Pittsburgh Spray Parks Open for Season

Pittsburgh’s spray parks and playgrounds with spray features are now open for the summer. 

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Attendees do not need to have swimming skills to enjoy the spray parks, which are accessible to smaller toddlers to pre-teens.

Weather permitting, the spray parks’ hours will be 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily through mid-September.

The city’s spray parks include:

• Arlington - Arlington Playground, 1523 Fernleaf St. 

• Beechview - Vanucci Playground, 1295 Orangewood Ave.

• Burgwin - Burgwin Playground/Burgwin Field, 328 Mansion St.

• Chartiers - Chartiers Park, 3793 Chartiers Ave.

• East Hills - East Hills Park, 2300 Wilner Drive

• Paulson - Paulson Playground, 1300 Paulson Ave.

• Shadyside - Mellon Park, 6601 Fifth Ave.

• Troy Hill - Cowley Playground, 1200 Goettman St.

• Warrington - Beltzhoover, 329 Warrington Ave.

The city’s playgrounds with spray features include: Armstrong, Chadwick, Eileen McCoy, Frazier, Garland, Heth’s, Joe Natoli, Kennard, Larimer, Liberty Green Park, Leslie Park, Marmaduke, Moore Park, Nelson Mandela, Osceola, Springhill, Swisshelm Park, Wabash Park, and West Penn Park.

For more information, visit the city’s spray parks web page.

Playful Pittsburgh to Offer Games During Three Rivers Arts Festival

The Three Rivers Arts Festival will bring 10 days of free art and music to Pittsburgh’s cultural district from May 31 to June 9. This year, Playful Pittsburgh will offer games on three days during the festival.

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Playful Pittsburgh will offer games for all attendees at the Giant Eagle Foundation Backyard at 8th Street and Penn Street on the following days:

• Sunday, June 2 from noon to 6 p.m.

• Monday, June 3 from noon to 6 p.m.

• Tuesday, June 4, from noon to 6 p.m.

Playful Pittsburgh will bring oversized versions of popular games - including Connect 4, Cornhole, Jenga, and LEGO blocks. Attendees will be able to take part in an afternoon of laughter, joy, and playful competition.

Three Rivers Arts Festival

This year’s festival runs from May 31 to June 9. Hundreds of vendors selling everything from glass work and paintings to illustrations, jewelry, and pottery will be set up in Pittsburgh’s cultural district. 

A number of musical artists will perform at this year’s festival, including Los Lonely Boys, the Sugarhill Gang, Furious Five Say She She, Ben Folds, Pokey LeGarge, Martha Redbone, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Nicole Zuraitis, Ozomatli, and others.

The festival will also include a number of other events, including a display of photos from the 1984 Three Rivers Arts Festival, juried art exhibitions, a sculpture workshop, and games of chess.For more information, visit the Three Rivers Arts Festival’s website.

Call for Participation Open for Meaningful Play 2024

The Center for Transformational Play is now accepting applications for volunteers to help with the Meaningful Play 2024 conference.

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Meaningful Play 2024 is a conference about theory, research, and game design innovations, principles, and practices. It brings scholars, industry professionals and games practitioners together to understand and improve upon games to entertain, inform, educate, and persuade.

The conference is looking for volunteers to help run the Full Papers track. It welcomes contributions from researchers and practitioners in industry and academia who advance the understanding of meaningful play.

The purpose of the track is to present the community’s understanding of the current state of the art, practice, science, and/or discipline of meaningful play. Submissions should present original, unpublished research or design work that is not currently under review by any other venue.

Game exhibition and competition

The Meaningful Play Game Exhibition and Competition invites academic, independent, experimental, serious, transformational, and/or student game developers to showcase and gain recognition for their innovative work in game design and development. Analog and digital games are welcome.

The purpose of the games and prototypes track is to highlight the things that the community has built and allow attendees to play with each other’s work. Games and prototypes at Meaningful Play will be showcased in an exhibition during the conference. Attendees will have opportunities to play them.

Microtalks

The microtalks track encourages individuals to submit proposals to discuss any of the subtopics related to the conference. Its aim is to present perspective or pose challenges to the community toward energizing new or ongoing work. Content that is insightful, speculative, or creative is encouraged.

Hosted sessions

The hosted sessions track invites submissions of engaging interactive sessions to be organized by members of the community. Its purpose is to provide opportunities for community building and community engagement around topics of interest to the broader community.

These sessions could take the form of a panel or roundtable discussion among community members, a game play session, or an interactive workshop to get people working together.

More Details

Those interested in participating should fill out a volunteer form. For more information, visit Meaningful Play’s website or email meaningfulplay@andrew.cmu.edu. 

