The Importance of Play for All Ages!

Think about how great it felt to spin round and round in the front yard as a child, getting dizzy and falling over laughing! The nostalgia of play is usually remembered as fun, but did you know there are many benefits of play for both children and adults? Play is often seen as unproductive or perhaps even childish, but the value of play goes far beyond childhood. Dr. Stuart Brown advocates that the “opposite of play is not work, it’s depression.” Play has physical and mental benefits for humans of all ages.
 
Play can be defined as “engaging in activity for enjoyment and recreation rather than a serious or practical purpose.” Engaging in these “purposeless” activities can have long lasting benefits.

Benefits for children:

• Play supports brain development: When children play, their brain becomes more efficient in receiving and encoding information.
  
• Play builds social competence: As children play with others, they learn about cues, norms and build a diverse understanding of the world.
• Play creates a road to resilience: Through play, children are able to practice planning and problem solving, which are critical for the development of resilience.
  

Benefits for adults:

• Play reduces stress: We can all use a little stress reduction! Play releases endorphins and provides the body with a boost of well-being.
• Play creates shared experiences and strengthens connections to other people: Play is vital to relationships.
• Play allows our mind to wander and daydream: The act of playing triggers up our imagination which increases cognitive function; it literally makes us smarter!

And did you know that when adults, like parents and grandparents and other close family members, play with children, there are even more benefits? We already know that the adult gets to relive some long forgotten feelings of joy and freedom, see the world through a child’s lens, and reconnect to creativity, and that children build their development, but together there is a stronger bond being forged. In fact, research shows that playing together increases the quality of the relationship, and of course, while playing, there is decreased stress and increased mindfulness. All good things!!

Prepared By
BRICK Consulting Group
brickconsultinggroup.org

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