2024 Conference on the Value of Play
The Future of Play
April 16-18, 2024
Bloomington, Indiana
Indiana University’s Eppley Institute announces the next Play 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 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 call for presentation proposals is COMING SOON!!!
We are thrilled to have our first Play Conference in our new HQ hometown of Bloomington, Indiana – on the campus of Indiana University!! The three-day event will include headliner presentations, round tables on critical issues and trends, a research symposium for academics, educational sessions for practitioners, PLAYforums and PLAY institutes, networking, EPIC play breaks and more.
Dr. Kristy Anderson and Stephanie Garst (Clemson University) will co-manage the conference.
Please email usplay@iu.edu for information.
Eppley’s Third Play Date Workshop Held
Eppley also held its third “Play Date” of 2023, PLAY People in Your Neighborhood, on October 9 at the Ft. Worth Botanic Garden in Ft. Worth, TX.
This Play Date was a day-long “mini conference” with content that draws inspiration from the location and the play experts in that area. Indiana University partnered with the LIINK Center for Health Play at Texas Christian University with valuable support from sponsors Landscape Structures, Nickelodeon, Playworld, Vortex, Berliner, and SPEC Play at Texas Christian University to hold the Ft. Worth Date.
Sixty-three play advocates registered for this Play Date workshop with a dozen speakers covering topics including inclusive play, nature play, mobile playgrounds, and play equity and diversity. Speakers from across the nation and Texas shared their experiences and ideas for improving play across lifespans and for all people.
About the US (United States) Play Coalition, the Eppley Institute, and Indiana University: Indiana University’s Eppley Institute for Parks and Public Lands, a unit of the Indiana Institute on Disability and Community, is the new home for the US Play Coalition and Conference on the Value of Play. This nationally recognized program is relocating from the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Management at Clemson University to Indiana University. After a pause in 2023 for the transition of the Coalition to its new home, the annual Conference on the Value of Play will return April 16-18, 2024, on the Indiana University- Bloomington campus.