I am passionate about the joy of play!

Thank you for picking up All About Me and My Play Academy. You will quickly discover that it is not really about me at all. It is about our precious babies.

This is the second book I've written about the importance of empowerment and play—with the intention of bringing excitement to children, and awareness to parents, educators, practitioners, and recreation workers. I think it's vital to create a positive foundation for "play" and “affirmations.” A critical part of raising children is to create an atmosphere of encouragement and support around them. Infants need an adult just to be there for them. Toddlers need adults to understand them—and let them be free. Transitional pre-kindergarteners need adults to encourage them to explore, and to experience the thrills of childhood adventures.

If we do this right our babies will discover their own creativity and imagination. They will be inspired to use their God-given talents to become all they can be. As adults our job is to let our babies be—and to let them become. All About Me and My Play Academy will help you let go so you can open a path for them, supporting them as they grow into the valuable persons they were born to be.

All About Me and My Play Academy is dedicated to Timothy Merlin Boe, a gentle soul. Our paths crossed for only a brief moment, yet he left an imprint on my heart forever. He believed in my vision of play from the start and introduced me to his fabulous, artistic son Christian—who became the artist and illustrator of this book. Tim would say, “Everyone is born with a fully operational inner compass which always points North. It is the greatest gift that life gives us while escorting us from our birth on this earth.”

I also want to thank all the many organizations, individuals and family members that have been on this “play” journey with me. Thank you for your patience, understanding, and encouragement as I pushed “play” on you, debated its purpose and importance, and pulled you into the experience. I strongly believe that children mirror the behavior of the adults around them. Therefore, we too must “play”—and I thank you for “playing” Audree’s way!

To the employees of the City of Oakland, thank you for “playing hard" the OPR (Oakland Parks and Recreation) way. We became stronger through “play.”

To Oakland Parks and Recreation, thank you for “playing with a purpose” for almost 12 years. It will always be about the babies!

To Saint Mary College of California, Cohort 29, and our Community Learning, Role Playing and Collaborative Inquiry Research Team, thank you! You helped me to validate where I wanted to go and needed to be. Onward to my real Play Academy. It is coming soon.

To Christian Boe, Ethel Howze, Diane Boyd, and Mark Hall, thank you for taking my early-morning and late-night calls, and putting up with too many abrupt, weekend “come and see meetings” to ask if this sounded right, or that looked right, or if we could please change this or that.

To my family—Darrell, DeOnte and Donneshia (Nell) Taylor, Jacqueline McKinney, Dwayne Jones, and Uncle Benny—thank you for all your support, debates, direction, and "playful" days. Lastly, to my grandson Quinn, and my extended grand-babies Major, Mason, Malajzia and Marcus, thank you for being the test subjects on both books, and for giving me ideas as I watched you play, and for reading Grandma Audree to sleep.

Now! Go out and Play! Your Own Way!

Audree Victoria Jones-Taylor