• The Playhouse Play Kit Project

  • Playhouse Play Kits are care packages filled with love from The Children’s Playhouse to all the families we cannot see in person during the Covid 19 Pandemic. Our goals were to offer support to families by providing open-ended, engrossing activities that support development. Each kit contains detailed instructions and all the materials for 6-12 activities providing many hours of hands-on fun. Boxes contained enough supplies for at least two children. Parents have told us that these kits have provided rays of sunshine in a very dark time.

    Launched in May 2020, The Play Kit Project created 14 different play kits for ages 7 months to 9 years old.  As of March 2021, 1650 kits have been assembled and distributed to area families through the Playhouse and 19 local nonprofit agencies including the Hunger and Health Coalition, the Watauga County Preschool Early Intervention program, and the Children’s Council. The activity guides were translated into Spanish. Thirty-five percent of families made a “pay what you can” donation for materials, 65% were distributed free of charge to families experiencing hardship. 

    Play Kit Project Overview Update March with donors

    Play Kit Project Overview Update October 2020  (Shares data on the project from May to October 2020)

  • Monthly Play Kits for ages 2-6

    Each month The Playhouse is designing and assembling 200 Play Kits for local families. Designed for kids aged 2-6, the kits include all the instructions and supplies for 10 hands-on, fun activities to be enjoyed by at least two children. Limit one box per family. 

  • STEAM Kits Now Available!

    The “Playhouse Builds STEAM” Kits are designed  and assembled right here at The Children’s Playhouse. Each thematic kit is packed with brain-building, hands-on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math activities for kids aged 6 to 10. Click below for more information about all the different kits and to order.

  • What’s for dinner? Homemade Playhouse Playdough!

     

     
  • Play Kits Get Rave Reviews!

    “We did all the projects together as a family. It gave us some things to do together since we are stuck at home most days.”

    “My kids have been playing with the different activities for 5 days now and we still have a lot left to explore!”

    “We don’t keep a lot of art supplies at home, so I’m glad there were not any assumptions about what supplies we already might have.”

    “My boys have had so much fun with the play kit. More so than the “fancy” ones the grandparents have sent. . . . We joked that Playhouse staff knows what kids really want — not what looks good to parents.”

     

  • Generosity Keeps the Play Going

    Over half of the kits distributed in May and June went to families reporting significant financial difficulty due to the Pandemic.

    The Playhouse Play Kit is supported in part by individual donations and a grant from the Farris Foundation Home Community Fund, the Kennedy-Herterich Foundation, the Clabough Foundation and the Watauga Community Foundation.  Although we are very grateful for these grants, The Playhouse is faced with a projected $70,000 loss in earned income this year, and will need to raise an additional $50,000 in contributions in order to staff the Play Kit project for the rest of the year

  • Safety Strategies for Play Kits

    In order to recieve the kits, parents and caregivers must affirm that they understand and agree to the following safety strategies for the Play Kits: 

    Leave this kit unopened for 72 hours after pickup. The Children’s Playhouse has followed current CDC recommendations and utilized reasonable mitigation strategies concerning COVID-19, so that the assembly and distribution of the Play Kits is as safe as possible.  The Children’s Playhouse, however, cannot make any guarantees about potential exposure to COVID-19, with respect to supplies included in the Play Kits or staff/volunteers assembling such Play Kits, due to the highly contagious nature of the virus.  Accordingly, The Children’s Playhouse recommends leaving each Play Kit unopened for seventy-two (72) hours before use and it is MY responsibility as a parent to do so. 

    Remove Activities that are not right for your child. The activities included in the Play Kit are designed for children of various ages and that it is MY responsibility as a parent to remove activities that may be inappropriate because of age or other reason from the Play Kit before it is used by my child(ren).  

    Supervise your children while using these supplies. As a parent, I am responsible for monitoring the usage of the Play Kit by my child(ren).

    Click here to read the full Play Kit Safety Release

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