Play (activity)

As children get older, they engage in board games, video games, and computer play, and in this context the word gameplay is used to describe the concept and theory of play and its relationship to rules and game design. In their book, Rules of Play, researchers Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman outline 18 schemas for games, using them to define "play", "interaction", and "design" formally for behaviorists.^[12] Similarly, in his book Half-Real: Video Games between Real Rules and Fictional Worlds, game researcher and theorist Jesper Juul explores the relationship between real rules and unreal scenarios in play, such as winning or losing a game in the real world when played together with real-world friends, but doing so by slaying a dragon in the fantasy world presented in the shared video game.^[13]

Play is explicitly recognized in Article 31 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations, November 29, 1989), which declares:

• Parties recognize the right of the child to rest and leisure, to engage in play and recreational activities appropriate to the age of the child and to participate freely in cultural life and the arts.
• Parties shall respect and promote the right of the child to participate fully in cultural and artistic life and shall encourage the provision of appropriate and equal opportunities for cultural, artistic, recreational, and leisure activities.

History of childhood playtime

American historian Howard Chudacoff studied the interplay between parental control of toys and games and children's drive for freedom to play. In the colonial era, toys were makeshift and children taught each other very simple games with little adult supervision. The market economy of the 19th century enabled the modern concept of childhood as a distinct, happy life stage.^{[citation needed]} Factory-made dolls and doll houses delighted young girls. Organized sports filtered down from adults and colleges, and boys learned to play with a bat, a ball, and an impromptu playing field.

20th Century

With the rise of motor vehicle traffic in the 20th century, teenagers were increasingly organized into club sports supervised and coached by adults, with swimming taught at

Under the American New Deal's Works Progress Administration, thousands of local playgrounds and ball fields opened, promoting softball especially as a sport for all ages and genders.^{[citation needed]} By the 21st century, Chudacoff notes, the old tension between parental controls and a child's individual freedom was being played out in cyberspace.^[15]

Cultural differences of play

The act of play time is a cross-cultural phenomenon that is universally accepted and encouraged by most communities; however, it can differ in the ways that is performed.^[16]

Some cultures, such as Euro-American ones, encourage play time in order to stress cognitive benefits and the importance of learning how to care for one's self. Other cultures, such as people of African American or Asian American heritages, stress more group oriented learning and play where kids can learn what they can do with and for others.^[17]

Parent interactions at playtime also differ within communities. Parents in the Mayan culture interact with their children in a playful mindset while parents in the United States tend to set aside time to play and teach their children through games and activities. In the Mayan community, children are supported in their playing but also encouraged to play while watching their parents do household work in order to become familiar with how to follow in their footsteps.^[16]

All around the world, children use natural materials like stones, water, sand, leaves, fruits, sticks, and a variety of resources to play. In addition, there are groups that have access to crafts, industrialized toys, electronics, and video-games.^[18]

In Australia, games and sports are part of play. There, play can be considered as preparation for life and self-expression, like in many other countries.^[19]

Groups of children in Efe of the Democratic Republic of Congo can be seen making ‘food’ from dirt or pretending to shoot bows and arrows much like their elders. These activities are similar to other forms of play worldwide. For instance, children can be seen comforting their toy dolls or animals, anything that they have modeled from adults in their communities.^[20]

In Brazil, children can be found playing with balls, kites, marbles, pretend houses, or mud kitchens, like in many other countries. In smaller communities they use mud balls, little stones or cashews to replace marbles.^[21]

At an indigenous community of Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in Colombia, children's play is highly valued and encouraged by leaders and parents. They interact with the children of different ages and explore together different environments to let the children express themselves as part of the group.^[22]

Some children in the Sahara use clay figures as their forms of playful toys. Toys in general are a representation of cultural practices. They usually illustrate characters and objects of a community.^[18]

Play time can be a way for children to learn the different ways of their culture. Many communities use play to emulate work. The way in which children mimic work through their play can differ according to the opportunities they have access to, but it is something that tends to be promoted by adults.^[20]

Sports

Sport activities are one of the most universal forms of play. Different continents have their own popular/dominant sports. For example,

• Give children ample, unscheduled time to be creative to reflect and decompress.[28]
• Give children "true" toys, such as blocks or dolls for creativity.^[28]
• Youth should have a group of supportive people around them (teammates, coaches, and parents) with positive relationships.^[27]
• Youth should possess skill development; such as physical, interpersonal, and knowledge about the sport.^[27]
• Youth should be able to make their own decisions about their sport participation.^[27]
• Youth should have experiences that are on par with their needs and developmental level.^[27]

Research findings on benefits in youth

By participating regularly in a variety of sports, children can develop and become more proficient at various skills (such as

