Here’s an amusing news item that’s got me a little steamed. Killjoys in Los Angeles County have passed a rule against play. Maybe you’ve heard of it. A 37-page ordinance recently promulgated prohibits any person “upon or over any beach” between Memorial Day and Labor Day “to cast, toss, throw, kick, or roll” any object other than a beach ball or volleyball. If the code enforcement officer catches you violating the law you may be liable to a $100 fine […]

Continue Reading about No Having Fun at the Beach! Published on:
February 13, 2012

As an educator, I’m curious about how childhood play and learning experiences shape individuals at the top of their creative fields. Recently I asked Garth Fagan, Tony Award winning choreographer of the Lion King, just that question.
“As a child,” Fagan began, “I loved anything that got me moving.”
One of his favorite haunts, an Olympic-size pool at Bournemouth Gardens in his Jamaican homeland, served as an irresistible place for games of chase and dare. Fagan recalled how he and his friends […]

Continue Reading about Garth Fagan: Play and the Innovative Dancer Published on:
February 10, 2012

If you have ever owned a puppy, you know how they like to chew and chew and then chew some more. Puppies are chewing machines. They chew to celebrate when they’re happy. They chew to calm themselves when they’re anxious. They chew to soothe their erupting teeth and ease the ache in their growing jaws. They chew because it’s fun. For a puppy, chewing is play. The playing puppy doesn’t always make us happy. A puppy will chew the soles […]

Continue Reading about When Chewing is Play: The Dood and His Toys Published on:
February 3, 2012

Here’s a story about the important lessons I learned about a peculiar form of play from Tommy, a mischievous high school pal of mine.
Practical Joke, Fake Spilled Beverage
 

Practical jokes and harmless pranks are blithe and funny, especially to the perpetrators and the onlookers. Such jokes and pranks fool, hoodwink, and ensnare their victims and play best when the object of the joke seems slightly deserving of the attention. Practical jokes and harmless pranks must make the victim himself laugh […]

Continue Reading about Practical Jokes as Play: The Spritz, the Sneak, and the Penguin Published on:
January 27, 2012

What do play, The DaVinci Code, multiplying rabbits, double-entry bookkeeping, and Roman numerals have to do with discovering the secrets of the universe or at least have to do with finding an easier way to do arithmetic?
 In the whopper of an opening scene in Dan Brown’s alternate history page-turner The DaVinci Code, a creepy robed figure corners a terrified curator in the Louvre’s famed Grande Gallerie, a room that displays the Mona Lisa and other acclaimed works. After a short […]

Continue Reading about Thank you Fibonacci for Playing with Numbers Published on:
January 19, 2012

In high school I often worked as a caddy, hitchhiking to a golf course in the morning. (Oh, weren’t those the carefree days.) Flat rate for eighteen holes paid $1.75 for carrying a kangaroo bag with a fifth of scotch stashed in the pouch; if you carried double the rate jumped to $3.50. I used to play golf, too, on the free days when courses accommodated their toilers. And the two facts are not un-connected; it was caddying that cured […]

Continue Reading about Playing a Maddening Game: Golf Under Pressure Published on:
January 10, 2012

Have you ever thought about what rats have in common with comedy club audiences? No? I hadn’t either until I met neuroscientist Jaak Panksepp and some of his students.
Professor Panksepp studies the origin of emotions by examining the nervous systems of rats at play, and that got me thinking about the legendary comedian Henny Youngman. Nobody could deliver a one-liner like Youngman, the great comedian and screechy violinist. He’d roll the build-up and the punch line into one small, effective package. […]

Continue Reading about Of Rats and Men: Mammals at Play Published on:
January 10, 2012

Here’s a little story about the difference between transportation and “being transported” while at play. Cooking up the story requires three ingredients, Mario Kart (the video game), your memory of the first Star Wars film, and a bicycle.
 OK, let’s start with Mario Kart. One afternoon a few years ago a group of neighborhood 12-year-olds introduced me to the game. You pick a persona from a colorful cast of characters including the Mario brothers, saddle up a rocket-assisted all-terrain go-kart, and […]

Continue Reading about Let the Force Be with You Published on:
June 7, 2011

Here’s a story about global toy distribution that’s driven by natural forces rather than consumer trends.
 There are few things I like better than heading to the beach to get lost in a good book. I read every day for my job at the museum, but my beach reading is play. Mark Twain was right when he said that “work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do. Play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do.” If […]

Continue Reading about A Tide of Tub Toys Published on:
March 8, 2011