• Children’s Museum of the Upstate in Greenville ($20 extra charge, hosted by Carly Summers)
  The Children’s Museum of the Upstate invites you for a tour of the 7th largest Children’s museum in the country. With over 80,000 square feet of exhibit space, TCMU exists to ignite a passion for learning — empowering all children to discover their full potential and expand their view of themselves and the world. TCMU is a leader in innovative family activities, a dynamic learning center and a compelling community attraction. We hope you’ll come and spend the afternoon with us!
• Outdoor lab ($10 extra charge, hosted by Norman McGee)
  Please join your fellow playmates for a tour of Clemson University’s Outdoor Laboratory. Located five miles from campus, the Clemson University Outdoor Lab is located on beautiful Hartwell Lake. The Outdoor Lab provides a variety of amenities including a conference hall, climbing wall, High Ropes Course and Team Venture initiatives among others. The Outdoor Lab also leads a number of residential camps for children, youth and adults. Many are designed specifically for those with disabilities, and there are also residential camps for active older adults. This tour will include a guided walk of the Lab which will include several fun team building games centered on play.

1. John Larue — "New Games and Foundation of Cooperative and Non-Competitive Play and Games"
2. debra rosenstein — "No Graduate Student Left Inside: Play in the Graduate Student Curriculum"
        Justus Randolph
3. Rolf Huber — "Playful Access at all Ages and Abilities"
        Jennifer Skulsli
4. Dan Harding — "Tactical Interventions: Fixtures of PLAY and Collaboration for all Ages"
5. Patricia Rumbaugh — "Playing Together: Babies, Children, Teens, Adults and Seniors in Takoma Park, Maryland and Beyond"
6. Lisa Moore — "Pathways for Play: Encouraging Healthy Lifestyles for Children, Families and Communities"

• Two sittings — 5:00 to 6:15 and 6:15 to 7:30
• Call for reservations (864) 656-7444

1. Michael Patte — "Play Spaces with a Kick: Taking a Look Inside Adventure Playgrounds"
2. Karla Henderson — "Play for Fun, Fellowship and Fitness: You’re Never Too Old"
        Beth Wilson
3. Ingrid Kanics — "Social Sustainability: the Value of Universal Design — Increased Inclusion in Parks and Play Spaces"
        John McConkey
4. Dee Stegelin — "Integrating Play Across the K-12 Curriculum: Strategies to Promote Movement and Physical Activity"
        Lienne Medford
5. Sarah Agate — "Helping Families Play: Play-Based Applications of the Family Recreation Programming Framework"
        Joel Agate, Dorothy Schmalz
6. Lisa Moore — "Words on Play: Making Play a Priority in Communities"

1. Dr. Karen Hutchison — "Play Advocacy: From the Classroom to the Community"
        Co-presenters: Kat Roberts, Ally Weiss, Heather Koehler
2. Megan Tulac, Stuart Brown — "Creating the Encyclopaedia of Play Science"
        Tony Christopher, Stuart Brown
3. Reva Fish — "Wouldn’t it be Nice if Everybody Were on the Same Page? The Conflict over Pre-School"
        Laura Klenk
4. Po-Ju Chang — "The Relationship between Resilience and Playfulness among Older Women in a Leisure-Based Context"
        Careen Yarnal, Xinyi Qian, Julie Stafford Son
5. Ian Proud - Inclusive Play: Learning from the Real World
        Mara Kaplan
6. Matthew Browning — "Managing Natural Lands for Connecting Children with Nature"

1. Carrie Flint — "Peaceful Playgrounds"
2. Kay Hanson — "Play Skills: The Hidden Handicaps for Children with Learning Disabilities"
3. Cindy Heath — "Safe Routes to Play: A Child Centered Transportation Initiative"
4. Allen Cooper — "Playwork and Place Management: an Integrated Approach to Environmental Learning"
        Robin Moore, Nilda Cosco
5. Bea Bailey — "Out-of-their-Seats Literary Play within a Professional Development School"
6. Susan Guynn/Bob Powell — "Theoretical Framework of Female Hunters in the Southeastern United States"

