What is Play (By Elunga Mkunde)

 What is Play

By Elunga Mkunde

From my research I made online regarding the definition of play, currently, there is no definite definition. However, researchers reference similar elements in relation to play, “pleasure, and enjoyment” being examples.

My definition of play would be similar to LUDI's adopted Garvey’s definition of play which is “play is a range of voluntary, intrinsically motivated activities with recreational enjoyment and pleasure.” I would agree with this definition simply due to it being the most descriptive one I could find. A part which I would change include “intrinsically motivated and recreational,” I would lean towards it being a complex interplay of extrinsic and intrinsic factors, I have not thought much regarding the recreational aspect of play, however, I think there are certain outcomes which people expect when play has ended, I prefer usage of a different word to replace recreational.

I think that the concept of play is not unique to humans, however, we engage and utilised play in complex ways compared to any other living organism.

Similar to the word game, there are difficulties when attempting to define play. Game and Play are related to each other when speaking generally and are in some form difficult to separate. From my perspective, both potentially could be described differently. Play is thought of by a majority of people as enjoyable, non-literal, and voluntary. Game requires more thought when considering elements within games, however, generally, games are thought of as exciting, serious, and structured.

Research includes:

( What is play Serenella Besio file:///C:/Users/User/Dropbox/My%20PC%20(DESKTOP-34NUCD9)/Downloads/1_What_is_play%20(2).pdf )

( What is play and why is it important for learning? https://theeducationhub.org.nz/what-is-play-and-why-is-it-important-for-learning/ )

( The Importance of Play in Promoting Healthy Child Development and Maintaining Strong Parent-Child Bonds https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/119/1/182/70699/The-Importance-of-Play-in-Promoting-Healthy-Child?autologincheck=redirected )