...WHERE Do the Children Play?" is a PBS documentary, book, and outreach project about the vital importance of open-ended creative play for the healthy development of children. This kind of play is disappearing from children's lives because of unsafe neighborhoo~s that keep children indoors; parents' fear of "stranger danger," even in safe neighborhoods; the seduPiveness of electronic games and entertainment; an increase in teacher-led instruction in preschool and kindergarten that is pushing child-initiated learning and exploration out of the classroom; and children's diminishing access to woods, fields, vacant lots, parks, and other semi-wild play spaces.
The documentary film was inspired by Elizabeth Goodenough's book Secret Spaces of Childhood (University of Michigan Press, 2003). Goodenough, a scholar in the emerging field of children's studies, noted that time outside school was increasingly filled with adult-organized activities and indoor screen time. Children no longer had the space or opportunity to organize their own play or discover their own secret spaces.
Writer and director Christopher Cook and consulting producer Mark Harris are both award-winning filmmakers. Their documentary will be aired widely beginning in May 2008 when American Public Television will distribute the film nationwide to PBS stations. It is now available for public screenings through the Alliance for Childhood or for private purchase from its producer, Michigan Television. Outreach director and film advisor Goodenough has also edited a study guide to the film, with photos, articles, and children's poetry that evoke the creative but elusive qualities of play. She is also editing a forthcoming anthology, A Place for Play.
The outreach project also includes a film in which children's author Christopher Paul Curtis (The Watsons Go to Birmingham-1963) returns to his hometown of Flint, Michigan and speaks with schoolchildren about their experiences of play and secret spaces.
Elizabeth Goodenough is a board member of the Alliance for Childhood, a nonprofit research and advocacy organization working to improve children's health and well-being. In 2007 Goodenough and the Alliance began collaborating on a public awareness campaign using the film project to inspire concern and action for children's play. The Alliance has been working on restoring open-ended play to children's lives since 2004, with a special focus on the role of playworkers in creating environments for imaginative and inclusive play. In many European countries, thousands of trained playworkers work in parks, children's museums, schools, and other spaces to inspire and support children's play without dominating or directing it. The Alliance is currently working with universities in New York to establish professional programs in playwork and with play advocates across the country to create play coalitions.
Communication Studies and Psychology, University of Michigan
Richard Louv, journalist and author of Last Child in the Woods
Penny Wilson, inclusive playworker, London adventure playgrounds
PRESS RELEASE FORM
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Documentary Film on Modern Childhood Asks 'Where Do the Children Play?'
[Insert name of your city here)-A new documentary film, Where Do the Children Play? examines an issue of growing concern among pediatricians, mental health experts, educators, and environmentalists: more and more children are growing up today with little or no opportunity for unstmctured play, especially outdoors.
The film will be shown at a free public screening at [insert location here] on [insert date and time here). This event is sponsored by [insert name of your organization here], with assistance from the U.S. Alliance for Childhood, a nonprofit research and advocacy group that works for the restoration of play in children's lives.
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 Public Television.
"Children need free time every day to discover their own abilities, desires, and limitations," says Goodenough, who also edited the film's accompanying study guide. "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 to day'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.
For more information about this screening of Where Do the Children Play? call [insert telephone number here].
Where Do the Children Play? is part of a larger outreach project developed by Elizabeth Goodenough and based at the University of Michigan that includes a web site (,vww.michigantelevision.org/childrenplav); a study guide to the film; a Flint, Michigan community conversation called "Special Places/Secret Spaces"; and Professor Jeff Kupperman's work with child videographers. These activities were funded by the Ruth Mott Foundation and other donors.
The Alliance for Childhood is helping to promote Where Do the Children Play? as part of its national public awareness campaign, "Restoring Children's Play." The Alliance is helping cities across the country to foml local play coalitions to address issues of access to open-ended play and playful environments for all children. It is also introducing "playwork," an established profession in Europe and Japan, to the United States. Trained playworkers encourage and support children's free play without dominating or directing it. For more information see the Alliance's web site, www.allianceforc:11ildhood.org.
Additional contacts:
Elizabeth Goodenough, film advisor and outreach director: lizgoode(({)umich.edu Christopher Cook, film director and writer: cook((:i)metrocomintemational.com Alliance for Childhood: pam(ev,allianceforchildhood.org; 301-779-1033
