Social play is ground zero for children’s social and emotional learning. Learn how to overcome barriers in modern life to foster neighborhood-based social play that provides children with abundant opportunity to build social skills while also having a great time.
“If you want to see unbridled joy in seven year-olds, catch a peek of them at play on a good day when adults are to be seen, but not heard.”
Key Strategies
- Start with Neighborhood Playdates. These gatherings of two or more children can be arranged initially by parents and then, over time, by kids themselves. The kids decide what and where to play, although parents may require that the kids be outdoors.
- Then, consider creating a Neighborhood Play Team. This is a larger group of children who often play with each other outdoors in a play space that parents create and supervise. Kids decide what to play.
- Finally, if you’re feeling ambitious, you could create a Playborhood. Inspired by the author Mike Lanza (see book below), this is a series of events that brings larger groups of neighbors together — children and adults — to strengthen bonds, create community rituals, and foster spontaneous play and mutual support.
Additional Resources
Book: Playborhood: Turn Your Neighborhood Into A Place For Play, Mike Lanza
Books about neighborhood play to read with children: Roxaboxen, The Big Orange Spot, The Raft, Weslandia, and The Busy Life of Ernestine Buckmeister
Neighborhood Play