School
Play (activity)
Overview
Play is a range of intrinsically motivated activities done for recreation. Play is commonly associated with children and juvenile-level activities, but may be engaged in at any life stage, and among other higher-functioning animals as well, most notably mammals and birds.
Play is often interpreted as frivolous; yet the player can be intently focused on their objective, particularly when play is structured and goal-oriented, as in a game. Accordingly, play can range from relaxed, free-spirited, spontaneous, and frivolous to planned or even compulsive. Play is not just a pastime activity; it has the potential to serve as an important tool in numerous aspects of daily life for adolescents, adults, and cognitively advanced non-human species (such as primates). Not only does play promote and aid in physical development (such as hand-eye coordination), but it also aids in cognitive development and social skills, and can even act as a stepping stone into the world of integration, which can be a very stressful process. Play is something that most children partake in, but the way play is executed is different between cultures, and the way that children engage with play varies.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
In the original texts
Passages from public-domain books where Play (activity) is discussed.
The difference between them is largely one of time-span, influencing the directness of the connection of means and ends. In play, the interest is more direct--a fact frequently indicated by saying that in play the activity is its own end, instead of its having an ulterior result. The statement is correct, but it is falsely taken, if supposed to mean that play activity is momentary, having no element of looking ahead…
John Dewey, Democracy and Education
names the idea; a chapter is titled for it; states what it is; opens on it
Its significance in detail, in application, however, means the possibility, and in many respects the necessity, of quite a radical change of kindergarten procedure. To state it baldly, the fact that “play” denotes the psychological attitude of the child, not his outward performances, means complete emancipation from the necessity of following any given or prescribed system, or sequence of gifts, plays, or…
John Dewey, The school and society
names the idea; a chapter is titled for it; states what it is; opens on it
The apparatus amuses the child, but its purpose is instruction; the amusement is merely a means to instruction. In real play, amusement is the governing purpose. When the objection to “disordered imagination” is carried over into genuine play, it seems to me to go too far.
Bertrand Russell, Education and the good life
names the idea; a chapter is titled for it; states what it is; opens on it
Nor does the further pursuit of the question of play resolve our hesitations between two conceptions. We see that children repeat in their play everything that has made a great impression on them in actual life, that they thereby abreact the strength of the impression and so to speak make themselves masters of the situation. But on the other hand it is clear enough that all their play is influenced by the dominant…
Sigmund Freud, Beyond the pleasure principle
names the idea; states what it is; opens on it
“No, no; they do but jest--_poison in jest_; no offence in the world,” returned Hamlet, looking at him with strange malice in his eyes. The King winced, but tried to appear unconcerned. “What do you call the play?” “‘The Mouse-trap.’ Marry, how? Tropically,” continued Hamlet, still in the same wild manner. “This play is the image of a murder done in Vienna; Gonzago is the Duke’s name, his wife Baptista. You shall…
Mary Macleod, The Shakespeare Story-Book
names the idea; states what it is
Related ideas
- Emotion
- Child
- Creativity
- Happiness
- Competition
- Learning
- Game
- New Deal
- Neuroscience
- South Asia
- Psychology
- Motivation
- Cricket
- Speed
- United Nations
- Yoga
- Works Progress Administration
- Flow (psychology)
- G. Stanley Hall
- Jean Piaget
- Child development
- University of Idaho
Place in the tradition
Part of Philosophy of education.