OUR FOUNDING STORY
At Hatch Partners in Play, we are dedicated to fostering children’s creative thinking, confidence, and natural curiosity through open-ended play.
Our commitment to growth, impact, and equity have shaped the evolution of our work from a small, community-based model into a collaborative city-wide initiative aimed at expanding access to joyful enriching, and playful learning opportunities for children and transformative professional development experiences for educators.
For five years, beginning in 2015, Hatch was a physical dynamic creative space offering in-person courses and special events, enriching the lives of early childhood and elementary-aged children at the community scale. Carrying out this important work, we grew in our knowledge of three important realities:
Extended, self-directed play is a crucial component in the holistic growth of children
Chronic reprioritization of play in public schools has harmed students and exacerbated racial and economic disparities
Partners in Play was conceptualized in this critical pivot and shifted Hatch towards collaborative, equity-focused, accessible, in-school programming. Over the past two years, Hatch Partners in Play has worked alongside educators, students, and community partners to develop a comprehensive professional development program aimed at ensuring children’s right to play in Western PA and beyond.
Meet our Founders
Shannon Merenstein,
Founder
Shannon (BFA in Art Education, Pratt) is a play advocate, educator, collaborator, founder of Hatch and co-founder of The Creativity Project. She is also the author of Collage Workshop for Kids with the Eric Carle Museum. She has spent her entire career centering children and their ideas through open ended art-making and play in and out of school, and working with educators to prioritize play and creativity.
Dahlia Rao,
Program Director
Dahlia (M.Ed in Arts in Education, Harvard) is an arts educator with an extensive teaching background in university-community partnerships (Carnegie Mellon, University of Michigan) and a focus on early childhood best practices. She is always seeking opportunities to engage creatively with children while addressing issues of educational inequity.
