Gillian McNamee of the Erikson Institute in Chicago describes the ability to play as one of four vital signs of a child's health and well-being, the others being patterns of eating, sleeping, and toileting. Yet parents, educators, and health professionals report a steady decline in children's ability to generate imaginative play.

In 2004 the Alliance for Childhood, with help from Olga Jarrett at Georgia State University, interviewed experienced kindergarten teachers in Atlanta. These teachers described how play had disappeared from their curriculum over the preceding ten years, and reported that when they gave children time to play, the children "didn't know what to do" and had "no ideas of their own." For those of us used to the fertile, creative minds of five-year-olds, this is a shocking statement that bodes ill for the development of creative thinking. How can a democracy thrive if its citizens have no ideas of their own?

The Alliance is committed to restoring play for children of all ages (and adults, too). At the same time, it is placing a special emphasis on returning play to preschool and kindergarten education, where it fosters physical and social development, language development, imagination, and creative thinking, and enhances all forms of learning.

The Alliance's Restoring Play Project involves a multi-pronged approach:

1. A campaign to restore creative play and hands-on learning in kindergarten and preschool education.
2. A focus on "playwork" to help adults learn how to support children's play on school playgrounds and in parks, children's museums, and other out-of-school environments.
3. Research on the current status of play and academic instruction in preschools and kindergartens.
4. Support for public education efforts in conjunction with the forthcoming PBS documentary Where Do the Children Play? (For more information, see www.michigantelevision.org/childrenplay).
5. Work with other organizations committed to restoring children's play.
6. Maintain an updated list of resources for parents and educators relating to play.