FOR ELEVENTH ANNUAL WORLDWIDE DAY OF PLAY, SATURDAY, SEPT. 20
United States Tennis Association, NFL PLAY 60 and Boys and Girls Club of America
Among More Than 15 National Partners to Host Thousands of Health and Wellness Events Across the U.S.
NEW YORK – Sept. 15, 2014 – Nickelodeon will empower kids to get up and get active when its TV channels, websites and app go off air and offline for its 11th Annual Worldwide Day of Play (WWDoP) on Saturday, Sept. 20, from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. (all times ET/PT). Nickelodeon, Nicktoons, Nick Jr., TeenNick, Nick.com, NickJr.com, Nicktoons.com, TeenNick.com and the Emmy® Award-winning Nick App will all participate. Additionally, the network’s national prosocial partners – United States Tennis Association, NFL PLAY 60, the Boys and Girls Club of America and Key Club, among others — will host several thousand local events across the country to help celebrate kids’ love of play.
“This year’s Worldwide Day of Play celebration will cap off a summer of ‘Road to Worldwide Day of Play” local-market visits in San Diego, Detroit, and Virginia Beach where we teamed up with grassroots organizations to celebrate kids and all the ways they stay active,” said Marva Smalls, Executive Vice President of Public Affairs, Nickelodeon Group. “Nickelodeon is taking the spirit of those visits to a global level on Sept. 20 for Worldwide Day of Play, when our partners host almost 4,000 events to encourage kids and their families everywhere to be more physically active.”
Kids across the country are expected to participate in several thousand locally scheduled events. These events will be hosted by Nickelodeon’s national partners, including the Afterschool Alliance, the Association of Children’s Museums, Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York City, the Boys and Girls Club of America, Girls on the Run, the Girl Scouts of the USA, Key Club/Kiwanis, the National Environment Education Foundation, NFL PLAY 60, Playworks, Right to Play (USA Gymnastics), Roller Skating International, Save the Children, the United States Tennis Association, Up2Us, USA BMX and the YMCA.
On Sept. 20, Nickelodeon will air health and wellness-themed messaging beginning at 9 a.m. Throughout the morning, interstitials featuring stars from Nickelodeon’s hit live-action series, including Sydney Park and Tylen Jacob Williams (Instant Mom), Curtis Harris and Breanna Yde (The Haunted Hathaways) and Paola Andino and Nick Merico (Every Witch Way), will encourage kids to take the time to be more physically active. At 12 p.m., Nickelodeon will sign-off on air and online, signaling kids and families to get up and get moving. While the network is dark, a message encouraging viewers to go play will appear on a loop.
When Nickelodeon, its niche channels, websites and app resume programming at 3 p.m., health and wellness messaging will continue with highlights from this summer’s “Road to Worldwide Day of Play” events in San Diego, Calif., Detroit, Mich. and Virginia Beach, Va.
Nickelodeon’s “Road to Worldwide Day of Play” initiative was a series of visits to grassroots organizations who host active-play and sports programs for youth. The network encouraged kids to get active by bringing Nickelodeon-themed games, costumed characters and live-action stars to local events in the area.
Worldwide Day of Play is part of Nickelodeon’s ongoing health and wellness efforts and continues the network’s legacy of promoting prosocial initiatives to its viewers. Kids and families can visit http://www.nick.com/play to find photos and videos from “Road to Worldwide Day of Play” events, get tips on the best ways to play and access toolkits to help plan their own Worldwide Day of Play activities.
Nickelodeon’s 11th annual Worldwide Day of Play is sponsored by the United States Tennis Association and Yvolution. USTA and their affiliates will host thousands of tennis events across the country throughout the month of September in support of Worldwide Day of Play. Yvolution, an active lifestyle company that makes innovative ride-ons, balance bikes and scooters for toddlers through teens, gets kids worldwide outside and moving.
