2016 Play: A year in review
In 2016 the Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy launched Greenway Play. Embedded in the Programs Department, the Play program focuses on developing and staffing opportunities to learn about the park while having fun! We even hired our very own Play Coordinator, Katherine Levesque!
Last year, we piloted a few key offerings including Youth Adventure Days, GreenPLAY open play sessions, and visits from local school groups. Over 5000 kids and adults played with us on The Greenway! Ten Play Ambassadors volunteered over 300 hours by staffing sessions and playing with youth! Intrigued? Visit our website to learn more about how you can be a Play Ambassador for 2017!
Fourteen youth groups from all around Boston had a chance to experience The Greenway during our Youth Adventure Days. These fun trips included a tour through the park, water fountain time for cooling off, open-ended play time, and a free ride on The Greenway Carousel. Our Mobile Eats food truck vendors really came through for us with donated lunches for each group!
2016 was also a great year for open-ended play on The Greenway. Over 60 GreenPLAY sessions took place in the park. Play is an essential part of cognitive development, allowing opportunities to learn about the world, gain social skills, test theories, and develop language and motor skills. It also provides a fun way to explore our park! Visitors from all over the globe played with our unique play equipment (like our Imagination Playground and Nature Play Kit) while also learning about the park.
Chinatown Park was the site of our pilot school group visits. From local daycares to BPS kindergartners, we enjoyed watching young ones play and learn about wind, flowers, the properties of water, and more.
It was sad to say goodbye to warm weather and our pilot year of play on The Greenway, but we think we did so in style. In December we partnered with community organizations Boston Public Market and various choral groups for our Caroling at The Carousel series. Children and adults got into the holiday spirit with lantern making, pomander creations, and singing songs!
All in all, a pretty busy year for playing on The Greenway! To keep up with our upcoming events visit our webpage and Facebook page. We can’t say too much about whats to come this year just yet, but stay tuned for a very playful 2017!