photo by Xavi Cabrera  on Unsplash There is a  lot  of discussion around child development; how to optimise learning, track milestones, and give children the best possible start in life. And yet, one of the key components of integrative and meaningful development is still being missed: unstructured, unassuming play. It’s naturalistic, it’s human, and it’s something all children do without prompting, and why? Because it’s one of the most poignant intrinsic developmental system

Photo by Drini Teta  on Unsplash What is the historical backstory of play? As lifestyles changed with modern times, so did the essence of playfulness. Looking back at our ancestors, it appears that play has been around as long as humans have existed, so… why? In hunter-gatherer societies, it is suggested, the use of play was a powerful social architecture; one that shaped cooperation, egalitarianism, autonomy, and learning. For most of our evolutionary existence, humans were

Photo by Jacqueline Munguía  on Unsplash What happens when we stop taking aging literally, and reframe it playfully? Science poses a new theoretical framework: play may be the route to improved cognitive health in aging. What if one of the most powerful ways to stay cognitively alive (not just sharp, but awake ), is something we are trained to outgrow? Through social play, unscripted interaction, mutual surprise and the willingness to accept the uncontrollable, we may unlock

Photo by Bhautik Patel  on Unsplash We idealise the rational self; goal motivated, logical, realistic, but this is only one dimension of thinking. Underneath every choice we make is a far more human system: the social reward mechanism. Think of it as the brain’s way of saying ‘this matters’, it’s the neurological system behind pleasure and motivation that’s activated when we connect, play and belong. These chemically reinforced experiences predate modern society by millions o