[regional_school] Play helps brain development & promotes fairness, justice and empathy

  • From: NSMULTER@xxxxxxx
  • To: regional_school@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Tue, 14 Apr 2009 23:15:33 EDT

Play: How It Shapes  the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and  Invigorates the
Soul    by Stuart Brown, MD and Christopher  Vaughan

Stuart Brown, a physician, psychiatrist, clinical researcher  and the
founder of the National Institute for Play, has made a career of  studying the
effects of play on people and animals. His conclusion is that play  is no less
important than oxygen, and that it's a powerful force in nature that  helps
determine the likelihood of the very survival of the human race. Having 
studied thousands of people's play histories, from murderers to Nobel Prize
winners, Brown reveals that play is an essential way humans learn to
socialize.  Beginning with the very first play interactions between mother and
child, and  working up to adult relationships between couples and co-workers,
Brown  describes how play helps brain development and promotes fairness,
justice and  empathy.

Work and play are mutually supportive, he argues, noting that  play
increases efficiency and productivity (playful folks, he claims, are also
healthier). Sprinkled with anecdotes demonstrating the play habits of subjects  
as
diverse as polar bears and corporate CEOs, Brown and co-writer Vaughan  (The
Promise of Sleep) present a compelling case for promoting play at  every
age. The authors include helpful tips for bringing play back into grownup
lives, including being active, spending time with others who are playful and
rethinking the misguided notion that adult play is silly or undignified.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All
 rights reserved.

Reviews:
“This is one of the most important  books I have ever read. Now, more than
ever, we need to think more creatively.  Dr. Stuart Brown shows us the way.
Without play and physical activity we can’t  cultivate the skills necessary
to handle changing times. For our own sake and  the sake of our children, we
need to play again with exuberance and give it the  place in our lives it
deserves. Anyone who cares about the future of our world  should read this
book. It is a  gift.”
John J. Ratey, MD, clinical  associate professor of psychiatry, Harvard
Medical School, coauthor of Driven  to Distraction and author of Spark

“Stuart Brown introduces us to the importance of play in the lives  of
animals and humans, its role in developing social and locomotive skills in
children, freedom from inhibitions and creative thinking in later life. This
important book explores how play can improve - and joyously change - your
life.”
Jane Goodall Ph.D., DBE ,  founder of the Jane Goodall Institute & UN
Messenger of Peace




Nancy Stanton Multer





Early Childhood Specialist

Engaging Young Learners
...there's always time for discovery  & surprise


Box 28
Middlesex, NY  14507
nsmulter@xxxxxxx
585 554-6642
585  259-0081









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