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Benefits of Play

Play England’s Charter for Children’s Play describes play perfectly:

‘what children and young people do when they follow their own ideas and interests, in their own way, and for their own reasons.’

When totally occupied, time flies by, doesn’t it? The pleasure of playing is energising. Play is a state of mind and when immersed in free play we can express our individuality, whilst learning how the world works. Dr Jaak Panksepp, a neuroscientist, and psychobiologist describes being in the zone as the ‘play state’. Dr Panksepp, explains play is built into our biology starting in the midbrain, and cascading neural connections across the brain. Dr Stuart Brown, the founder of the National Institute for Play describes “play provides a continuation desire. We desire to keep doing it, and the pleasure of the experience drives that desire.”

Once safety needs are met a child will automatically want to play, curiously scrutinising, and creatively considering objects, people, and language for example. Age-appropriate play motivates people to learn and practice skills supporting their development. In child development, this is across the 5 domains. Practicing communication, problem-solving, and risk-taking (cognitive domain), immersing in an activity such as role play (emotional domain), balancing, jumping, and pincer grip (physical domain), negotiating, and sharing (social domain), accepting differences, and putting someone’s needs first (pro-social domain) are easy to practice when occupied in the play state.

As a foundational circuit, play is essential to improving brain functions by stimulating nerve growth and forming multiple neural connections. The possibilities are endless when we know a child is born will 100 billion neurons and each neuron can have up to 10,000 connections to other neurons, it’s incredible and makes each person unique.

Play Nature

Play nature refers to the individual’s inherent preference for types of play. Offering choice and opportunities in different types of play should be encouraged. It is interesting to consider how to use one’s play nature, to strengthen neural connections, and increase motivation. Play should be offered for play’s sake so it can truly be irrational, and spontaneous.

In the UK, from the moment a child is born, they are monitored in how they progress; meeting baby milestones, meeting Early Years Foundation Stages, and entering education that assesses growth through the national curriculum standards. Engaging children is the heart of learning and through play is an opportunity to motivate children and young people with their learning and wellbeing.

“As I see it, the aims of education are to enable students to understand the world around them and the talents within them so that they can become fulfilled individuals and active, compassionate citizens.” Pxxiv, Creative Schools by Dr Ken Robinson

It is important to acknowledge that play can be a catalyst to reduce a learner’s distress. We live in a society where children watch clips, claiming one attempt leads to huge success when we know everything takes practice. The stress of having to practice can lead to distress behaviours and so…

“Play isn’t the enemy of learning, it’s learning’s partner” p101, Play by Dr. Stuart Brown. 

Children and young people rarely fear doing something wrong when immersed in play. Take a moment to click on the images below demonstrating Kolb’s learning cycle through play.

It highlights how play motivates the learner to learn skills to accomplish the play.

The National Institute of Play references 8 areas of play

 Play has been studied for many years, and the National Institute of Play distinguishes 8 areas.

Reflecting on the 8 areas of play we can view the world from the child’s lens. A child who naturally chooses movement play may not have the same motivation to practice reading as a child who chooses storytelling play. Or a child who is content when social playing may develop social skills quicker than those children who prefer to play alone and use their imagination. Comparing children’s abilities, knowledge, and behaviours based on age alone is ambiguous and overlooks the child’s play preference. Furthermore, tapping into a play preference will support regulation when needed (e.g. school lessons), decreasing the risk of activating a stress behaviour response.

Not all stress is bad, and we all definitely need to learn how to respond to our distress. You can trust play to be instrumental in forming experiential learning opportunities about internal and external boundaries to build long-lasting skills.

If these areas of play are not suppressed when growing up, the preferences continue to expand and lead to play personalities. This starts with attunement play to observe what preferences the child likes and continue offering opportunities for children and young people to play. It is okay to encourage all types of play and accept there are preferences. The child who is not willing to play may not like that type of play.

Play Personality

“Lifelong play is central to our continued well-being, adaptation, and social cohesiveness.” p58, Play by Dr Stuart Brown.

It is easy to notice when forming relationships socially or at work, it usually involves play such as team building activities, going for a drink and playing pool, or watching a movie. Furthermore, communities encourage connecting through social clubs, board game events, charity events, and summer fairs to name a few.

