The Neuroscience of Why Children Play
All children, if given the chance, will play, preferably with other children. The games they play are often creative, rough and tumble, and of course―fun. Some consequences are obvious: · Fun is a positively reinforcing emotion. It makes kids happy. · Play encourages exploration with fewer constraining boundaries than the drone of regular life. · Play is an effective way to socialize and make friends. · Play stimulates initiative and engagement, rather than passively observing what others do. But there is another less obvious reason, one that is biological. In a review in the American Journal of Play (yes, there really is a scholarly journal on play), evidence is provided from controlled studies in rats and some primates. These studies show that when young animals are encouraged to play they de...