Play is more than just fun and games for children. It’s a crucial element of healthy development, shaping their physical, cognitive, social, and emotional well-being. Through play, children explore ...

“Play is fundamentally important for learning 21st century skills, such as problem solving, collaboration, and creativity.”– American Academy of Pediatrics. Many children no longer play, and this is ...

With the help of their stuffed animals or figurines, many toddlers and preschoolers play “teacher,” “doctor” or “firefighter,” drawing early inspiration from the careers they observe in their ...

One of my earliest posts here concerned the definition of play, which I developed further in an article on “Definitions of Play” for Scholarpedia (Gray, 2013) and in my book Free to Learn. I first ...

Over the last 17 years on the front lines of the children’s toy industry, I’ve watched some of the titans of the industry chase sales at the expense of development. Perhaps that’s unsurprising ...