The US Play Coalition believes that everyone in the world should have equal access to all forms of play. Play is a basic need that provides the foundation for all areas of development. It’s an essential part of being human that helps us reach our full potential. But that’s still not a very mainstream view. Play is just beginning to move beyond the perception that it’s a fluffy “nice to have.” That’s why play needs a voice. One of them is the US Play Coalition.
The US Play Coalition is a collection of many voices - it's a deep well of knowledge around the subject of play. On their website, you can find research, publications, events and educational resources. They hold an annual conference in April. This year the theme is “The Value of Play: Where Design Meets Play.”
I’m honored to have recently become a Play Ambassador for them and that happened when I met Ryan Fahey. Ryan’s role at the US Play Coalition includes connecting with play ambassadors (which now includes me!), engaging them within the play ambassador network and promoting the US Play Coalition annual conference through social media. He also co-created #WePlayChat with the US Play Coalition, a professional learning opportunity which connects play advocates from across the globe to share a voice for the value of play on twitter.
Ryan is a firm believer in wellness and play being key aspects of a happy, healthy life. His passions include running, weight lifting and playing badminton. He believes that wellness is not a destination, rather it is a journey navigated daily through intentional actions which take you from a good life, to your best life!
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The fun of a Rube Goldberg machine is watching a task, one that should be simple, being performed through a drawn-out series of seemingly meaningless detours. But we hate detours, right? Not always. This interview with Brett Doar, I hope, will challenge how you look at finding your “path” to success, to contentment, to your goals, whatever they are. (Hint: Play plays a pretty big role).
Brett Doar is a multi-disciplinary artist known for his work building Rube Goldberg machines and other types of interactive and kinetic devices. You might have seen his work in the OK Go This Too Shall Pass video from a few years back. He and his team have also brought these, what he likes to call “Chain reaction machines” to live stages at places like such as The Colbert Report, Google IO and SO many more. He holds an MFA from the Arts, Computation and Engineering program at UC Irvine. But really, what’s most important to us, he’s capable of building ANYTHING out of paperclips.
His background includes working as a commercial fisherman, a bus driver, a film and video editor, and teacher (preschool, middle school, and university level). His work has received press in NPR, the Wall Street Journal, Village Voice, PC Magazine, CNN, Rolling Stone, and the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, and Comedy Central.
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