A Certified Playground Safety Inspector has passed the National Recreation and Park Association National Playground Safety Institute's examination. The ASTM International and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission are the safety standards used for this test.
Launched in 2003, Chicago Toy & Game Group is a series of events, awards, and resources to encourage invention of toys and games. The Chicago Toy & Game Week hosts the International T&G Conference, TAGIE Awards, the Social Media @ Play Conference, the I-SPI, the Play with Purpose Conference, the Youth Inventor Challenge, and the free two day ChiTAG Fair.
The Communicable Disease Center was formed in 1946 by Dr. Joseph W. Mountin, a "visionary public health leader." The CDC originally focused primarily on eradicating malaria. By 1950 they had expanded to become a center for disease surveillance through the solution of the Salk vaccine contamination issue in 1955 and the tracing of the influenza epidemic in 1957.
Children & Nature Network was founded in 2006 to address the Nature Deficit Disorder issue raised by Richard Louv's book Last Child in the Woods. Richard and five other leaders in diverse fields created the nonprofit Children & Nature Network with the initiative to "Leave No Child Inside." Their mission was to reconnect children to nature for two purposes: the physical health, cognitive development, and emotional well-being of the child, and the good of the planet.
President of Playcare, Inc., Betsy Caesar is a playground designer and playground safety expert. Betsy believes that "the greatest single cause of playground injury is the lack of maintenance. A playground that is created but not maintained in a safe manner can be the cause of serious injury or even death" to children.
Checkers is a popular board game played by children and adults alike. The game is played on a checkerboard of two colors, usually black and red, with the most popular size in America being 64 squares on an 8x8 board. The board game is played around the world and is known as draughts (pronounced "drafts") in Europe.
Amy Jaffe Barzach founded Jonathan's Dream, which led to Boundless Playgrounds mission to create truly accessible and integrated playgrounds within reach of every child. Boundless Playgrounds raised awareness of the play needs of all people and in the process was instrumental in helping raise the standards in the playground industry.
Derived from Blue Implement, a farm implement company, Blue Imp became a playground equipment manufacturer in the 1950s. Blue Imp takes safety issues in playgrounds and playground equipment very seriously. They believe, "A well-designed playground gets kids moving without realizing they are getting fit at the same time."
Dr. Stuart Brown is a leading play expert who has researched and written about the significance of play in the lives of animals and humans and how free play develops the social and locomotive skills in children that are necessary in life. He founded the National Institute for Play to focus on the research on play.
