The Neuroscience of Play in Under 3 Minutes

Last week, you created a scribble bird (creature?). (If this is the first email you’ve gotten from me, you can pop over here really quickly and check out last week’s email with the activity).  I mentioned that when you scribbled, you boosted your cognitive health and function. 

That little scribble was a brief form of play - it was purposeless, novel, and enjoyable while prompting curiosity and creativity. That is the very kind of play that has been associated with the activation of some incredible neurochemicals like dopamine, serotonin, endorphins, and brain-derived neurotropic factor (BDNF). These neurochemicals are directly responsible for benefits like reduced stress, improved working memory, learning, critical thinking, problem-solving, and positive mood (not at all an extensive list). 

As educators, (and most adults really), we generally hear the word play and think about children or animals. Or sports. Or music.

But play is so much more. It can actually be almost ANY activity. As long as it meets a few criteria. It has to be personal, joyful, optional, beneficial, seemingly purposeless, iterative, intrinsically motivating, and actively engaging. 

For me, after years of researching all this, this list has gotten pretty long.  Here are just a few examples of play for me: skiing, hiking with my son and/or dog, watching football/baseball (my teams), stand-up paddle boarding, certain puzzles, enjoying a delicious craft cocktail and app in a beautiful setting (especially new to me towns) with a good book. 

In the first email, I told I’d be sharing ways to bring play into your workday and here I am talking about skiing and having cocktails. We can’t do those at work, (sadly… I mean unless you have a job where you can do those things…. and if you do, are you hiring?)

Next week, we’ll explore the concept of PLAYFULNESS so we can access the benefits we get from the neurochemicals activated by play in our actual work day.