We here at Proponent of Play are looking forward to synthesizing with a number of interesting groups in the upcoming months.

POP’s very own Jeff Smithson has been asked to speak at Pediatric Grand Rounds at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center on March 7th.  The focus of the presentation will be on Patient and Family-Centered care.

The University of Connecticut has become a partner in play in 3 different arenas!

• UConn’s People Empowering People program runs Tuesday nights through the beginning of April .  This particular PEP program is helping residents of Mansfield and Coventry foster connections and engage the community.
• UConn’s Office of Community Outreach has hired POP to develop & facilitate a communication workshop for student volunteers.
• UConn’s Child Development Labs have scheduled numerous workshops for exploring the value of Play for Teachers, Student-Teachers and Parents.

The Power of Play (POP!) program has been developed in partnership with the Mansfield Public Library, Mansfield Advocates for Children and Mansfield Discovery Depot.  Provider POP! is on March 15th,  Parent POP! is March 22nd and Kid POP! is on April 11th.  In each of these sessions we will be exploring the question:  If play is the language of children, how fluent are you? Zip us an email for more information.

Under a grant from the National Science Foundation the Art of Science Learning is partnering with Proponent of Play.  The Chicago incubator will be addressing the challenge of urban nutrition.   POP has developed a juggling component which will help in the process of idea generation.

The Serious Fun Network; Jeff Smithson will once again play the role of Camp Counselor for the stars of the Serious Fun Gala on April 2nd.  Kids from around the country will come to NYC to help raise money for this amazing organization.