Reflective Essay

The Magic of Play

In one of my favorite books, The Little Prince, the narrator made a drawing when he was a child, and showed it to the adults around him. To the narrator, the drawing was a boa constrictor digesting an elephant. But to the adults, the drawing was a hat. Instead of supporting the narrator’s creativity, the adults around him insisted that he focus on subjects such as grammar and math. Discouraged by the adults’ inability to understand his creativity and imagination, the narrator abandoned his artistic dreams at the age of six, and began to focus on the serious subjects that society valued.

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My childhood to adolescent transition mirrored the narrator’s experience. Growing up, apart from reading and writing, one of my favorite pastimes used to be immersing myself in my own private zoo, erupting from a red toolbox that my dad emptied for my beloved collection of animal figurines big and small. I could spend hours coming up with detailed plots, stories, and scenarios for those friends, divide lands for them to rule on my bedroom floor, or settle some of them in their own four-storied dreamhouse on the wooden bookshelf of my grandparents. I remember the pure joy and contentment these hours gave me, and that feeling as if I was transported into another world while I was playing.

As I grew older, voices of “put those childish things away, it’s time to get serious about life” started to grow louder and louder. So one day, without knowing that would be the last time, I stored my buddies away, and tried to get “serious”. Yet after stepping into this next “serious” chapter of my life, I began to notice the increasing stress and anxiety that has been building up inside me accompanied by those loud voices around me, pressuring me to work harder and achieve more. I started to believe that my worth in society was defined by my productivity in both school and the workplace, rather than my personal sense of well-being. As these voices became the main soundtrack of my life, I found myself wondering: Did my mental health and wellbeing improve with “getting serious”? Why do work and productivity have to be separated from play and fun, and viewed as more important?

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The next time I played in a fashion that society would consider “serious” and “productive” for an adult, was as a 22-year-old while I was studying abroad in Denmark with my class. As part of our core program’s Short Study Tour, my entire Child Development and Education class got the chance to visit Ville Vau in the Hans Christian Andersen museum, which is usually only open for children and educational visits. Once there, everyone was encouraged to put on costumes and immerse ourselves in the fantastical environment. We transformed into the characters of our choosing: princess, king, witch, knight… and played again in fairyland. During this study abroad semester, we were constantly playing: at Legoland, creating our own lego toys and having fun at a playground on the roof; playing with Froebel's Gifts in a kindergarten during our Long Study Tour in Finland to understand firsthand how play helps children learn about shapes, sizes, and spatial relationships through hands-on exploration… The carefree laughs that my classmates and I shared and the creativity that was shown during our playtime filled me with newfound inspiration for learning, and vibrant discussions and innovative class projects followed. Yet as joyful and enlightening as our playtime in Denmark has been, my core program has also demonstrated that play is often associated and prioritized only during childhood.

Through my experiences in professional spaces as an adult, particularly back home in China, I have found that play is generally viewed as inappropriate in schools and workplaces, hindering productivity. However, I know that play is essential for how I learn and work productively, and more importantly—my mental health. I notice the increased sense of wellbeing in myself and others when we incorporate play into classes such as arts and crafts and games; the smiles on our faces when we see our professors and co-workers in creative costumes for Halloween; and when play is introduced into workspaces such as mirroring exercises at team meetings and stress-relief toys in the office, where my even more playful supervisor lines up an impressive collection of plushies on her desk. Instead of “wasting” the time I could be spending on what society views as “serious” and “important”, play has been one of the most truly important aspects in shaping my curiosity, positivity, and resilience.

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In The Little Prince, the narrator was discouraged by the adults around him in his pursuit of artistic aspirations. Luckily, despite the voices from society urging me to focus on efficiency and productivity, I have had support from my incredible family, friends, and mentors who encouraged me to live life with creativity, playfulness, and wonder. With their lights guiding me along, I was able to come all the way to Penn GSE and to the ECS program, and explore this topic that has been close to my heart. Here, just as the narrator adhered to the “serious” advice of adults and became a pilot but still met the Little Prince, I would like to demonstrate that being a scholar-practitioner and finding a sense of joy and wellbeing through play is not contradictory, but complementary.