Welcome to PLAYATLANTA.ORG
We want Atlanta to be a great place to raise your children, and that means having great places to play.
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
ATOP IN THE NEWS
Atlanta Business Chronicle: ABC-Private Grants Help Deliver.pdf
Atlanta Magazine: Play With A Purpose, Why Kids Need Recess
KaBOOM! Playmaker of the Month
Recreation & Parks in Georgia Magazine: Creating Partnerships in Atlanta
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Centers of Hope Good for Atlanta's Kids
YouTube
ATOP in Metropolis
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
CNN iReport
Delta's SKY Magazine
ArchDaily
The Treehouse in the News
ATOP/SCAD's Sculpture Department Project at Camp Twin Lakes
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 - Professor, Department of Early Childhood Education, Georgia State University; Former President, International Play Association
Orland Esval, Director of eCommerce, AT&T
George Dusenbury, Commissioner, Parks, Recreation + Cultural Affairs, City of Atlanta
ATOP PARTNERS
City of Atlanta
KaBOOM!
Playful City USA
Park Pride
Camp Twin Lakes
Playworks
Central Atlanta Progress
Tool Bank
Tunnell-Spangler-Walsh & Associates
IPA/USA
WEBSITES OF INTEREST
Playscapes
PlayableDesign
Blog Posts
Cardboard Box + Kid + Scissors = WOW!
Even if you've already seen this, it is worth watching again.
Posted by Cynthia Gentry on May 23, 2012 at 11:40am
This Guy Gets It!
“Play will be to the 21st century what work was to the industrial age—our dominant way of knowing, doing and creating value.” - Cultural commentator Pat Kane
(from the Museum of Modern Art press release on the upcoming exhibit the Century of the Child)
Posted by Cynthia Gentry on May 21, 2012 at 9:47pm
Big City + Play + Nature = HiPlay
I am obsessed with what I am calling "HiPlay" (for lack of a better name). HiPlay could be the answer to overgrown cities with no place to play. The idea comes from the new "agro-housing" or "sustainable housing" trend in the world of architecture. This picture is the winning design in…
ContinuePosted by Cynthia Gentry on April 29, 2012 at 9:29am
If You've Ever Had A Kid or Been A Kid....
Do you know the Chastain Park Playground? We're working with the Natural Learning Initiative to create an amazing, natural, beautiful playground. Please help us by filling out this survey to let us know your thoughts about what…
ContinuePosted by Cynthia Gentry on April 22, 2012 at 10:00pm
Play! Play! Play!
What if children's education opened them up to the passion, talent, and joy inside their hearts and minds? What if?
Tonight I saw a wonderful story on Sixty MInutes about a symphony in Kinshasa in Congo. The musicians played and sang with such joy. It seemed that most came to music very late and thanks only to the…
ContinuePosted by Cynthia Gentry on April 8, 2012 at 10:25pm
A Jewel of a Forest in South Atlanta Celebrates
West Atlanta Watershed Alliance, National Wildlife Federation, and the U.S. Forest Service invite Metro Atlanta families and friends to celebrate Southwest Atlanta’s urban forests at the 6th-Annual Urban Forestry Festival at the Outdoor Activity Center in SW Atlanta.
The festival is…
ContinuePosted by Cynthia Gentry on April 2, 2012 at 3:45pm
Cardboard Boxes Unlock Imaginations
Who would ever guess that cardboard boxes could transform a playground into a downhill slalom, a giant cupcake, and a technicolor miss-mash-mansion. We did; or at least, we hoped they would.…
ContinuePosted by Cynthia Gentry on March 28, 2012 at 12:07am
But, It's Just a Cardboard Box!
This Saturday, March 24, 2012 from 10:00am until noon children from around the Chastain Park area are going to be faced with a stack of folded up corrugated boxes, tape, and paints, and will be told to "Go for it!" I wonder what they will do on this Fort-building…
ContinuePosted by Cynthia Gentry on March 22, 2012 at 12:04pm
KID CAM AT PLAY
Remember?
This is a wonderful video shot in a New York CIty playground by a five-year-old in the act of playing. Apparently Mom strapped an iPod Touch to her and let her go. It's wonderful, in spite of the little bump in the road along the way. Enjoy!
(Thanks to Tim Gill for finding…
Posted by Cynthia Gentry on March 13, 2012 at 10:14am
The Itch is Back
Can you imagine being a 6-year-old girl and climbing into this nest with your best friends? I can see covering the floor of the nest with some kind of soft grasses or even blankets... I'd love for them to be able to bring big pillows and have a spend-the-night party in there. It's brilliant. It's…
ContinuePosted by Cynthia Gentry on February 20, 2012 at 4:30pm
Photos
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
GREAT PLAY RESOURCES
FANTASTIC blog about playgrounds: Playscapes
FIND A PLAYGROUND!!
Great information on Nature Deficit Disorder
Pretty much everything you ever needed to know about play.
And, of course, KaBOOM! Find a playground, plan a Play Day, how to build a playground, and much, much more.
Playgroundology, an emerging social science.
Videos
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!
My Face Having Fun
© 2012 Created by Cynthia Gentry.