• agility and speed
• enhanced functioning and health of
  cardiorespiratory and muscular systems^[30][31]
• improved
  flexibility, mobility, and coordination^[30][31]
• increased stamina and strength^[30][31]
• increased likelihood of maintaining weight^[30][31]

Regular participation in sport and physical activity is associated with a lower risk of

Imaginative play and role play may allow adults to practice useful habits such as learned optimism, which is helpful in managing fear or terrors. Play also offers adults the opportunity to practice concepts that may not have been explicitly or formally taught (e.g. how to manage misinformation or deceit). Thus, even though play is just one of many tools used by effective adults, it remains a necessary one.^[37]

Workplace

There has been extensive research on the benefits of play among

Work and play are mutually supportive. Employees need to experience the sense of newness, flow, discovery, and liveliness that play provides. This provides the employee with the sense that they are integrated within the organization, and therefore they feel and perform better.^{[citation needed]}

Incorporating play at work results in more productivity, creativity and innovation, higher job satisfaction, greater workplace morale, stronger or new social bonds, improved job performance, and a decrease in staff turnover, absenteeism,^[41] and stress. Decreased stress leads to less illness, which results in lower health care costs.^[42] Play at work may help employees function and cope when under stress, refresh body and mind, encourage teamwork, trigger creativity, and increase energy while preventing burnout.^[41]

Companies that encourage play at work, whether short breaks throughout the day or during lunch breaks, are more successful because this leads to positive emotion among employees. Risk taking, confidence in presenting novel ideas, and embracing unusual and fresh perspectives are associated with play at work. Play can increase self-reported job satisfaction and well-being. Employees experiencing positive emotions are more cooperative, more social, and perform better when faced with complex tasks.^[43]

Contests, team-building exercises, fitness programs, mental health breaks, and other social activities make the work environment fun, interactive, and rewarding.

Older adults represent one of the fastest growing populations around the world.[46]^[47][48] The United Nations predicted an increase of those aged 60 and above from 629 million in 2002 to approximately two billion in 2050^[49] but increased life expectancy does not necessarily translate to a better quality of life.^[48] For this reason, research has begun to investigate methods to maintain and/or improve quality of life among older adults.

Similar to the data surrounding children and adults, play and activity are associated with improved health and quality of life among seniors.

The ability to incorporate play into one's routine is important because these activities allow participants to express creativity,[50] improve verbal and non-verbal intelligence,^[54] and enhance balance.^[46][33] These benefits may be especially crucial to seniors because cognitive and physical functioning declines with age.^[48] However, it might not be aging itself that is associated with the decline in cognitive and physical capabilities, but the higher levels of inactivity in older adults.^[46]

Play and activity tend to decline with age^[48] which may result in negative outcomes such as social isolation, depression, and mobility issues.^[33] American studies found that only 24% of seniors took part in regular physical activity^[33] and only 42% use the internet for entertainment purposes.^[50] In comparison to other age groups, the elderly are more likely to experience a variety of barriers, such as difficulty with environmental hazards and accessibility issues, that may hinder their abilities to play.^[46][55] Although playing may benefit seniors, it also has the potential to negatively impact their health. For example, those who play may be more susceptible to injury.^[46][55] Investigating these barriers may assist in the creation of useful interventions and/or the development of preventative measures, such as establishing safer recreational areas, that promote play throughout elderly life.^[46]

A moderate level of play has numerous positive outcomes in the lives of senior citizens.^{[54][46][55][50]} To support and promote play within the older population, institutions should set up more diverse equipment,^[47][55] improve conditions within recreational areas,^[46] and create more video games or online forums that appeal to the needs of seniors.^[47][50]

Other animals

Evolutionary psychologists believe that there must be an important benefit of play, as there are so many other reasons to avoid it. Animals are often injured during play, become distracted from predators, and expend valuable energy. In rare cases, play has even been observed between different species that are natural enemies such as a

Observing play behavior in various species can tell much about the player's environment (including the welfare of the animal), personal needs, social rank (if any), immediate relationships, and eligibility for mating. Play activity, often observed through action and signals, serves as a tool for communication and expression. Through mimicry, chasing, biting, and touching, animals act out in ways that send messages to one another; whether it's an alert, initiation of play, or expressing intent. When play behavior was observed for a study in Tonkean macaques, it was discovered that play signals weren't always used to initiate play; rather, these signals were viewed primarily as methods of communication (sharing information and attention-getting).

One theory—"play as preparation"—was inspired by the observation that play often mimics adult themes of survival.

