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Nonprofit Spotlight
Nonprofit Spotlight
Pure Play Every Day is a nonprofit that envisions a world where play is a part of every person’s daily life. Intrinsically motivated and unstructured play allows people of all ages to reap intellectual, emotional, and social benefits. The nonprofit’s co-founder and executive director, Patty Stine, established the nonprofit in 2017 to address the importance of play for children and adults. Self-initiated and undirected play enables children to develop lifelong capabilities such as problem-solving, creative, and socio-emotional skills, and it enhances those skills in adults. When people play more, they become more prepared to engage with the world. Play has the added benefits of relieving stress, improving physical and cognitive functions, and fostering healthy relationships with others.
Pure Play Every Day promotes free play in a variety of ways. For example, the nonprofit holds public, private, in-person, and virtual events that create fun and engaging experiences for participants. Such events include in-house field trips where hosts provide an open space and the nonprofit provides loose parts play materials, organizational partnerships that bring play-focused activities to food kitchens and shelters, and events that let adults with disabilities benefit from pure play. Pure Play Every Day also holds workshops for parents, children, childcare professionals, and organizations. The nonprofit provides two workshop series for dads, Baby’s Brain Builder and Dads Play Best, which educate fathers on how to play with their children and why the topic is important. The nonprofit also offers Maryland state-approved training workshops for childcare professionals. The workshops are two to six hours long, and they meet the professional development requirements needed for licensing and credentialing purposes.
Additionally, Pure Play Every Day provides a STEAM Room and play kits. The STEAM Room is a space where people of all ages can engage in hands-on games, pretend play, activity nooks, and more. In addition to individual activities, the nonprofit can set up group activities for team building sessions and classroom activities. Members of the public are also able to reserve the STEAM Room for birthday parties and special events. Pure Play Every Day’s play kits are available for individuals, classrooms, and other organizations promoting free play. The play kits come with new and recycled materials. Each kit contains a unique set of inspiration cards that demonstrate ways to play with the given materials. If anyone does not wish to order an entire play kit, the nonprofit offers the documents needed for people to create their own kit.
The public can help Pure Play Every Day achieve its mission by donating funds and resources as well as volunteering. People can donate a monetary amount of their choice on a one-time or monthly basis to support the nonprofit. They can also donate items from households, businesses, and construction sites that will be used in events and projects. In addition, the nonprofit has several volunteer opportunities available. Position categories include event helpers, workroom helpers, office helpers, and more.
In September, the organization will be setting up a space for children and families to connect through play at the Charles County Fair. The public is invited to attend and be part of the fun.
For more information, visit the nonprofit’s social media pages or website. The organization can be found on X (Twitter), Facebook, and Instagram.
The information used in this article was collected from Patty Stine, the nonprofit’s executive director, as well as the nonprofit’s website. The photos used in this article were collected from Aria Scott, the nonprofit’s executive assistant.
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