Play, while it cannot change the external realities of children’s lives, can be a vehicle for children to explore and enjoy their differences and similarities and to create, even for a brief time, a more just world where everyone is an equal and valued participant
Patricia G. Ramsey
"Diversity and Play"
1998
By training us in the most complex skill of all—socializing—play bestows companionship, friendship, and intimacy. As players together learn and observe the rules, they share stories, experiences, and eventually values. Belonging to a group is a powerful tonic. The team, the sewing circle, the book club, the buddy group on email, all knit us together.
Exchanging patterns
The sociable quilting bee proved that "useful" can be "playful." Women who gathered around a frame to create quilts and coverlets swapped scraps and stories, celebrated virtues and memories, marked friendships and occasions, and played. The proof? Consider these named quilt patterns, picked at random from thousands: Drunkard’s Path, Hearts and Gizzards, Bachelor’s Puzzle, Grandmother’s Engagement Ring, Lover’s Knot, Aunt Lucinda’s Block, Hole in the Barn Door, and Twisted Sisters.
The 411 on emoticons
Email buddy chats glisten with specialized lingoes, funny acronyms, and keyboard shorthand. Though they quickly wear thin, a family of "emoticons"—smiley face graphics for cyberspace cobbled together from surplus punctuation marks—can denote feelings as diverse as surprise (:- O) and skepticism and cement far-flung social circles.
Bocce
Stretching back to ancient Egypt, this Mediterranean ball game still attracts American players on bright afternoons in old Italian neighborhoods. Officially, the object of the match is to place the large balls as close as possible to the pallino, a kind of cue ball. Unofficially, the object is sociability. The author of The Joy of Bocce insists that losers must buy the winners drinks.