John Byers, a zoologist at the University of Idaho, discovered that the amount of time spent at play for many mammals (e.g. rats and cats) peaks around puberty, and then drops off. This corresponds to the development of the cerebellum, suggesting that play is not so much about practicing exact behaviors, as much as building general connections in the brain. Sergio Pellis and colleagues at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada, discovered that play may shape the brain in other ways, too. Young mammals have an overabundance of brain cells in their cerebrum (the outer areas of the brain—part of what distinguishes mammals). There is evidence that play helps the brain clean up this excess of cells, resulting in a more efficient cerebrum at maturity.^[37]

Humans and non-human animals playing in water

Playing in the surf is among the favorite activities of children at the beach.

Dolphins playing in the surf

Marc Bekoff (a University of Colorado evolutionary biologist) proposes a "flexibility" hypothesis that attempts to incorporate these neurological findings. It argues that play helps animals learn to switch and improvise all behaviors more effectively, to be prepared for the unexpected. There may, however, be other ways to acquire even these benefits of play (the concept of equifinality). The social benefits of play for many animals, for example, could instead be garnered by grooming. Patrick Bateson maintains that equifinality is exactly what play teaches. In accordance with the flexibility hypothesis, play may teach animals to avoid "false endpoints". In other words, they harness the childlike tendency to keep playing with something that works "well enough", eventually allowing them to come up with something that might work better, if only in some situations. This also allows mammals to build up various skills that could come in handy in entirely novel situations.^[37]

A study on two species of monkeys

Modern research in the field of affective neuroscience (the neural mechanisms of emotion) has uncovered important links between role play and neurogenesis in the brain.^{[61][full citation needed]} For example,^{[non sequitur]} researcher Roger Caillois used the word ilinx to describe the momentary disruption of perception that comes from forms of physical play that disorient the senses, especially balance.

Play is positively correlated with coping with daily stressors in children.^{[62][63][full citation needed][64][full citation needed][65]} By playing, children regulate their emotions. This is important for adaptive functioning because without regulation, emotions could be overwhelming and stressful.

Evolutionary psychologists have begun to explore the phylogenetic relationship between higher intelligence in humans and its relationship to play, i.e., the relationship of play to the progress of whole evolutionary groups as opposed to the psychological implications of play to a specific individual.

Physical, mental and social

Various forms of play, physical or mental, influence cognitive abilities in individuals. As little as ten minutes of exercise (including physical play), can improve cognitive abilities.^[66] An "exergame" is a game that incorporates some physical movement but is not formal exercise. Such games increase one's heart rate to the level of aerobics exercise and result in significant improvements in mental faculties such as math and recall memory.^[66]

Good toys for young children need to match their stages of development and emerging abilities. Younger children can benefit from simply learning about geometric shapes, while older children can build various original constructions. Playing video games is one of the most common mediums of play for children and adults today. There have been mixed reviews on the effects of video games. One study found "[playing video games] was positively associated with skills strongly related to academic success, such as time management, attention, executive control, memory, and spatial abilities—when playing video game occurs in moderation".^[67]

Play can also influence one's social development and social interactions. Much of the research focuses on the influence play has on child social development. There are different forms of play that influence child social development. One study^[68] explored the influence of playing styles with mothers versus playing styles with fathers and how it influences child social development. "[I]ntegral to positive development is the child's social competence or, more precisely, the ability to regulate their own emotions and behaviors in the social contexts of early childhood to support the effective accomplishment of relevant developmental tasks."^[69]

Social benefits of play have been measured using basic interpersonal values such as getting along with peers.^[68] Play with parents reduces anxiety in children. Having play time with parents that involves socially acceptable behaviour makes it easier for children to relate to be more socially adjusted to peers at school or at play.^[68] Social development involving child interaction with peers is thus an area of influence for playful interactions with parents and peers.

Anji play

Anji play (安吉游戏 in simplified Chinese, 安吉遊戲 in traditional Chinese) is an educational method based on children's self-directed play in outside spaces, using simple tools made of natural material. The teachers and instructors only observe and document the children's independent play. The method was created by Cheng Xueqin and is organized as two hours of free play during which the children choose the available material they want to use and build structures to play.^[70]

While planning, experimenting, building, and using the structures to play, the children have the opportunity to interact with peers, to think critically about what may work, to discuss the plan, and organize the construction work. The process is observed and recorded by the teachers and instructors without intervention, even in instances of possible risk.

Before and after the two hours of play, the children have the opportunity to express their plans and discuss with their peers. After the play, they get the opportunity to draw, write or explain what they did. Then, they watch the videos recorded the same day and explain how they played and comment on each other's creations.

Anji play is also called "true play" and its guiding principles are love, risk, joy, engagement, and reflection. This method of self-initiated and self-directed play is applied at the pre-schools (children from three to six years old) in Anji county, East China.^[71]

References