In a way, playing around has felt very natural to me. Perhaps it was my rural Midwest upbringing with lots of space and time for imagining or riding bikes as much as I can as an adult, but playing around is at my core.
However, I didn’t quite understand the power of play until my prep and career as an arts educator. Imagine baby-art-teacher Slu finding researched data in support of play as a key ingredient to how we learn?! I poured myself into more, a literal game on as I found continued evidence supporting my thinking and application of play in the learning process. As an arts educator, how could I use creativity through art making and art thinking to help boost student learning in an environment designed for play - because as Dr. Sandra Russ, a creativity and play expert, clinical child psychologist and Case Western Reserve University Distinguished University Professors shares,
“As human beings, we are programmed to use play and creative expression to connect and work through difficulties. Creativity is not just about finding solutions to problems; it is about expressing emotion and processing change” (Singha, Warr, Mishra, Henriksen, 2020).
For folks who find themselves teaching art, this article from the Art of Education Benefits of Play and 5 Ways to Incorporate Play in the Secondary Art Room is an excellent resource for clear ways on incorporating play with high schoolers. If you love to get into research like me, I encourage you to read this PubMed paper titled Playing with Creativity Across the Lifespan: a Conversation with Dr. Sandra Russ.
In the interview Dr. Russ offers an interdisciplinary perspective on the study and measurement of affect and creativity. Her research and career in studying creativity in young children led her argument in support for play at ages.
“Although we have emphasized the differences between children’s pretend play and adult creativity, mini-c creativity and play are not reserved for children alone. Adults also benefit from play and other forms of mini-c creativity; they can work through challenges and express emotions through mini-c creativity” (Singha, Warr, Mishra, Henriksen, 2020).
There comes that Four-C’s model again, I totally agree here with Dr. Ruth, “Beghetto and Kaufman (2007b) addressed this dilemma by describing a spectrum of creativity in their 4-C creativity model: Big-C, little-c, pro-c, and mini-c. Big-C creativity is landmark work” (Singha, Warr, Mishra, Henriksen, 2020).
She was influenced by Beghetto and Kaufman’s work in that, “Dr. Russ, while sensitive to other definitions of creativity, believes that, for children, the criteria of usefulness cannot be the most important. This is because for children, play is the creative product. As she explained, play is “an output of how [children] think and how they feel.” In other words, play as a creative product has intrapersonal value, i.e., it is inherently meaningful to the person doing the playing” (Singha, Warr, Mishra, Henriksen, 2020).
AKA - Mini-C creativity.
This is through distinctions in how we view creativity, Dr. Russ connects, “Little-c creativity does not have the same scale as Big-C, but it has interpersonal value and is additive and cumulative in its effects on people and society.”
She adds, “From this perspective, the creativity inherent in pretend play is highly effective: it supports children in working out ideas and expressing themselves. In other words, play is how children learn.”
I highly recommend you go check out the journal, as Dr. Russ explains not only the learning benefits, but the real reason arts education is an important part of our human lives, as “she argues that play and creativity have clear mental health benefits and should be nurtured and encouraged across the lifespan—and this is certainly grounded in foundational educational psychology” (2020).
You don’t need to be an art teacher though to connect why play & creativity go well together. In fact, one might argue that having an arts education license makes me a professional player. One of my favorite arts educator thinkers Professor Jorge Lucero makes the case in his paper titled, A Paused Point: The Most Serious Thing I Do is Play that, “the purposeful modification of traditional pedagogical forms—although playful—is one of the most serious things I do as a teacher, scholar, and artist” (2018).
Now I took you on that art education journey, to get you here - our Work Play chapter breakdown and learning connections. If you don’t have a natural drive for play or perhaps you want to be more intentional with how play looks in your life, Corita has some wisdom for you. She kicks off with “Work is often done by playing around” (2008, p. 154).
In her poetic fashion, I connect with Flow State in Positive Psychology, Corita’s words,
“Then come those marvelous and rewarding moments when you are making and you are not conscious of thought or anything outside” (2008, p. 155). She questions “was that free time or was it simply the early part of some work?” and is sure to remind us the student that “letting yourself go free, playing around until something comes, is often very hard work” (2008, p. 154).
An arts classroom, but more importantly the life learning, is a great way to show how creativity can help each of us find when “our best times are when working and playing are the same” (2008, p. 156).
It just takes getting started. Corita connects this to her colleague's story on p. 170, “he learned to play around, to listen to his own inner beliefs, and to act on them. Dr. Schardt believed we all have this ability in us and just need to develop it” (2008).
I’ve been fortunate to have some really great creatives come and chat with my Psychology course students. I would be remiss if I did not mention our favorite talk about Play with Tony Malkusak, President/Landscape Architect of Abundant Playscapes, a leading expert on inclusive play environment design. (And also, my Uncle!)
What does PLAY mean for you?
Where do you find your most natural sources for play?
Here are some of mine:
Riding my snowboard
Drawing/Visual Journaling with students.
creative exercise: exquisite corpse
If you went to art school, you’ve most likely heard about this drawing game often played by the Surrealist artists. The MoMA outlines this activity super well here.
To play, the artists took turns adding to a drawing without knowing what any of the others had drawn. At the end, the finished drawing was revealed...and was always surprising!"
Materials: paper, colored pencils or markers, drawing partners.
(This game works best with three or four players.) Like a game of Telephone, the figure would become stranger with each player’s addition.
Two players can also work with this creative exercise! My student and I drew together in (3) folds, each adding the body to each other’s drawings. Check them -
Weird and awesome huh? That’s sort of the point, being playful is the game.
Steps:
Take a piece of paper and fold it into three or four equal parts.
Draw or collage on the top section of the paper to create the head of an imaginary character. Use whatever materials you have around you.
Fold your image back to conceal it. Extend the lines of your character’s neck over the edge of the fold so that your collaborator will know how to connect their image to yours.
Pass the paper on to a friend or family member. Keep your image hidden and have them add a body to your figure in the middle section of the page.
Repeat! Pass the paper to a third person, concealing the first two sections of the page, and have them add the legs. Then hide that section and pass to a fourth person to add the feet. Remember to draw lines over the fold into each new section so the following person knows where to start.
Unfold the page and reveal your collaborative image.
References
Beghetto RA, Kaufman JC. The genesis of creative greatness: mini‐c and the expert performance approach. High Ability Studies. 2007;18(1):59–61. doi: 10.1080/13598130701350668. [CrossRef] [Google Scholar]
Corita Kent, Jan Steward (2008). Learning by Heart: Teachings to Free the Creative Spirit, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.
Lucero, J. (2018). A Paused Point: The Most Serious Thing I Do is Play. TRENDS: The Journal of the Texas Art Education Association.
Rockwell, A. (2020b, November 18). Make your own exquisite corpse | magazine | moma. MoMA. https://www.moma.org/magazine/articles/457
Singha, S., Warr, M., Mishra, P., Henriksen, D., & Deep-Play Research Group (2020). Playing with Creativity Across the Lifespan: a Conversation with Dr. Sandra Russ. TechTrends : for leaders in education & training, 64(4), 550–554. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-020-00514-3