1. US Play Coalition Committee Meetings: Education (Open to all)
2. US Play Coalition Committee Meetings: Coalition Building (Open to all)
3. US Play Coalition Committee Meetings: Research (Open to all)
4. Natural Play Design Guidelines Committee (Committee members only; Contact Allen Cooper with questions (coopera@nwf.org))

1. Mike Lanza — "Neighborhood Play, Every Day"
2. Temoc Suarez — "Moving Generations: Maximizing Learning and Health through Innovative Physical Activities"
3. Peggy Stewart — "Passport to Nature: Connecting Families to Nature in Chicago’s Parks"
4. Michelle Johnson — "Just Social Play"
5. John McConkey — Designing Natural Play Environments
        Joy Kuebler
6. Elizabeth McSherry — Multiple Generations in Play Programs
        Nancy Halverson

1. Marnie Norris — "Together, We Play: Learn How Play Programs Facilitate Social Inclusion"
2. Diana Allen — "Healthy Parks, Healthy People" Danielle Marshall — "Strengthening our Advocacy Tools: Creating a National Play Desert Map"
3. Laura Klenk — "How Kindergarteners Distinguish Between Work and Play in School"
        Reva Fish
4. Andrew Kaczynski — "Youth Physical Activity Within Park Activity Areas: Differences by Gender and Race/Ethnicity"
        Sonja A. Wilhem Stanis, Gina M. Besenyi, MPH
5. Mr. Wei Zhiqiang, Dean of Sport Leisure School at Shanghai University — "Status and Trends of China Recreational Sports"
6. Stephen Hamelin — "Zero-depth installations & aquatic play: revolutionizing family play in a community park near you!"

1. Peggy Riggs — "Creating Play Opportunities through Innovative Partnerships"      Jodie Adams, Lisa Moore
2. Kimberly Kohl — "No Story Left Behind: Story Dictation and Dramatization in the Early Childhood Classroom"
3. Matthew Powers — "American Playgrounds: A Study Comparing Views of Playgrounds between Children and their Parents"
        Jack Peddie
4. Dan Harding — "Design by PLAY by Design"
        Kevin Bradley, Adam Willson, Megan Craig
5. US Play Coalition Committee Meetings: Guidelines (Open to all)

Playwork mini-conference. Extra charge of $25, contact Joan Almon (joan.almon@verizon.net)

This post conference meeting is for those interested in establishing playwork as a profession in the U.S. Playworkers - also called play associates and playrangers - work throughout the U.K. and elsewhere supporting children's open-ended, original play, utilizing simple materials called loose parts. In recent years in the United States the practice has been applied widely by parks departments, children's museums, after-school programs, camps, and others. While many workshops and courses have been offered, no professional development programs exist yet. This meeting will explore that and other ways to develop playwork in the U.S.

A Special Thanks Again to our Sponsors and Partners who will all be attending the conference.

Our sponsors will have tabletop displays with additional information about all the great work they are doing related to Play.

Sponsors

• Platinum Champion for Play - Landscape Structures
• Champion for Play - Playworld Systems
• Platinum sponsors - PlayCore/GameTime and Vortex Aquatic Structures
• Silver sponsors - Allied Tube & Conduit, BCI Burke, John & Bobbi Nau and Little Tikes Commercial
• Bronze sponsors - Duke Energy and the International Play Equipment Manufacturers Association (IPEMA)

Partners
 
Coalition partners are non-profit/government organizations that have demonstrated their support of the US Play Coalition and increasing the value of play, including a financial contribution.

• KaBOOM! is funding one of three $3,000 research awards at the 2012 Conference on the Value of Play: Multi-Generational Actions and Strategies to a researcher whose creative and innovative work reflects great potential for expanding our knowledge of the value of play.
• The Marsha Ward Fellowship is provided annually to the US Play Coalition to fund a graduate student to work to assist with play.
• The Springfield-Greene County Park Board is interested in play from both an educational and parks and recreation point of view, and have provided support to the conference as a whole.