MDAEYC’s First Annual Play Conference
Play
Works.
The science of joyful learning
The keynote
Your Future Is Where the Fun Is
Reigniting Educators’ Why Through the Science of Play
Early childhood educators spend their days protecting children’s play, and often have little room left for their own. Jeff Harry opens the day with an energetic, interactive keynote on the science of play: why play matters for wellbeing, creativity, and connection, and how reclaiming joy in your own work makes you a stronger educator for children.
Expect to laugh, move, and leave with practical ways to bring more play into your classroom, your team, and your life.
Rediscover your play. Reconnect with your why.
Breakout sessions
Four hands-on sessions, each offered in both the morning and afternoon.
Playing for Learning
How a space is set up shapes how children play. In this hands-on session, you’ll explore open-ended materials and loose parts and look at how small changes to your environment can invite longer, deeper, more focused play.
- Ideas for setting up play spaces that spark curiosity
- Ways to use loose parts with the children you teach
- Time to play with the materials yourself
Centering Play in Leadership Practice
Play isn’t only for children. This session invites directors, coaches, and teacher leaders to explore how play can strengthen leadership, build resilience and curiosity, and create communities where educators feel connected to their purpose.
- Playful practices to bring into staff meetings and teams
- Reflection on your own leadership and what sustains you
- Connection with other leaders in the field
Wildly Playful Learning: How Sticks & Stones Meet Standards
Sticks, stones, mud, and leaves are some of the richest learning materials there are. Get outside and get hands-on with nature-based play, inquiry, and loose parts, and see how joyful outdoor learning connects directly to early learning standards.
- Simple, low-cost ways to bring nature into your program
- Connecting nature play to early learning standards
- Hands-on time with natural materials
When Children Move, Learning Moves: Play, Joy, and Embodied Learning
Young children learn with their whole bodies. Through dance, movement, and arts integration, this session shows how movement-based play supports language, early literacy, self-regulation, and connection.
- Movement activities for transitions and circle time
- How movement supports language and self-regulation
- Ideas you can use with children the very next day
Your day at a glance
- Registration, coffee & teaDoors open at 7:30 AM
- Welcome & keynote with Jeff HarryYour Future Is Where the Fun Is
- Morning breakoutYour first session choice
- Lunch, vendors & the Play LabLunch included, outdoor play, and time to connect
- Afternoon breakoutYour second session choice
- Closing fireside chatWhere Play Meets the Blueprint
- Door prizes & networkingEnd the day together
Don’t just talk about play
Experience it.
The Play Lab — We Need to Play, Too.
Step into our Lakeshore-sponsored Play Lab and reconnect with your own sense of wonder, curiosity, and joy. Explore loose parts, materials, and joy-inducing spaces designed to help you tap into your inner child.
Outdoor Play — Free Play · Music · Movement · Nature · Joy
Step outside, explore nature, move, create, and play with loose parts in an open-ended outdoor experience filled with music and movement, designed for curiosity and joy.
Closing fireside chat
Where Play Meets the Blueprint
A conversation on joy, literacy, and Maryland’s youngest learners
National and state education leaders will explore what it takes to keep play and joy at the center of learning as Maryland moves forward with the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future.
Confirmed: leaders from the Maryland State Department of Education, NAEYC, and the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading.
Who is Play Works for?
From classroom to leadership. Whether you work in family child care, a center, public school, or another early learning setting, if you shape how children learn and grow, this day is for you.
Early Play Registration · Extended
Eligible for MSDE training reimbursement
The MDAEYC Play Works: The Science of Joyful Learning is eligible for reimbursement through the Maryland State Department of Education Training Voucher and Reimbursement program. Eligibility requirements include having a Maryland Child Care Credential at level 3 or higher or a Level 2 or higher Maryland Child Care Credential that expired between July 1, 2024 and August 30, 2025.
Additional information and the link to the reimbursement application can be found here: MSDE Training Vouchers and Reimbursements
