About Playing for Keeps Goals & Plans Playing for Keeps History Contact

About Playing For Keeps

ACM adopted Playing for Keeps as a leadership initiative in April 2008. Play has always been at the core of ACM's work and that of its members. Yet play opportunities for young children are diminishing, drawing increased concern from educators, parents and the general public. Promoting the necessity of play and advocating that communities and families make play a daily habit has become more important than ever.

Goals for the ACM Playing For Keeps Leadership Initiative

• To elevate the discourse about the importance of play

• To empower and support ACM members with resources and advocacy tools
  

• To position children's museums as vital early learning partners in their communities

Playing for Keeps brings a rich research base and resources to ACM and its members. Over the next several months of transition, ACM will launch a Playing For Keeps microsite with information on why play matters, how to get involved with local organizations that support play and resources for parents, educators, toy companies and the media about play.

Look for more PLAY-ful details from ACM in the coming months!

History

Founded in 1998, Playing for Keeps was a national not-for-profit organization dedicated to promoting and protecting the role of play in our society. The Playing for Keeps concept grew out of a conversation that occurred between Dr. Ed Klugman, Professor Emeritus at Wheelock College and John Lee, currently Director and Principal Partner for Word World. What if, they mused, there were a way to make play more wholesome, creative, and imaginative for children and more targeted to their developmental needs? Could promoting an environment of constructive play in our schools be part of the solution to school-based violence? Shouldn't all children have access to play that fits their developmental level, regardless of their socioeconomic circumstances or abilities? Shouldn't parents be encouraged to remember that kids need unstructured time in their day for imaginative free play?

These and other concerns [including influencing anyone who has a fingerprint on children and play, as for example the toy and entertainment industry, researchers on play, teachers and policy makers among others] led to the notion of creating Playing for Keeps as a national not-for-profit organization dedicated to promoting and protecting the role of play in our society. When the Playing for Keeps Board was faced with transitioning the organization to a new home, the Association of Children's Museums was at the top of their list as an organization who would build upon the successes of Playing for Keeps and the concept to a whole new level.

By integrating Playing for Keeps into ACM operations as a leadership initiative, ACM is weaving myriad efforts into simple, powerful messages. The Playing for Keeps leadership initiative is designed to increase ACM members' capacity to provide high quality, useful, widely available information about play to parents, early childhood professionals, policymakers and industries serving the play and learning needs of children.

ACM is grateful to the following organizations and individuals, whose support will help fund a Playing for Keeps microsite and an early childhood online research exchange:

• Alex Panline Toys

• Think Fun Toys

• H. Joseph Gerber Foundation

• RC2 Corporation

• University Games

• Teaching Strategies, Inc.

• Members of the former Playing for Keeps Board of Directors
  
  

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Contact

To learn more about Playing For Keeps and its activities, please contact Eliza Katz, ACM Program Manager, Executive Office & Special Projects, at 202-898-1080.

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