IPA/USA American Association for the Child’s Right to Play

IPA/USA is the American affiliate of the International Play Association. The purpose of the organization, founded in 1961 in Denmark, is to protect, preserve, and promote play as a fundamental right for all humans. The ideas behind the organization date back over 90 years to when Save the Children founder Eglantyne Jebb drafted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child in 1923. An expanded version of this proclamation was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on November 20, 1959, as the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, which added five more principles to make 10 principles. Principle 9 of the 1959 Declaration of Rights addresses the child’s right for “full opportunity to play and recreation” (UNICEF, n.d.). In addition, November 20 was ...