Therapeutic value of play

I was reading this remarkable (well, it made me remark) piece of research by Dr. Jennifer Kendall in support of her video Play for Life. Towards the end, I found this sentence:

The fundamental, baseline aspect of play therapy is that children enjoy it.

...and it struck me that this author actually understands that mystical healing affect that comes about from play. The therapy part of play is, in my only somewhat humble opinion, regardless of what is "revealed" about the player, the play itself. The more freely the adult or child plays, the more healing.

The article goes on to talk about games in what struck me as a most therapeutic and surprisingly intelligent light:

The use of games in play therapy, typically utilized in a group setting, are a key aspect of social development. Reid (1993) notes the dual nature of games that is observable in both children and adults, in which enjoyment and a sense of seriousness exist side by side. This duality offers unique possibilities for psychotherapeutic intervention.

Compared to free play, games require more emotional control, intellect, and social skills, as well as often paralleling "real life." Many theorists including Piaget (1962) have suggested that repeated exposure to games plays a central role in the socialization of children, fostering skills such as rule following, fairness, turn taking, gracious winning and losing, and cooperative and competitive behavior (Reid, 1993). Serok and Blum (1983) describe games as mini-life situations in which the basic elements of socialization (rule conformity, acceptance of the norms of the group, and control of aggression) are integral components of the process of play.

Yes, and again yes! And every game models a different (all right, in some cases maybe only slightly different) social/individual, enjoyment/seriousness balance. It was this insight that led me to publishing my "Games Preserve Reports" 32 years ago, and that keeps me writing, lo these many years.

There's something about games that continues to escape even the most scholarly of theorist and analyst. It has to something to do with fun....

And about the photo... It's a picture of kids with a bunch of Quoits, a game which, in and of itself, is quoit discussion-worthy. I found it on Fun Attic, makers of the extremely playworthy, and most Schmerltz-like Flingsock.