You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.  Plato

Play is the most natural method of self-healing that childhood affords.  Erik Erikson

We are terrified by the idea of being terrified. Nietzsche

Play is the most natural method of self-healing that childhood affords. Erik Erikson

Play gives children a chance to practice what they are learning… They have to play with what they know to be true in order to find out more, and then they can use what they learn in new forms of play. Fred Rogers of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood

It is becoming increasingly clear through research on the brain as well as in other areas of study, that childhood needs play. Play acts as a forward feed mechanism into courageous, creative, rigorous thinking in adulthood. Tina Bruce, Professor, London Metropolitan University

Play for young children is not recreation activity,... It is not leisure-time activity nor escape activity.... Play is thinking time for young children. It is language time. Problem-solving time. It is memory time, planning time, investigating time. It is organization-of-ideas time, when the young child uses his mind and body and his social skills and all his powers in response to the stimuli he has met.  James L. Hymes, Jr., child development specialist, author

Play permits the child to resolve in symbolic form unsolved problems of the past and to cope directly or symbolically with present concerns. It is also his most significant tool for preparing himself for the future and its tasks. Bruno Bettelheim, child psychologist

Close observation of children at play suggests that they find out about the world in the same way as scientists find out about new phenomena and test new ideas.  Young children may not be able to verbalize new ideas forming in their heads, but they may still apply similar processes to scientists.  During this exploration, all the senses are used to observe and draw conclusions about objects and events through simple, if crude, scientific investigations. Judith Roden, Lecturer, Canterbury Christ Church University College

It’s not so much what children learn through play, but what they won’t learn if we don’t give them the chance to play.  Many functional skills like literacy and arithmetic can be learned either through play or through instruction — the issue is the amount of stress on the child.  However, many coping skills like compassion, self-regulation, self-confidence, the habit of active engagement, and the motivation to learn and be literate cannot be instructed.  They can only be learned through self-directed experience (i.e. play). Susan J. Oliver, Playing for Keeps

“Play is the highest expression of human development in childhood, for it alone is the free expression of what is in a child's soul.”  Friedrich Froebel, “Father” of modern kindergarten

Playing reduces stress, improves life, and increases creativity.  Who doesn’t want that? Stevanne Auerbach, Dr. Toy

Play acts as an integrating mechanism which enables children to draw on past experiences, represent them in different ways, make connections, explore possibilities, and create a sense of meaning….It integrates cognitive processes and skills which assist in learning. Some of these develop spontaneously, others have to be learnt consciously in order to make learning more efficient. We would all like children to become successful learners. Bennett et al. (1996)

Play is like a reservoir full of water. The deeper the reservoir, the more water can be stored in it, and used during times of drought. Tina Bruce, Professor, London Metropolitan University

Play is essential to the life of the universe.  Robert Jackson and Dermot Killingley, Listening to Hindus