Making Atlanta a Great Place to Play
Welcome to the Home of the Atlanta Taskforce on Play (ATOP)
Be a part of making Atlanta a great place for our kids to play. Playspaces, parks, trails... where do you need more play? Join in!
Who We Are
ATOP is a fiscal partner of the local 501(c)(3) nonprofit Park Pride.
For info: Cynthia (at) PlayAtlanta.org
To REPAIR/BUILD Playgrounds
BUILD A PLAYGROUND:
If you would like info on building a playground in an Atlanta City Park contact:
Design & location:
Pat Katz at PKatz(at)AtlantaGa.Gov
or
Paul Taylor at pataylor(at)atlantaga.gov
Funding ideas:
Alvin Dodson at
adodson(at)atlantaga.gov
Everything you ever wanted to know about HOW TO BUILD A PLAYGROUND can be found on the
KaBOOM! ROAD MAP.
In the News & ATOP Partners
NEW: ATOP in Delta's SKY Magazine
Camp Twin Lakes' News Splash p. 3-4
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
CNN
KaBOOM
New York Times
National Cities Weekly
Georgia Front Page
Southeast Green
Atlanta Board of Education's Khaatim El - blog
ATOP Advisory Board
Dr. Arthur Wendel, CDC
Medical Officer, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention -
National Center for Environmental Health, Public Health and Built Environment Initiative
Tom Walsh, Founding Principal, Tunnell-Spangler-Walsh & Associates
Olga Jarrett, PhD - President, International Play Association; Associate Professor, Department of Early Childhood Education, Georgia State University
RoseMary Hamer, Principal, Bethune Elementary School
Orland Esval, Director of eCommerce, AT&T
George Dusenbury, Executive Director, Park Pride
ATOP PARTNERS
City of Atlanta
KaBOOM!
Playful City USA
Park Pride
Camp Twin Lakes
Playworks
Chattahoochee Nature Center
CNN Fit Nation
Tool Bank
Tunnell-Spangler-Walsh & Associates
StarTreks, LLC
Georgia Public Broadcasting
WEBSITES OF INTEREST
Playscapes
PlayableDesign
Blog Posts
Children MUST Play at School
Is this boy playing or practicing for a brilliant future as a cinematographer?
Read this article from today's Washington Post about the importance of play in schools.
Some mind-blowing excerpts:
"A more recent study showed… Continue
Posted by Cynthia Gentry on November 21, 2009 at 8:00am
Something incredible is coming soon...
Watch for more information here and/or at www.PlayableDesign.org.
...design so kids can play....
Posted by Cynthia Gentry on October 15, 2009 at 8:00pm
New Kind of Playground Unleashes Creativity and Fun
Happy faces were everywhere as the children played
Others were pretty excited, too. The Atlanta Public School System proudly blogged about the exciting and fu… Continue
Posted by Cynthia Gentry on October 3, 2009 at 10:00pm
Delta Sky Magazine Salutes ATOP
We were so pleased to hear that Delta's Sky Magazine highlighted the Atlanta Taskforce on Play in their September issue in a section called "Delta Salutes" (p.145). More and more people are coming to understand the impor… Continue
Posted by Cynthia Gentry on September 29, 2009 at 11:30pm
GoGirlGo! Outside and Play!
GoGirlGo! and A5 Volleyball Club are hosting a volleyball clinic for girls at Oglethorpe Un… Continue
Posted by Cynthia Gentry on September 20, 2009 at 8:25am
Get Out and PLAY ATLANTA on Saturday, 9/2/609
Celebrate PARK PRIDE'S 20th anniversary. If you live in one of the 20 commun… Continue
Posted by Cynthia Gentry on September 20, 2009 at 12:00am
Get Ready for Soaring Imaginations
Ms. Yglesias Hollins, The Coca-Cola Company and Principal RoseMary Hamer, Bethune Elementary School examine the new IPB
The real fun will come when we unveil t… Continue
Posted by Cynthia Gentry on September 10, 2009 at 9:00pm
Outdoor Time Fuels Classroom Performance
National Wildlife Federation Releases School Readiness Guide for Parents and Teachers
Reston, Va. (September 2)—Back to School shouldn’t mean back indoors for children. In fact, National Wildlife Federation’s (NWF) new report TIME OUT: Using the Outdoors to Enhance Classroom Performance highlights the vast research linking time kids spend outside to increased classroom preparedness. American’s childhood has largely moved indoors in the p… Continue
Posted by Cynthia Gentry on September 8, 2009 at 9:14am
Bethune's P.L.A.C.E. - A New Kind of Playground
There's a brand new kind of playground coming to the Bethune Elementary School in Atlanta. It's called Bethune's P.L.A.C.E. and that stands for Playground - Learning Arboretum + Center for Exploration. Children need to be outside during the day and the Bethune student… Continue
Posted by Cynthia Gentry on August 26, 2009 at 3:26pm
Huge Areas of Atlanta Are NO PLAY ZONES
Too many of Atlanta's children do not have the benefit of a safe place to play outdoors. You've heard about the frightening obesity epidemic, the staggering rise in ADD, and, most recently, that 7 out of 10 children have a Vitamin D deficiency. Well, play… Continue
Posted by Cynthia Gentry on August 16, 2009 at 12:51am
Photos
Videos
-
Playful City USA: Atlanta!
Added by Cynthia Gentry
-
-
Events
Fun Play Ideas
PLAN a PLAY DAY
Find an Atlanta Playground on KaBOOM!'s Playspace Finder
Sports4Kids' Power of Play Training Guide for Atlanta
Build a fort Building a box fort Decorating your fort
Climb a tree!
Build a sandcastle
Play Frisbee
Build A Treehouse
Find a Trail
Campout In Your Backyard
Watch Clouds
Explore Your Backyard
Design your own constellations! CampoutStars.pdf
Take A City Nature Walk
Take A Backyard Bird Walk
About
GREAT PLAY RESOURCES
Great information on Nature Deficit Disorder
FANTASTIC blog about playgrounds: Playscapes
And, of course, KaBOOM! Find a playground, plan a Play Day, how to build a playground, and much, much more.
Play Champion of the Month
TUNNELL-SPANGLER-WALSH
Many thanks to Tunnell-Spangler-Walsh , community design and architecture firm extraordinaire. TSW is developing Playground Design Guidelines that will be on this website soon . Then, you'll be able to post information about your playground project and get input.
Thanks so much to TSW for understanding the importance of play and contributing to improving the quality of play in Atlanta!
DONATE
CLICK TO DONATE!
Ethan's grandmother gave him a gift of $25. He gave $20 to ATOP so more Atlanta kids will have great places to play. He kept $5 to get something cool for himself. We think Ethan is pretty cool!
Playground of the Month
BETHUNE Elementary School This month, our Playground of the Month is one that has not been built yet. Students, parents, staff, and volunteers are busy at work preparing for an awesome playground to be built in the Fall of 2009. Congratulations to the students for their great playground designs! We'll keep watching your progress. To help on the Bethune project, contact us at Cynthia (at) PlayAtlanta dot org.
© 2009 Created by Cynthia Gentry on Ning. Create a Ning Network!
