Play

“Play is the highest form of research.” -Albert Einstein

“Do not keep children to their studies by compulsion but by play.”-Plato

"One way to think about play, is as the process of finding new combinations for known things—combinations that may yield new forms of expression, new inventions, new discoveries, and new solutions....It’s exactly what children’s play seems to be about and explains why so many people have come to think that children’s play is so important a part of childhood—and beyond."-Fred Rogers

“Ours is now a world that demands that people know how to learn new things–especially technical things–quickly and well; that they know how to collaborate, especially with people not just like themselves; and that they know how to think strategically and laterally as well as linearly and logically. These are all skills that good video games demand and teach.”-Marc Prensky

“[Students] approach learning as a ‘plug-and-play’ experience; they are unaccustomed and unwilling to learn sequentially–to read the manual–and, instead, are inclined to plunge in and learn through participation and experimentation. Although this type of learning is quite different, it may be more effective for this generation, particularly when provided through a media-rich environment.” — James J. Duderstadt and Farris W. Womack, The Future of the Public University in America: Beyond the Crossroads
“Whoever wants to understand much must play much.” — Gottfried Benn

“Children at play are not playing about. Their games should be seen as their most serious minded activity.” -Michel de Montaigne

“The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct.” — Carl Jung
“Play is training for the unexpected.” — Marc Bekoff

“The playing adult steps sideward into another reality; the playing child advances forward to new stages of mastery.” — Erik H. Erikson

"If you want creative workers, give them enough time to play."
-John Cleese

"Work and play are words used to describe the same thing under differing conditions."
-Mark Twain

"The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he's always doing both."
-James Michener


Photo: "The Sandbox" by Ricardo Carreon