In the face of technology overload and increasingly over-scheduled lifestyles, a growing “free play” movement is advocating for opportunities for children to engage in unstructured play and enhance their creativity and independence.

Join thought leaders in play, education, and childhood development at the Queens Museum for a discussion about the power of free play. The panel features play designer Cas Holman, whose exhibition Prototyping Play is currently at the Queens Museum through January 2025; Yoni Kallai, Co-founder and Head Playworker at play:groundNYC; Tovah Klein, Director of the Barnard College Center for Toddler Development and author of Raising Resilience: How to Help Our Children Thrive in Times of Uncertainty (HarperCollins, 2024); and is moderated by Kimaada Le Gendre, Director of Education & Community Engagement for the Queens Museum.

RSVP is required.

Panelist Bios:

Cas Holman For two decades Cas Holman has been designing playthings and playspaces that encourage exploration, imagination, and collaboration. Through her company Heroes Will Rise, Cas creates intuitive toys that inspire creative, open-ended play, including the award-winning Rigamajig, a line of playful building kits used in schools and public spaces worldwide. An educator of 15 years and former Associate Professor of Industrial Design at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), Cas travels the globe to collaborate with thought and industry leaders in early education, curriculum design, public space, and childhood advocacy such as Friends of the High Line (NYC) and Cheng Xueqin, founder of Anji Play (Anji, China) who share her passion for creating opportunities for child-directed free play. Her philosophy and approach to designing for play was featured in the award-winning documentary series Abstract: The Art of Design on Netflix. As a consultant, Cas has worked with the leadership and design teams at Nike, Google, Ford, Disney Imagineering, and LEGO Education. Through workshops and charrettes, she helps companies integrate the benefits of play, open-ended processes, and new ways of thinking into their ethos. Cas collaborates regularly with museums; recent projects include Wobbly World with Liberty Science Center, participatory teaching tools with Walker Art Center, and Prototyping Play with Queens Museum. Cas imagines and prototypes her creations from her studio in Brooklyn, NY. Visit her at https://casholman.com/. IG: @casholman

Tovah P. Klein, Ph.D. is Director of the Barnard College Center for Toddler Development, a psychology professor at Barnard College and author of How Toddlers Thrive, available in 7 languages. Her second book was published in September, Raising Resilience: How to Help Our Children Thrive in Times of Uncertainty (HarperCollins, 2024). She is a graduate of the University of Michigan and holds a doctorate in psychology from Duke University. Tovah has worked with families and young children for nearly three decades. Her love of this age stems from her interest in the influences parents have on children’s well-being as well as the joy and curiosity of children. Her research explores parenting influences and challenges, including work and family; children’s play and emotional development; parental emotional influences on early learning; and child trauma, including the impact of 9/11 as well as a study of parenting during COVID. Klein writes for and is quoted in the media including print, TV, radio and digital. She has been called the ‘toddler whisperer’ by Good Morning America. She consults worldwide to programs for children, was a developmental advisor to Sesame Street, and is an advisor to Children’s Museum of Manhattan, Hunts Point Alliance for Children, Room to Grow, and S. Africa’s Ubuntu Pathways as well as to children’s media including a new Apple TV+ children’s show, HBO for children and National Geographic Kids books. She lives in New York City. Visit her at www.tovahklein.com IG/LI: @tovahklein

Yoni Kallai is the Interim Executive Director, Head Playworker and Co-founder of play:groundNYC. Yoni is passionate about supporting and promoting play as a powerful and positive power in life. He comes to the work from a social justice perspective of counteracting the oppression we all get targeted with and impacted by, young people’s oppression. Yoni draws on a very wide background which includes: computer engineering, construction & rigging work, circus performing, military service and peace activism to name some highlights.

Kimaada Le Gendre Kimaada is the Director of Education & Community Engagement at the Queens Museum, where she curates, develops, and oversees educational and community programs centered on social justice, accessibility, and culturally sustaining pedagogy. She also leads the development and execution of large-scale and exhibition-based public programs. As a former history and environmental studies teacher, Kimaada is committed to creating empowering curricula and programs through a decolonized lens. In 2023, she was recognized as one of the Power Players in Education by Politics NY and AM Metro New York. She is currently a Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) candidate at Marymount University, focusing on educational leadership and organizational innovation.