What is Play?
“Play is children’s natural behaviour. The healthy development of children is dependent upon sufficient time and opportunities to play. Play is spontaneous, self-motivated, controlled by the child. The adult role combines setting the stage and facilitating; that is, supporting rather than directing the PLAY” (International Play Association, 2009).
Advocates for play acknowledge it can be both fun and serious. Through play, participants explore social, material, and imaginary worlds and their relationship with them. Play helps children to develop a flexible range of responses to the challenges they encounter. Through play, individuals learn to develop competence that allows for greater levels of participation within and throughout society. Dr. Stuart Brown, founder of the National Institute for Play, says play is fundamental to human nature and is critical in child development. Brown (2009) in his book Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination and Invigorates the Soul defines the following properties of play:
• Apparently purposeless: Play is done for its own sake.
• Voluntary: Play is not obligatory or required by duty.
• Inherent attraction: It is fun; it provides stimulation.
• Freedom from time: When fully engaged, we lose a sense of the passage of time.
• Diminished consciousness of self: We are fully in the moment, in the zone.
• Improvisational potential: We are open to serendipity, to chance.
• Continuation desire: We desire to keep doing it and the pleasure of the experience drives the desire.
The Value of Play
It is widely acknowledged that play is essential to children’s development. Play provides a fundamental learning process for children, allowing them to expand their skills, knowledge and understanding of the world. It allows them to test their abilities, use initiative, take risks and make mistakes without fear of failure. Through risk and challenge encountered in play, children are able to develop skills and judgment vital to negotiating every-day life. Play is also important for developing social skills and for forming, maintaining and negotiating relationships. It has also been suggested that play supports relationships within the family and between generations. Communities benefit from play spaces as they provide networks of support to children and families and increase community cohesion. Child psychologists and educators have said play can help build resilience – the capacity for children to thrive despite adversity and stress in their lives.
The Benefits of Play
Free and unstructured play has significant benefits and, in fact, is considered critical to human
development. Those benefits include:
• Development of the brain.
• Physical, social, emotional, and spiritual health.
• Acquisition of life skills including social, physical and communication development.
• Enhancement of creativity, imagination, innovation and problem solving skills.
• Adoption of principle-centered values of fairness, patience, respect, cooperation and sharing.
• Understanding of consequences, interdependence, negotiation and conflict resolution.
• Development of awareness and strategies to manage risk.
• Personal passions, including love of activity, solitude, love of nature and a lifelong enthusiasm for play.
• Learning to have fun, take time, relax, reflect, focus.
• Experience and confidence with asserting control over personal decisions.
References
Alberta Recreation and Parks Association. (2011). Play: It’s Serious Business. Edmonton, AB.
Brown, S. (2009). Play: How It shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul. New York: Penguin Group.
International Play Association. (2008). Children’s right to play: An examination of the importance of play in the lives of children worldwide. Retrieved 2010 from http://www.ipacanada.org/.
Advocates for play acknowledge it can be both fun and serious. Through play, participants explore social, material, and imaginary worlds and their relationship with them. Play helps children to develop a flexible range of responses to the challenges they encounter. Through play, individuals learn to develop competence that allows for greater levels of participation within and throughout society. Dr. Stuart Brown, founder of the National Institute for Play, says play is fundamental to human nature and is critical in child development. Brown (2009) in his book Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination and Invigorates the Soul defines the following properties of play:
• Apparently purposeless: Play is done for its own sake.
• Voluntary: Play is not obligatory or required by duty.
• Inherent attraction: It is fun; it provides stimulation.
• Freedom from time: When fully engaged, we lose a sense of the passage of time.
• Diminished consciousness of self: We are fully in the moment, in the zone.
• Improvisational potential: We are open to serendipity, to chance.
• Continuation desire: We desire to keep doing it and the pleasure of the experience drives the desire.
The Value of Play
It is widely acknowledged that play is essential to children’s development. Play provides a fundamental learning process for children, allowing them to expand their skills, knowledge and understanding of the world. It allows them to test their abilities, use initiative, take risks and make mistakes without fear of failure. Through risk and challenge encountered in play, children are able to develop skills and judgment vital to negotiating every-day life. Play is also important for developing social skills and for forming, maintaining and negotiating relationships. It has also been suggested that play supports relationships within the family and between generations. Communities benefit from play spaces as they provide networks of support to children and families and increase community cohesion. Child psychologists and educators have said play can help build resilience – the capacity for children to thrive despite adversity and stress in their lives.
The Benefits of Play
Free and unstructured play has significant benefits and, in fact, is considered critical to human
development. Those benefits include:
• Development of the brain.
• Physical, social, emotional, and spiritual health.
• Acquisition of life skills including social, physical and communication development.
• Enhancement of creativity, imagination, innovation and problem solving skills.
• Adoption of principle-centered values of fairness, patience, respect, cooperation and sharing.
• Understanding of consequences, interdependence, negotiation and conflict resolution.
• Development of awareness and strategies to manage risk.
• Personal passions, including love of activity, solitude, love of nature and a lifelong enthusiasm for play.
• Learning to have fun, take time, relax, reflect, focus.
• Experience and confidence with asserting control over personal decisions.
References
Alberta Recreation and Parks Association. (2011). Play: It’s Serious Business. Edmonton, AB.
Brown, S. (2009). Play: How It shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul. New York: Penguin Group.
International Play Association. (2008). Children’s right to play: An examination of the importance of play in the lives of children worldwide. Retrieved 2010 from http://www.ipacanada.org/.