Fordham IT sponsors a wellness program for IT staff to encourage health through exercise, meditation, and nutrition, as well as other activities. For our October session, Kristen Treglia, Senior Instructional Technologist, led the interactive talk, “The Power of Play.” In this post, Kristen shares her insights about play and some highlights from her talk.
The Power of Play
We often think of play as a childhood activity that we outgrow as adults. During this talk, I shared some reasons for why adults need play, too, how adults can incorporate the power of play in their life!
Hands-on Activities
The session with some hands-on activities. After all, what good is a session on play without some playing!
I organized the room into different groups:
- Star Wars origami
- Playdough
- Zentangle, Spirograph, and colored markers/pencils for drawing
- Wooden sticks, construction paper and pipe-cleaners with scissors & glue
Benefits of Play
Play has many wonderful benefits. It can relieve stress as the play activity stimulates the mind in a positive way and boosts creative thinking. Play has been shown to improve brain function and keep people feeling young and energetic. When people play together, their social relationships can improve too, as their connections to others deepen. As the group had some time to really get into the activities, they could better understand the benefits of play.
How to Incorporate More Play Into Your Life
To wrap up the session, I shared some ideas on how people might include more play into their lives. For example, like many activities, it’s important to set a goal to have fun. Also, determine what “fun” and “play” mean to you, and make it them happen by creating a space where fun can happen–even just a drawer of fun things can do the job.
I also shared resources including videos, articles, and links.
