The Parent LAB PLAY DAY Series engages participants in interactive games designed to connect the active body to brain development, and thus enhance cognitive learning experiences. As we promote active learning through our inclusive, strengths-based approach, we are collaborating with families and their community-members in the expansion of extant literacy and advocacy skills.

We use play to develop a shared analysis that organizes communities around cultural literacy practices, historically marginalized voices and their creative contributions to imagining new worlds. We understand literacy as diverse forms of meaning-making contextualized by sociocultural conditions, traditions, and spaces, which reframes play as a robust site for extending our attention to issues of representation, language, pedagogy and power.

Moreover, while the concept of “PLAY” is typically associated with children in the public imagination, we are seeking to expand the conceptualization of play to include all ages and abilities. Our PLAY DAY Series is free, open to the public, and is hosted quarterly on Saturday afternoons.