Worldwide Day of Play

Worldwide Day of Play is an annual event designed to encourage children and parents to turn off the television and play, especially outdoors. The yearly event officially began on all US Nickelodeon channels, including Nickelodeon, Nick GAS (until 2007), Nick Jr. (formerly called Noggin), TeenNick (formerly called The N), and NickToons, on October 1, 2005. The event was first shown on October 2, 2004 on Nickelodeon. Some foreign versions of Nick also participated. The event is designed as a finale for Nick's six-month long Let's Just Play campaign. In addition, Nick.com would also have special features for children to learn how to stay active and healthy.

The 2012 Worldwide Day of Play aired on October 6th.^[1]

General purpose

Worldwide Day of Play advertisement Nickelodeon Magazine September 2005 — 2005 magazine advertisement.

The event influences children to be active by getting their schools and educational organizations to host an event to get out and be active. Those wanting to participate would contact Nickelodeon for instructions.

When the Let's Just Play campaign ended in September, Nickelodeon aired the finale during the last Saturday of September, the "Worldwide Day of Play". Nickelodeon and its sister channels suspend programming for three hours from 12 Noon to 3PM ET/PT. During the time there was no programming, a special message would appear on the screen—for instance, this message was displayed during the dark period on Saturday, September 29, 2007:

Yes, your TV is working. Yes, this is Nickelodeon. And yes, this is Nickelodeon's World Wide Day of Play! This is Nickelodeon's celebration of all things active-an entire day devoted to play! So, get off the couch, get up from the floor, and definitely quit slouching in your bed. You should be celebrating! Ride a bike, do a dance, kick a ball, skate a board, jump a rope, swing a swing, climb a wall, run a race, do ANYTHING that gets you up and playing! Once you've played, there's more Nick at 3pm. But until then, get up, get active, and GO PLAY! This message will repeat until 3pm, so unless you want to get bored, GO PLAY!

On September 27, 2008, the following message was shown on Nick and later, in 2009, it was shown on Nicktoons:

"Today is Nickelodeon's Worldwide Day of Play- an entire day devoted to play! And to celebrate, Nickelodeon has gone off the air from 12pm to 3pm to encourage you to get outside and play. There will be more Nick at 3pm, but until then, this message will keep repeating. So don't just sit there. Go play!"^[2]

On September 26, 2009,^[3]^[4] the following message was shown on Nick:

" Today is Nickelodeon's Worldwide Day of Play! Turn off your TV, shut down your computer, put down that cell phone-yes, YOU! and go ALL OUT! We'll see you back here at 3! "^[5]

On September 25, 2010,^[6] the following message was shown on Nick and Nicktoons:

" Today is Nickelodeon's Worldwide Day of Play! We're outside playing and you should be too! So, turn off your TV, shut down your computer, put down that cell phone, and go ALL OUT! We'll be back at 3! (notably 2 hours and 59 minutes later, a message says, we'll be back in less than a minute!) "^[7]

On September 24, 2011,^[8] the following messages were being played on Nick, TeenNick, and Nicktoons (3 channels were simulcasted on some Nick channels):

" Today is Nickelodeon's Worldwide Day of Play! We're outside playing and you should be too! We'll be back at 3 Eastern! "

Roughly enough, some sponsors were shown and a message was being played again:

" The Worldwide Day of Play is part of Nickelodeon's The Big Help, over 15 years of kids helping. We're outside playing and you should be too! We'll be back at 3! "^[9]

After the Worldwide Day of Play is ended, a countdown was played from 10 to 1, before resuming all of the Nickelodeon channels. Officially, this was first countdown shown in 2010 on Nickelodeon and Nicktoons, and in 2011, it was first shown on TeenNick.^[10]

Previous editions took place October 1, 2005 and September 30, 2006. There was no Let's Just Play campaign in 2008, though the Day of Play was held that year.

New episodes of Nickelodeon series

After Nickelodeon resumes airing, they usually air marathons and premieres of TEENick series, or SpongeBob SquarePants. In 2007, SpongeBob SquarePants, Just Jordan, Tak and the Power of Juju, Zoey 101, iCarly, Back at the Barnyard had new episodes. Following in 2008 was the season premiere of iCarly and the finale of My Family's Got GUTS. Following in 2009 and 2010, iCarly and True Jackson, VP, and Big Time Rush had new episodes. Later followed in 2011, new episodes of iCarly Big Time Rush and Supah Ninjas aired.

Appearances

Special appearances were arranged for the Worldwide Day of Play. In 2010, these guests were included: Victoria Justice, Isabella Collins, Kyle Swann, Jeff Sutphen, and music performances by Miranda Cosgrove. Also, in 2011, these guests were included Nathan Kress, Jennette McCurdy, and the cast of Power Rangers: Samurai. Some of the Worldwide Day of Play guests are including Keke Palmer, and Big Time Rush.

Webkinz

The Worldwide Day of Play is also a part of Webkinz, a toy online website is also being offline from 12:05PM EST, to 3:15 PM EST on September 24, 2011. this was eventually happened around 15 minutes later after 3PM before it was currently back online.^[11]

International version

Buitenspeeldag — The logo for the Belgian event in 2009

There's an international version of the annual event, which is also designed to encourage children and parents to turn off the television and play, especially outdoors. It's currently known for starting in Belgium from 2008, Germany from 2010, Sweden and Poland from 2013 and Greece from 2016.
In 2016, the event was sponsored by Chiquita, resulting in the creation of a new app called "Just Smile", where you can take a selfie and edit your taken photo with images from SpongeBob SquarePants, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Chiquita and slime-themed.

Dates

Germany
- May 28, 2010
- June 9, 2011
- June 1, 2012
- June 12, 2013
- August 1, 2014
- June 19, 2015
- June 21, 2016
Austria
- June 30, 2010
- June 21, 2011
- June 1, 2012
- June 12, 2013
- August 1, 2014
- June 19, 2015
- June 21, 2016
Greece
- Athens: June 12, 2016
- Thessaloniki: June 19, 2016
Belgium
- March 25, 2008
- April 1, 2009
- March 31, 2010
- April 6, 2011
- March 27, 2013
Poland
- August 26, 2016