therefore, that civilization is, in its earliest phases, played. It does not come from play...it arises in and as play, and never leaves it.”
— Johan Huizinga (Dutch Historian)
