To play is to participate in the creation of the human being in its fullest context.
William R. Meyers
"Transcendence in the Play of Remembrance"
1998
A baby first learns to connect what it sees with what it feels by playing with its fingers. Naming, sequencing, and story-telling all emerge through play. We socialize while playing, and play socializes us. It teaches us the rules and helps us understand which impulses to control and when to let go. Play both loosens us up and toughens us. It challenges our creativity and tests our limits.
How does learning stack up?
Appearing in 1930, and enduring today, the familiar five (eventually six) wooden rings helped babies train their eye-hand coordination. When the peg became a cone, the manufacturer varied the rings in size, doubling the toy’s “play value” by adding sequencing and sorting to the game. Later, by offering the colorful doughnuts in soft plastic, marketers made them even more fun
to chew.
Playing with words
Conceived as Lexico during the Great Depression and renamed Scrabble in 1948, the game continues to snare millions. When the inventor, an unemployed architect, scrutinized the New York Times and found that the letters J, K, Q, X, and Z appear least often, he designed the game so that lucky players who draw these tiles would score the most points. The game still favors those who build their vocabulary, though.
Just like dad’s and mom’s
A baby doll and a toy front loader share one vital thing: both rehearse the future. Toys nudge us and train us, matching expectations and possibilities, forecasting roles, and narrowing choices. But play also dares new combinations. Kids learn from these liberating experiences, and so do adults who remember how to play.
