play
![Brian Piercy](data:image/svg+xml;utf8,<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="%230A66C2"><path d="M20.447 20.452H16.89v-5.569c0-1.328-.027-3.037-1.852-3.037-1.853 0-2.136 1.445-2.136 2.939v5.667H9.351V9h3.414v1.561h.046c.477-.9 1.637-1.85 3.37-1.85 3.601 0 4.267 2.37 4.267 5.455v6.286zM5.337 7.433a1.982 1.982 0 1 1 0-3.964 1.982 1.982 0 0 1 0 3.964zm1.782 13.019H3.555V9h3.564v11.452zM22.225 0H1.771C.792 0 0 .774 0 1.729v20.542C0 23.227.792 24 1.771 24h20.451C23.2 24 24 23.227 24 22.271V1.729C24 .774 23.2 0 22.222 0h.003z"/></svg>)
In a culture driven by outrage and constant alerts, play may be the simplest way to reclaim focus, resilience, and human connection.
New evidence suggests that adults never outgrow the need for play, but we definitely do forget how to make room for it.
And why play works
To have fun, you have to be okay with the idea of wasting time.
Now associated with childhood fun, the swing has a near-universal history of ritual transgression and transformation
The purpose of play — for children, monkeys, rats or meerkats — has proved surprisingly hard to pin down. Scientists continue to toss around ideas.
Fads come and go, but how to create a toy that stands the test of time is the billion-dollar question
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Ever wonder how Lincoln Logs or Sea Monkeys found their way into 20th-century toy stores? Here are the little-known origins of 10 classic toys.
The world's oldest toys date back thousands of years – but determining whether ancient children played with them, and how, remains a mystery archaeologists are piecing together.
An animal study brings us closer to understanding our own behavior
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The challenge is not how to “teach creativity” to children, but rather how to create a fertile environment in which their creativity will take root, grow, and flourish.
It’s complicated.
Dolls help children create wonderfully vivid and imaginative worlds, while also serving as unsettling reminders of the abyss