Relax and focus on a time when you were totally immersed in an activity. Step into your memory, hear the sounds and observe your thoughts and feelings like a moving picture. Consider what was good about that activity and whether it has any resemblance to any of the 8 play areas in the section you’ve just read. Dr Stuart Brown, who undertook thousands of interviews, refers to play personality as the adult’s style of playfulness.

You can take this quiz to playfully see what play personality you have today. And it’s important to notice nothing is static, as we grow and form interests over time, our play personality may also adapt and grow.

Dr Brown identified 8 play personalities

• The Collector. An interest in collecting objects or experiences. The play state is the joy of searching for the objects or methodically collecting evidence of the experiences.
• The Competitor. The joy is competing with specific rules. Playing a game to win and will creatively learn skills to gain the win. Interestingly, some studies show strategic video games, e.g. platform games like Mario used in moderation are healthy playtime. Action video games e.g. shooting games are more likely to trigger the nervous system (fight/flight) and are good for hand-eye coordination. It’s all about knowing the person to know what games trigger the nervous system in what time frames.
• The Artist /Creator. If you enjoy painting pottery, knitting, and gardening, you are more likely to have an artist/creator personality. To experiment and play with materials in pursuit of function and beauty is one of the personality traits.
• The Director. People who enjoy planning to make things happen through meticulous organisation are directors. They like the power to host parties, arrange trips, and instigate connecting people.
• The Explorer. Babies and toddlers are motivated to explore their world and for some, this continues throughout life. Visiting places, researching a subject, seeking opinions, or even seeking the meaning of life are explorer personality traits.
• The Joker. A social strategy that revolves around foolishness or nonsense. Clowning around or playing tricks in an office leads to being the practical joker.
• The Kinesthete. A desire to test their bodies through dance, sports, or yoga. A sports player’s main focus is engaging in the movement, not the desire to win is a Kinesthete player.
• The Storyteller. The joy of using the imagination through writing, performing, or watching films. It is the playfulness of experiencing the thoughts and feelings of characters in stories. Play is used in most activities or tasks because it is the fun of using the imagination. The storyteller wants to have an exciting (even dramatic) match whilst the competitor is in it to win.

The health benefits for adults are appealing. Dr Brown notes that if one is in a play state, immersed in the task, enjoying the moment, the urgency or weight of importance, whether time or content critical, reduces. Play state increases efficiency and productivity by reducing work anxiety. Interestingly, playfulness that in turn creates humour is recognised in the brain.

“Humor cuts through the clutter in the ‘higher’ centers of the brain, straight to the subcortical, emotional centers.”p164, Play by Dr Stuart Brown 

In other words, humour can reduce the risk of activating the nervous system, enabling a sense of calm, alertness, and focus. From this deduction how can we induce or increase a play state in everyday stuff? As a parent, an educator, or a social worker, what thought can be attached to a task to increase playfulness and how can the surrounding people trust that the task still remains important even if the play state is in operation?

Benefits in Practice

As an example, attunement play is purposefully developing a secure attachment. The serve and return functionality are the two-way interactions between child and adult. Eye contact and being totally present in the back-and-forth play is key to relating, recognising the cues a child (and adult) shows when happy or in distress. This is the foundation of emotional regulation, learning healthy ways (behaviours) to respond to feelings.

Research across animals and humans notes that rough-and-tumble play occurs when all participants are friends and smiling and provides cooperation skills. Rough and tumble play leads to lifelong games and sports play. Adults want to ensure safety and therefore intervene or prohibit rough and tumble play. Anthony Pelligrini’s research notes the lack of rough-and-tumble play hampers social skills and “has been linked to poor control of violent impulses in later life.” P89, Play by Dr Stuart Brown.

Adults who use their play personality in their work such as using stories and metaphors in education, research play for an article, or collecting memories for a child who lives with a foster family will be reminded of their purpose and desire to continue doing their part. It will help to remain optimistic, stretch resilience, and adapt to an ever-changing world.

Final Thoughts

Having a rich, play-filled life means being able to be flexible, exploring new possibilities, and adopting problem-solving skills rather than avoiding or being in denial. Play offers experiences to learn to regulate stress and develop empathy. It teaches us to be open and collaborate rather than judge or be self-centered. Play and playfulness encourage the brain to adapt and stay curious. Above all, play for play’s sake momentarily enjoys life, to truly connect with the now, being content and happy.

Michelle x (I’m off to brush my teeth, it’s passed my bedtime)