The submission deadline is June 5. The conference will take place from Oct. 16 to 18 at Carnegie Mellon University.

Seeking Input on Recess and Play for Advocacy Toolkit

Trying Together and Playful Pittsburgh are seeking input on recess and play for the creation of an advocacy toolkit on the topics.

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As part of their play advocacy research, Trying Together and Playful Pittsburgh are asking parents and caregivers of children, teachers, school administrators, and community members for input.

In the survey, participants will discuss how their child’s school perceives and implements recess. Collected input will go toward devising a comprehensive, community-based Play Advocacy Toolkit that will be widely shared and easily accessible.

The deadline to complete the survey is June 21. The survey is now available to complete.

Community Conversations on Play

Parents and caregivers of children, teachers, school leaders, and community members are also invited to join Trying Together and Playful Pittsburgh for upcoming community conversations on play.

Physical movement, the freedom to play, and playful learning during the school day improves a child's social, emotional, physical, and cognitive skills. However, many American children engage in less than one hour of unstructured play per day.

The conversations will focus on how play is an important part of a child's school life. The events will help attendees learn how to advocate for play and developmentally appropriate practices in early childhood.

In person event
Thursday, May 30, 2024 | 5 - 7 p.m.
Spartan Community Center of Hazelwood, 134 East Elizabeth Street
Registration is now open

Dinner and child care will be provided.

Virtual event
Monday, June 10, 2024 | 7-8 p.m.
Zoom
Registration is now open.

RAD Pass’ Summer Staycation to Offer Free Admissions to Area Attractions

The RAD Pass’ Summer Staycation will offer free admission opportunities to numerous area attractions this summer.

Free Admissions

Ticket offers from a number of Pittsburgh museums, cultural institutions, and other attractions will begin to appear May 1 on the RAD Pass’ website. Free admission days will begin on May 15.

During the course of RAD Summer Staycation, more than 100,000 free tickets will be available. Allegheny County residents would need to sign up for a library card and make reservations for specific events for free admission. The free admissions will continue to be announced until the end of August.

Participating attractions include the Andy Warhol Museum, Carnegie Museum of Art, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Carnegie Science Center, Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, The Frick Pittsburgh, Heinz History Center, Mattress Factory, National Aviary, Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, Pittsburgh Botanic Garden, Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium, and Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall and Museum.

More Details

Free family-four-packs of tickets will be replenished with new dates for admission throughout the summer. They can be booked and redeemed through a four-step process on the RAD Pass’ website:

• Log in with your Allegheny County library card number and PIN

• Browse for passes by date or venue

• Reserve your pass

• Print your RAD Pass or download it to your mobile device

RAD Pass users are asked to only book a reservation that they plan to use on a selected date. If they are unable to attend, they should cancel the reservation to open up spots for others.

The RAD Summer Staycation will also serve as a one-stop-shop for people to explore free events at regional attractions throughout the summer. Its RAD Works Here site will feature a calendar of events, including everything from free concerts and movies at local parks to summer festivals.

Attractions participating in RAD Summer Staycation will not host a traditional “RAD Day'' this year. They will instead shift free admissions from the fall to the summer. However, RAD Days will remain focused on fan-favorite free events and experiences, including music and theater performances as well as stadium tours, arts classes, and family open houses.

For more information, visit the RAD Summer Staycation website.

Study with Questionnaire Explores Field of Play

A new study is exploring the current state of the field of play, specifically in games and related areas. Areas covered by the exploratory, qualitative study include mixed reality, themed entertainment, and tech. The study, led by Carnegie Mellon University’s Drew Davidson, also includes a questionnaire in which anyone can participate. 

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The study's aim is to define and reflect on the field of play. ETC Press will publish the results. 

The concept of play is broad and diverse, so the study is less a focus on a specific discipline and more an exploration of the extensive ideas around play.

The questionnaire asks participants where they are located, what type of work they do, and what they believe is going on in the field of play. All responses are anonymous, and only a few of the questionnaire’s 16 questions are required. It should take between 20 to 25 minutes.

More Details

The study incorporates assistance from such groups as the Pittsburgh Remake Learning Initiative, Pittsburgh Technology Council, and the Connected Learning Alliance. Participating organizations will form a committee to provide local focus on regions to help ensure an inclusive process that offers perspectives from the diverse groups engaged in the field. 

The study includes questionnaires, in-depth interviews, and community participation. It aims to find patterns, commonalities, and differences across various regions amongst the education, industry, professional, foundation, and government groups involved in the field of play.

The goal will be to collaboratively produce a white paper with the help of the committee. The final report's aim is to document the global state of play. It will also serve as a reference for current practices and problems.

Those who are interested in participating can take the questionnaire or contact the study team for more information.