Hello everybody.
I'm here to talk about lifelong play and why it matters.
We typically attach play to childhood.
Playing is something children like to do.
All around the world, across cultures.
It is the activity of play that children enjoy.
With no other necessarily real purpose.
Just play matters.
In play children engage
and very often also create
different roles, different scenarios,
they use different types of tools, costumes, equipments.
A stick can become a rocket;
under the table there may be a lion cave;
or a doctor's appointment.
Children invest so much energy often in play and concentration
that a boy, for example, who cannot sit still in a classroom
for less than a minute,
can stay still for 20 minutes acting as a rock in a play.
Also our son, we were on a holiday,
he's six years old, there were no playmates.
Suddenly, there was a Norwegian boy, a little bit older than him,
and we saw them just playing together.
Very shortly he just ran to us, just to say that,
"Hey! We created a finger language. This is going very well!"
Play is such an important part of children's lives,
and I think we all agree that so is the case.
Play is a very good way to spend your time.
In my talk I would like to extend our thinking
and stress that we may not think how important play is for human development,
and not only for the children
but for all of us across our lives.
In adulthood there are many professions that are considered "not playful",
or having nothing to do with play.
Only creative professions
are usually considered to have some sort of element of play.
Being a professor of education, like me,
is not actually a profession that is considered to be that "playful".
Actually, we are considered pretty boring.
And we're considered as knowledge workers,
who are seldom invited to give public talks.
We usually just give talks to each other
because we are a little bit boring.
However, I must tell you a secret:
I consider my job to be "highly playful".
Whereas artists and other creative people
use paint or clay to create some new things to the world,
I use the knowledge that I've learned
and I "play" with that knowledge
in order to create a better understanding of a particular phenomenon.
I follow the rules of the game as we all must,
just like kids must follow rules to create something new,
in order to make it justifiable.
I've learnt how to challenge the rules of the game, when I am good enough,
and modify or even make new rules, as well.
This is what "play" is for me.
I've been reading lately a lot about play
and also about play in adulthood.
And it is actually interesting to discover
commonalities among adults and professionals
who have a very successful career.
Or among those who are very happy in life,
despite not necessarily achieving professionaly the best position in society,
but who feel comfortable with whatever they do or wherever they go.
These people seem to share the power of play.
They seem to keep playing some sort of game.
This person is very famous.
We also see the same here in Finland
like President Obama playing basketball.
In Finland we see President Sauli Niinistö in Käpylä ice rink
playing ice hockey with young children, teenagers and adults.
Sure, we've many hobbies, play activities,
but sport is a very typical activity
to both successful achievers and happy adults.
Yes, there're many professions which are considered dead serious,
but it's interesting to see how they also play:
Wearing a wig,
(Laughter)
being taken seriously while dealing with highly serious matters.
For me, this is just another kind of play.
Also my point is: It is difficult sometimes even for researchers
to define what "play" is,
whether in young children or in adults.
It's tough and they are still trying hard.
A question we might ask: what is then "not play"?
What is the DNA, the mechanisms in play that we researchers know already
why play produces learning, why play produces and advances society,
and why play is good for us, for our well-being and happiness.
There's ample research available, globally, about play.
Neuroscientists, educationalists, sociologists, health scientists.
I could continue listing the different disciplines that have researched play.
And they all have come to the conclusion
that one of the key elements that actually happen in play is
that we interact usually with others;
we engage in social interactions with others;
we learn to collaborate with others;
we learn to follow the rules that either we have created,
or somebody else have created for our joint activities.
We also learn to create
and also to create some new meanings together.
We use that knowledge and experience we already have,
and apply it in different types of play when we create something new.
Play is also very important for emotional development.
We learn to understand our own emotions and the emotions of people around us.
We learn to control and regulate our own emotions playing with others.
Play is also very embodied:
we experience and we put our full body in play activities usually,
whether sometimes it's physical activity
or sometimes interacting with other materials used in play.
Both contribute to our learning.
In play, we learn both about each other and about our own self;
we develop our sense of self in play activities
by learning how others see us and how we see others.
