Archive - Play Makes Us Human

What Happened to School Lunch Hour?

We’ve mandated nutritious school lunches, but we don’t give kids time to eat them.

Apr 16 •

Reminiscing About Recess: Can we construct a timeline showing decline of recess freedom?

Friends, in Letter #37, I wrote about the bizarre rules that some schools today place on what elementary school children are allowed or not allowed to…

Apr 10 •

#37. How Schools Ruin Recess

Hey, have fun kids, if you can figure out what you might be allowed to do.

Apr 8 •

March 2024

Roles of Play and Humor in Romantic Attraction

Play Makes Us Human is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Fr…

Mar 27 •

#36. Survival of the Friendliest

The Self-Domestication Theory of the Origin of Modern Homo sapiens

Mar 24 •

#35. Children Invented Language

I contend here that children’s play, over many generations, was the force that created human language.

Mar 16 •

Wonderful Short Video on Value of Childhood Independence

Dear friends, I think you will find this 3-minute, well-made video interesting and informative. It may be something you will want to share with …

Mar 7 •

#34. The Joy of Independent Activity, in the Young, the Old, and the Injured

Musings following my intimate encounter with a rock in the woods

Mar 4 •

#33. The Playful Mind is a Creative Mind

Many experiments reveal that inducing a playful state of mind improves insightful problem solving and creative artistic production.

Mar 2 •

February 2024

#32. Play is the Mother of Invention; Necessity is the Mother of Engineering.

Here I modify a common proverb and illustrate the modification with the human invention of the wheel and macaque invention of the hammer.

Feb 23 •

Followup on Possible Offerings for Paid Subscribers

Dear fiends, This is a followup on the thread I posted Feb. 18. I am considering now the following new offerings for paid subscribers to Play Mak…

Feb 22 •

Possible New Features for Paid Subscribers

Dear Friends, I’m delighted by how many people have subscribed to Play Makes Us Human over the few months it has been gong so far. However, I wo…

Feb 18 •

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