How do you define “play”?

More from Roderick Gilkey and Clint Kilts again this week…

One book I’m reading right now is On Mental Toughness a collection of articles from Harvard Business Review. I’ll try to distill for you some of the research and ideas in it.

One aspect of cognitive fitness is working hard and playing hard. The origins of “play” are derived from the Old English word “plegian,” which means to exercise. Play is often considered a group or individual activity which is imaginative and promotes discovery and learning.

So, my question for myself is how am I playing regularly to learn and discover? I have put into my regular calendar of activities, to spend 30 minutes a day “playing” brain games. Prior to reading this book I simply considered it an activity I needed to do to feed my brain. We know that as we continue to age, our brain atrophy’s and gets smaller, unless we are regularly challenging it.

One great aspect I had while teaching and being a principle was being able to play with kids. At my last school, we had a yearly sleepover for all the kids who logged their reading (“Readers Challenge”) signed by their parents. I’m certain there were always a handful of kids who fudged the tally. We usually had 150 kids and whatever staff I could convince that it would be so much unpaid fun.

I never asked a superior for permission, nor did I run it past our insurance carrier. Quite frankly it just never occurred to me that anything could go wrong. Now, in hindsight I’m still glad I did all that. It was 16 hours of blissful play with kids. Fun. Play.

Even as I retell all that I’m actually saddened.  Saddened that I no longer have that regular play in my life. So, how about you? Tell me your ideas, curiosities, and wonderings, so we can learn from each other.

💕Lynn