Play is instinctual and universal. We all engage in play, across all cultures, and all ages. In fact, there seems to be a biological imperative to play, even across the animal world. Mammals that exhibit the most playful behavior are more creative problem-solvers in comparison to animals that are less playful.
There is a strong and growing movement in Calgary recognizing play as integral to our quality of life. The City of Calgary, along with like-minded partner organizations, like TELUS Spark, are recognizing play as critical to creating an active, vibrant and healthy city. The focus on ‘play’ as it contributes to the healthy development of children is becoming imperative to the way many organizations operate. So why are we focusing on bringing free play back?
To understand how important free and unstructured play is, we need to recognize what is happening when children are playing. Structured activities like sports or adult-directed play are powerful and useful, but they are not the same as free play. Free play is child-centered, child-initiated and child-controlled - no parent required. Free play run by children is fluid; children control the rules, how they play and how the game evolves. Watch a group of kids play tag in the playground - the rules morph and change as new children join. The sand of the playground turns from water to lava, or double touches are required to tag someone or two people are “it” at the same time. This type of play is spontaneous and intrinsically rewarding for children who play just for the sake of fun.
Researchers are exploring the role that play has in healthy brain development. The research is a complex mix of neurology, psychology and sociology. Strangely, the conclusions that seem obvious - such as the value of play - can actually be a challenge to support with strong evidence. Perhaps an even bigger risk for our children’s development and learning is modern society’s shift away from free play in our increasingly scheduled world.
When people play, they need to change and adjust to the circumstances of the game. One of the key benefits of play is an increase in flexibility, adaptability and responsiveness. There are growing bodies of evidence showing that when people play in creative and adaptive ways, where the consequences are low, it increases their creative ability and problem-solving skills in the long-term. By eliminating real risk from the problems, people are free to experiment and test boundaries, iterate solutions and develop new experiences that they can apply to more difficult problems later on.
Psychologists think there are many different types of learning going on when children engage in free and unstructured play. When children set the rules for the game they are developing, they are not just exercising their imaginations - they are also developing their social skills, learning to see each other as individuals, and take each other’s needs and opinions into account. Consider that group of kids playing tag - they create the rules for the game, rules that will often evolve and change, getting renegotiated over time to ensure balance and sustain the game. Free play is a great opportunity for children to develop and enhance their social and communication skills - enabling them to see how their playmates respond, and even begin to generate empathy with one another.
Free play also provides a great environment for children to develop their physical skills. We don’t often think of the connections that exist between our physical capacities and brain development, but the two are intimately coupled. As children are intrinsically motivated by having fun as they play, kids will invest time and effort in repeating an action until they are happy with their performance - and in doing so, develop spatial skills, coordination, fine motor and gross motor skills. We see this development daily at TELUS Spark as children scramble up the 40-foot-tall tower in the Brainasium. When children first begin, they struggle with the ladder and are unsure of the daunting climb. But over time, they develop the skills and confidence to go higher.
Free play fosters many skills - creativity and problem-solving included. The important part is to continue playing as adults. Psychologists have studied groups of adults and discovered that those who were encouraged to engage in free ‘playful play’ as a group were able to develop more creative and innovative solutions to challenges. Play may very well be a key ingredient in our ability to innovate and problem solve - both as children and for the rest of our lives.
The City of Calgary Recreation and + Calgary’s Child are proud to partner this year. We think play is very important for Calgary families. For more information on what’s happing at The City of Calgary Recreation, visit calgary.ca/recreation. Devon Hamilton, Ph.D, is the VP Exhibits at TELUS Spark. For more information on what’s happening at TELUS Spark, visit sparkscience.ca.
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