HEHDlines September 2009

Lack of Playtime Becoming Big Problem

The Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Management hosted during the summer The Summit on the Value of Play.  Filled with scholars from throughout the United States, the gathering addressed our nation’s problem with the erosion of the value of play. 

We are all beginning to see the negative impacts from the lack of play among our citizens, including obesity, attention deficit disorder and limited creativity, to name a few.  This summit addressed the measurable benefits of play; highlighted the current political, economic and social barriers that stifle play and identified existing and new opportunities to overcome these barriers.

The purpose of the summit was to bring together a target audience of the nation’s leading authorities on the role and value of play from the fields of health, education, human development and recreation. The summit gave these authorities the opportunity to discuss the current role of play in modern society and the factors that limit its value. It will be a mechanism to further “Healthy People 2010,” and its overarching goal of “increasing quality and years of healthy life.” Participants in the summit had a venue in which to articulate the latest thinking and information on the measureable benefits of play on the health, physical activity, and well-being of this nation and its citizens. They were able to highlight the current political, economic, and social barriers that stifle play and worked toward the identification of existing opportunities and new initiatives necessary to overcome these barriers.
Additional summit objectives included:

• Based on the collaborative exchange of ideas among attendees, developed calls to action, including implementation steps that convey the value of play as it relates to health, physical activity, and overall well-being.

• In association with conference attendees, compiled and published a self-perpetuating annotated bibliography and web directory of people, programs, projects, and publications (including the summit proceedings) associated with the value of play. 

• By the conclusion, conference attendees were able to identify the benefits and barriers of play, as well as the key cognitive, physical, and affective aspects of play as they relate to health, physical activity, and overall well-being.

The target audience for “The Summit on the Value of Play” consisted of approximately 100 attendees, including the nation’s leading authorities on the role and value of play from the fields of health, education, human development and recreation. Through a dissemination of information with the attendees' respective associates the target audience was incrementally much larger.

The attendees were representatives of educational institutions, businesses, federal, state, and local agencies, hospitals, health institutions, nonprofit and other organizations. As a result of this conference, a new collaborative network was developed. Coming from different backgrounds, many of these individuals have never sat together before; however, the time has come for such a history making event. “The Summit on the Value of Play” has the potential to make a tremendous difference in the lives and health of our nation’s citizens. › More on Value of Play