Play and Wellbeing is a public pedagogy project that compiles and synthesizes research, commentaries, and original multimodal works that address the many dimensions of play across the lifespan, and their impacts on wellbeing. In doing so, this resource aims to promote a capacious view of play, one that includes the domains of games, tinkering and experimentation, digital exploration, communal traditions, curricular interventions, and all forms of free play. Organized by research topics that cut across settings and interdisciplinary fields, the resources contained on this site are meant to deepen understandings of play and wellbeing for multiple audiences, including researchers, practitioners, and policy makers.

By S. R. Toliver

I have always loved the speculative: science fiction and fantasy books that took readers to far away futures and imaginary otherworlds, role-playing video games (RPGs) where players could assume the roles of magical characters and journey through enchanted worlds; movies that allowed viewers to remove themselves from their immediate realities even if it was just for an hour or two. There was something special about the speculative, something creative and inspiring that I just couldn’t access with realistic texts. For those brief moments, I could release reality and play in an alternate space where my imagination could roam free without the restraints that come with living in the real world.

A podcast from Teachers College, Columbia University about play and pop culture. Professors Haeny Yoon and Nathan Holbert take play seriously. They talk with educators, parents and kids about how they play in their work and their lives, and why play matters. The views expressed in this podcast are solely those of the speaker to whom they are attributed. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the faculty, administration, staff or Trustees either of Teachers College or of Columbia University.