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The National Conference on the Value of PLAY! & The US Play Coalition

US Play Coalition logo

The Eppley Institute, the Indiana Institute on Disability and Community, and Indiana University Bloomington (IUB) are thrilled to have the first Play Conference in its new HQ hometown of Bloomington, Indiana at IUB’s Indiana Memorial Union! The three-day event will include headliner presentations, round tables on critical issues and trends, a research symposium, educational sessions for practitioners, PLAYforums and PLAYinstitutes, networking, epic(!) play breaks and more.

Want to learn and PLAY! this April?

  • Registration is open for individuals and groups! Join us in Bloomington, learn lots, and enjoy your time on one the nation’s top-rated most stunning campuses!
  • Sponsorship opportunities for educational organizations, nonprofits, and commercial partners come with substantial benefits, including multiple forms of visibility to conference attendees, complimentary registrations, and much more! Contact us to learn more.
  • For more information, check out the full 2024 Conference site!

The conference is a professional development conference that brings together leading play researchers. educators, health scientists, park and recreation professionals, landscape architects, designers, planners, business and community leaders, psychologists, physicians and parents from across the globe. The 2024 conference theme, “THE FUTURE OF PLAY,” will explore play and technology, play across the lifespan, play in libraries, play in the workplace, play in the classroom, and play in relation to universal issues of access, equity, inclusion and more. 

The US Play Coalition is an international network of individuals and organizations, promoting the value of play throughout the lifespan. The Coalition hosts conferences and educational trainings, encourages and conducts research, and facilitates conversations about the value of play worldwide. Previously sponsored by the Recreation, Park and Tourism Management Department at Clemson University, the conference and US Play Coalition found a new home at Indiana University’s Eppley Institute last summer and started off by hosting a successful series of play education workshops virtually and across the nation in Philadelphia, Louisville, and Fort Worth in 2023.