Everyone talks about the benefits of playfulness for learning and development. But what do we do to become playful? What helps or hinders us on that road? And what is it like to stay on that road? If we can map out the path, including its obstacles and its benefits, it will be easier to create the circumstances under which children all of us can benefit from play. We might also better understand why and when attempts to become playful misfire, those moments when we see a chance to play and get creative, but it does not work out. We can come to see that this probably happens because one or more of the stepping stones is missing.
Our research has identified four stepping stones that seem essential to becoming playful: autonomy, absorbed interaction, surprise, and feeling competent.
First, individuals at play need to feel autonomous. The choice about what to do, say, or make should belong to the player. It should not be claimed by another person who is orchestrating what is going on, whether an ambitious parent or a stressed boss at work.
Second, when people become playful, they lose themselves in what they are doing and become absorbed in the interaction. There is a blurring between them and the materials or the activity in which they are engaged. In tinkering with a material or a person, sensing the possibilities of an interaction by making them happen, it is no longer clear how a result came into being. Who built this tower? Who got that idea? Was it me, the other person, or the Lego bricks? It was all of us.
Surprise is the third key feature of becoming playful. In the interactions described earlier, players tend to be less circumscribed by a set plan of what to do. They engage in actions not previously thinkable, which can introduce surprises. Things happen that are unexpected and have not been designed deliberately.
Becoming concrete by building ducks
Our research does not start with definitions or discussions of playfulness. Rather, we arrange an encounter and let people walk us through their experience of turning a specific situation into a playful interaction.For example, in one study, we gave five small plastic bags to 22 adults. Each bag contained six Lego bricks of varying sizes. Four were yellow, one of which had an eye on either side, and two were red. We then asked the participants to use the bricks to build five ducks across two rounds. In the first round, they were asked to build the ducks in ways that felt playful. In the second, they were encouraged to build them in ways that did not feel playful. Immediately after each round, we asked the participants how they had approached the task and what they had experienced during different parts of the process.
We found that the change of mindset made a big difference. When advised to become playful, participants said they felt a conscious need to become autonomous, to not think about the experiment but, instead, to do whatever they liked. Some even decided not to build ducks at all, but to construct cars or buildings or whatever they felt like.
In contrast, when asked not to be playful, participants told us they tried to get into a mechanical mode, building according to the instructions. Typically, they built five identical ducks, often the same as a prototype we had shown them.
They also described different ways of touching the Lego. Being playful seemed to make them engage in a more tentative way, sensing the bricks before beginning to build. Their sense of autonomy seemed to allow ideas to flow freely within this absorbed tinkering. It was as if the bricks took over, they said.
It was only when being playful that people surprised themselves with the novel-looking ducks that emerged. Being surprised by their own actions led them to feel competent. “Oh, I made this!” they said. They felt like they wanted to make more ducks that would be more novel and surprising. Because they felt autonomous, they would say, “Let’s do it again.” They were motivated to see what else they could make.
Playfulness enhances motivation to learn
This experiment demonstrated how playfulness enhances and increases intrinsic motivation: it provides a drive to do things out of personal interest, not because of some external demand or incentive.Enhance the features of playfulness
These experiments tell us that, if we want to support playfulness and learning, we should try to enhance the four stepping stones, or experiences, mentioned earlier: autonomy, absorbed interaction, surprise, and feeling competent. How do parents, teachers, and others responsible for supporting children’s (and adults’) development encourage these features?Let us start with autonomy. In a kindergarten or other classroom, a teacher should explore the opportunities for children to be autonomous. Is the environment unnecessarily restrictive, forbidding, or intimidating? Which rules are absolutely necessary? Which could be replaced by more open frameworks? Some kindergartens have “yes” wrist-bands that represent a simple agreement: The child can do anything that day as long as his or her actions do not hurt anybody or damage equipment. Teachers love this simple idea, with many saying that it allows them to avoid constantly say “no” and thus interrupting or hindering play.
What about art galleries or even public libraries? Many feature a lot of rules for what visitors can or cannot do. People are expected to remain quiet and not interact with other visitors. They have to move carefully. They cannot eat or drink. There are alternatives: The Aarhus Library in Aarhus, Denmark, has large, dedicated playgrounds indoors and outdoors. It has a large café, but visitors can bring their own food and drink and consume them wherever they like. People of all ages and backgrounds mix and mingle there. For those who need silence, the library has soundproofed, silent reading and working rooms.
Similarly, Trapholt Museum in Kolding, Denmark. shows its permanent collection in a setting where visitors are asked to curate their own personal exhibition. They can view the artworks and if they like a particular one, hold a chip to its nametag that saves the details electronically. Visitors are then asked to create their own exhibition, starting with this artwork, creating a title, and bringing together other artworks that fit the theme or intention.
Supporting absorbed interaction
How might children be encouraged to become absorbed with materials? Simply by offering them interesting materials and asking them to get engaged with them (without telling them precisely what to do). For example, an adult might roll out some old wallpaper in the yard and place finger paints nearby. He or she could tell the children that they cannot find the brushes and ask them to help find something else to paint with. Can they paint with a stick? With its sharp end only? How does it look if, instead, the stick is rolled over the paper? What about using leaves? Stones? Feet? Yes, it can get messy, but if the adult makes sure nothing valuable gets in the way, children will play for hours.Generating surprise and competence
Adults should also think about what generates surprise. One day, my daughter and I were walking through a wooded area and I asked her, “What if everything we see stares back at us? Like the tree, for example.” She looked a bit puzzled. “The tree?” she asked. “Yes!” I replied. “But it has no eyes!” she answered. “Are you sure? I feel it sees us. And did you know that cabbages pull their leaves closer when snails are approaching?”She giggled. And then she whispered, “The tree is my friend.” “How do you know?” I asked. “I can feel it! It likes my green trousers!” Then she came closer and whispered, “But I think the dandelions are afraid of Solveig (my second, 2-year-old daughter). They know she will feed them to the sheep.” I giggled, too. “But maybe it just tickles getting eaten?” I suggested. We went on for quite a while, going from surprise to surprise. And I found I learned a lot during this conversation.
