Start your own Play Club, and unleash the power of unstructured play!
"Welcome to Let Grow Play Club on ChangeX. We believe that children learn important skills and life lessons when adults don’t get involved every step of the way. By hosting a Let Grow Play Club at your school or organisation, you can help kids of all ages enjoy unstructured free play outside of regular school hours. We're looking forward to helping you get started!" - Lenore Skenazy, President & Co-Founder of Let Grow
Planning and preparation will take 3-4 hours. Once you get started, it's up to you how often you host your Play Club, it could be every day or it could be once a week!
Here are some additional resources that you can explore to learn about Let Grow and the power of free play. Explore the resources and content on the Let Grow website and register for your FREE Implementation Guides. You’ll get a version for Parents, and another designed for schools.
Schools are a bit more complex (the planning, not the play!) so you might also want to schedule a call with Let Grow for extra resources and support (free).
Watch this TedX talk that explains why it is so crucial for children to play.
Refer to the Get Started…Plan section in the Play Club Guide for Parents you received from Let Grow (or click here to request it if you haven’t yet).
Play Club is super flexible, so you’ll want to choose your answers to “Where? When? Who?” to fit your group’s needs. And it’s ok if the “Where?” rotates, but we recommend the schedule be very consistent and the communication be thorough to avoid any
frustration down the road.
Refer to the Get Started…Plan section in the Play Club Guide for Parents you received from Let Grow (or click here to request it if you haven’t yet).
You and your core group should be the first supervisors (we like the term Let Grow Lifeguards), but don’t be surprised if most parents want to stay while their kids play. Not the ultimate goal, but fine so long as the non-designated adults stay away from the kids and have a diversion, like a book or just chatting with the other adults.
Having emergency contact information for all parents is important when they get brave enough to leave, and be sure to have a regular communications plan and calendar.
Playground equipment like jungle gyms or slides are nice, but not required. Loose parts like tires, boards or sticks, balls, basically anything kids can use to turn into something
with their imagination, are perfect. A wagon full of balls, hula hoops, blankets, etc. makes a nice portable collection…and the kids can pull it themselves! Locations with
woods full of branches, tree stumps, and rocks are perfect!
Refer to the Get Set section in the Play Club Guide for Parents you received from Let Grow (or click here to request it if you haven’t yet).
Starting small is easiest. Share resources, especially the blogs, newsletters, and other resources at letgrow.org, about the importance of play, and the importance of the adults
staying out it. Remember that letting go is an act of bravery for parents and share the Kid Pledge and the Parent Pledge so everyone understands the parameters. Kids need
to understand that the adults will not intervene so they will have to work any disagreements out themselves. This will take a few instances of tattling with a response
of “Thank you for telling me,” but they’ll quickly get the hang of it.
Refer to the Go Play section in the Play Club Guide for Parents you received from Let Grow (or click here to request it if you haven’t yet), and the FAQ’s before your first Club.
Make sure everyone is clear on where to be and when, and suggest the kids come dressed in clothes that can get dirty and close-toed shoes. Then start the play!
Find the full Implementation Guide and some additional resources and guidance on the Let Grow Website.
