Dog trainer and mystery author Lee Charles Kelley writes a fantastic description of how play helps dogs learn. Worth a read.
The Power of Play in Learning
May 6th, 2009Isn’t that why kindergarten was invented?
April 29th, 2009The Alliance for Childhood warns about the disappearance of play in kindergarten in a new report. Check out “The Crisis in Kindergarten.”
The serious need for play
April 2nd, 2009
While we are on the subject of Scientific American Mind magazine, it’s good to remember to look at this great cover story about the need for play.
Laughter is the best medicine
April 2nd, 2009This cover story from Scientific American Mind emphasizes the deep and powerful psychological–and biological–effects of laughter.
TED Video
March 23rd, 2009
Amazing dolphin bubble play
March 18th, 2009These dolphins blow bubble rings, then put their heads through them or flick them with their snouts to chop them into smaller rings or expand them. It seems the dolphins also show off, learn from each other and sometimes chomp the bubble ring for fun.
Forgot the punchline? Why jokes are hard to remember
March 17th, 2009Natalie Angier writes in the NYT about why jokes affect us so much but are hard to remember. She says it has to do with the fact that easy-to-remember things like jingles reinforce patterns already in the brain, whereas jokes are powerful because they break or subvert patterns, which makes it harder for the brain to slot the joke into memory.
Free-Range Kids
March 16th, 2009Posted by Chris
Most of us past the age of 30 grew up in a world that we mostly explored at will. We were asked (told!) to “go outside and play” with only the requirement that we be back before dark or back before dinner. We explored nearby fields and streams, built things, and learned about our own skill and proclivities. Kids now have much more structured lives, the result being that they miss chances to construct the narrative of their own lives.
Lenore Skenazy, a columnist who once unwittingly unleashed a scandal by letting her 9-year-old son ride on the New York Subway alone, talks about all this in the posted introduction to her book: “Free Range Kids: Giving Our Children the Freedom We Had Without Going Nuts with Worry.”
NY Tour: The Takeaway
March 13th, 2009Yesterday Stuart sat down with John Hockenberry to discuss “America’s #1 Prescription: Play” on the NPR program, The Takeaway.
Read about it and find the link to listen here.
Smart Doodling
March 12th, 2009Here is a great story about how doodling–a seemingly pointless, enjoyable activity (the essence of play)–actually makes the brain function better.
A Presidential Doodle