We are our brains, and anything that changes the brain changes who we are and who we will become. Our life successes in all areas, including health and socioeconomic status, are profoundly affected by brain development (Kolb, 2009). Play is essential to brain development, and it contributes to the cognitive, physical, social, and emotional health and well-being of children, adolescents, and adults (Anderson-McNamee & Bailey, 2010; Ginsburg, the Committee on Communications, and the Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health, 2007; Libby, 2014).
Play is a primal activity for all human beings. It is preconscious and preverbal, arising out of ancient biological structures that existed before human consciousness or the ability to speak. Play is considered a biological drive that, while not as strong as the desire for food, sleep, or sex, is nonetheless present in all mammals, including humans (Brown & Vaughan, 2010; Libby, 2014).
Play is universal and is considered a key component of diversity and evolution. It is the dominant and directing mode of learning during childhood (Elkind, 2007). Play is so important to optimal child development that the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights recognizes it as a right of every child (United National Human Rights, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, 1990).
Play is equally important for adults. While work and play are mutually supportive, according to Brown & Vaughan (2010), the opposite of play is not work—it is depression. Individuals have an inherent need for variety and challenge. When that inherent need is buried by an overwhelming sense of responsibility, “what is left is a dulled soul” (p. 126). Play is called recreation because it makes us new again, it helps us re-create us and our world” (Brown & Vaughan, 2010, p. 127).