19/07/2025
This is how critical play is.
And before we begin: yes, of course not every baby feeds easily, and not every baby sleeps easily. But what we are suggesting is this โ the body does indeed know how to do these things.
There is no formal lesson given to a baby on how to eat.
There is no formal lesson given on how to sleep.
There is no formal lesson given on how to seek connection.
And there is no formal lesson given on how to play.
Eating, sleeping, seeking connection, and playing are not skills created by adults. They are biological drives embedded into human development from the start. While adults support these instincts, the internal impulse already exists. It is part of the blueprint of survival and growth.
Play is how the brain wires itself for thinking and reasoning. It is how the body strengthens, coordinates, and learns. It is how emotions are explored, tested, and understood. It is how humans develop resilience, problem-solving skills, and social understanding. Across intelligent, social species โ primates, dolphins, elephants, dogs โ play emerges naturally because healthy development depends on it.
Modern systems have lost sight of this. Play has been pushed aside in favor of drills, worksheets, and rushed academics โ as if real learning only happens when it looks structured or measurable. But replacing instinct with pressure doesnโt accelerate development; it disrupts it.
Play is not a break from learning, nor is it something children grow out of. It is how learning begins โ and how it deepens. It builds the foundation for language, problem-solving, empathy, resilience, and critical thinking. This is not a trend or an opinion โ it is how human development unfolds. To support children is to support play. To understand development is to protect the conditions that allow it to thrive.
We donโt need to reinvent how children learn. We need to stop interfering with what they are already wired to do.