Making Play Happen

Summary of Article's First 150 Words

Total word count: 2600

Hundreds of thousands of words have been written about early childhood play over the past several years, documenting its important role in healthy development, detailing the risks kids face if they don't have access to play, and offering easy-to-implement tips for educators to use in communicating about play to administrators and parents. This journal has featured an ongoing series of articles about children's play research, practice, and trends — underscored by the more than fifty articles available at the Exchange web site on these topics — and other organizations like the National Association for the Education of Young Children and Zero to Three offer a lengthy list of publications that help make the case for play and play-based practice.

If you've come even close to keeping pace with this impressive body of literature, you may find yourself asking what we, as early childhood educators, can do to impact change in our own ...