Thus, identity development's a major part of what play does in young children
and later in adult life too, if only we would allow ourselves to play.
Play allows us to grow into communities,
because as we learn to play the game by knowing the rules and values,
we are then ready to become more central participants.
An analogy to this is when we learn a foreign language.
This occurs even in adulthood.
So clearly play is very important in all these respects.
But there is a "dark" side in play,
like any human activity has a dark side.
Say this child in the picture has an iPad, has toys, LEGO's.
He is building, he is documenting, he is sharing.
Do all children have these opportunities to play?
All humans have the capacity to play, but do they have the resources to play with?
A child living in a very affluent family with lots of expensive toys,
with lots of rich discussions at the dinner table
about politics, about media
about recent happenings, about Olympic games --
This kid soon builds on these experiences, acting them out in his play scenarios.
But what about children from more disadvantaged families?
Can they use that type of knowledge and resources in their play
to practice to grow into a society?
Can they play?
How early do they have to work?
All this happens.
It is also very important to understand that, while we play,
be it children or adults, we are also creating the future.
And by positioning each other into different roles,
we may learn about ourselves and what we're capable of,
and sometimes, in some play activities, this may limit our possibilities,
so understanding the interactions that go on in play is very important.
We mustn't fall into the trap of cultural or gender stereotyping.
Ask yourselves: What are the tools and toys the children are using?
Are the kids taught about stereotyping when they position each other in roles?
These are questions that we need to be aware of.
And I think that creating conditions where everybody can play,
and where play is given an opportunity
to flourish in equal terms is highly important.
And I think many people are now recognizing this,
and there is this wave of interest in play
throughout the life course.
Many organizations, educational institutions, workplaces
are developing different practices
that model these ingredients and learning mechanisms
that take place in play.
This is important.
Unfortunately, at the moment we know that globally,
education fails to provide play for creative opportunities
for children or young people.
As the Finnish philosopher Esa Saarinen says,
and I believe he is right,
he says that there are many people who work hard,
and who are very enthusiastic in what they do.
Unfortunately, most of them are under seven.
(Laughter)
I think he is right.
And in our work at Helsinki University
and in many other places in Finland and globally,
there are great efforts being made that try to bring play
and playful learning into life,
creating conditions for playful learning is seen as extremely important.
What does this look like? What does it mean?
Is it just sugar-coating education?
Is it making educational workplaces just fun places to be?
We all know it's a tough task, requiring a lot of cross-disciplinary research.
One discipline alone cannot solve this.
All of us must join in this effort to create opportunities for play
that are meaningful, that really create learning that lasts.
That improve rather than hinder one's learning journey, happiness curve or life.
This is very important.
We need to, not only look at young children, but also the elderly.
As you could see in the first slide of my presentation,
I had this picture of an elderly person.
Play is very important for the elderly as well:
feeling engaged, being part of the digital society,
being an active citizen is very important for your whole life.
Hence, in my own research unit we've been focused in creating playful opportunities.
Our mission is to help student teachers, future teachers to re-learn to play,
so that they know how to engage in play activities with their students.
We have a lab where we create, and co-create with different partners,
from work, industry, educationalists, learning scientists, game designers.
Together we create different types of activities to test if they achieve
the learning and play we want to see.
Our lab is very different from the other classrooms in our university.
When trying to invite kids and students to our lab,
which is well-designed and supportive not only of the social practices
but also the material spaces where play and learning can happen,
we've often been surprised to find that the space has been reserved!
And I have discovered, actually, that our university administration,
and even the Heads are using this for their own meetings.
So we're fighting over the space.
You need spaces but you need wise knowledge
to create those social activities that promote play and learning.
This is a serious challenge
and I also challenge you.
I want to end my talk by saying
that although we do not yet know exactly how to define "play",
we know that there are very important processes and elements going on.
We need to consider and take play seriously.
I encourage you to keep or start playing,
and try to remember to create
in your own areas and communities a playful attitude,
playful opportunities for everybody.
Playful learning and lifelong play is in our hands.
Thank you.
(Applause)