The concept of Play is used as therapy for kids who have lived through monstrous trauma, because it can help children regulate their anxiety, give them a sense of control over their lives, and ultimately help them feel safe.
We hope that these stories about play surprise and delight you with new details about a pivotal part of your children’s lives, and inform you about the way kids play now. But we also hope they remind you that even in the most difficult times, our kids are capable of boundless joy, and that their fertile imaginations provide solace when our grown-up world falls short.
The games kids play are not nonsense: they’re full of cultural meaning; they help children (and coyotes, and gorillas) develop empathy; they encourage resilience; they help motor development; and they help children work through their feelings around otherwise unsettling events, like a global pandemic, productively.
Click here to read more about the concept of “Play” and how it aids in regulating anxiety.
