$1.5 million in grants promote playing in Pittsburgh
You just might notice more people playing in Pittsburgh thanks to $1.5 million in grants going to promote playing.
A bicycle-powered potter's wheel is one example of how people are having fun by creating ceramics from scratch while someone else cycles to make the wheel spin. MCG Youth came up with it, calling it "clayground".
It's one of many grants funded through the Let's Play PGH effort, funded by the Grable and Hillman Foundations through Remake Learning.
Remake Learning Executive Director Tyler Samstag explains, "We challenged organizations to think about how you could design and build installations that could promote playful learning."
MCG Youth Executive Director Justin Mazzei says it developed clayground with the help of the grant to turn creating pottery from a solitary experience to a group event.
"We said, how could we have fun? How can we create fun engagements that now take two people or take a community of people to create pots, fire pots and build relationships using the power of pottery?"
You can find "clayground" and many other experiences to play all around the region, including pop-up pinball, the discovery tree at the Frick Environmental Center and a sensory garden called sniff, splash, boom.
And for all kinds of resources around western Pennsylvania for families to play, check out Kidsburgh.
KDKA is proud to partner with kidsburgh.org.