Play Development

We've all seen the happiness on the face of a child while playing in the school yard. Or the blissful abandon of a golden retriever racing across a lawn. This is the joy of play. By definition, play is purposeless, all-consuming, and fun. But as Dr. Stuart Brown illustrates, play is anything but trivial. It is a biological drive as integral to our health as sleep or nutrition. We are designed by nature to flourish through play.

Reassuring to parents and educators, Einstein Never Used Flash Cards shows why - and how - to step away from the cult of achievement and toward a more nurturing home life full of imaginative play and love of learning. Here's the message that stressed-out parents are craving to hear: It's okay to play! In fact, it's more than just okay - it's better than drilling academics. After decades of research, scientists and child development experts have come to a clear conclusion: Play is the best way for children to learn.

Most of us are self-aware, know a lot about parenting, and already have a lot of tools in our toolbox. We know our triggers and when they are triggered; we know about regulation; and we even have lists of scripts and are knowledgeable about what experts think we should do and say in those moments. And yet, when it comes down to it, in the moment of stress, we can’t seem to actually make a difference in the way we respond.

Fair Play is a time- and anxiety-saving system that offers couples a completely new way to divvy up chores and responsibilities. Rodsky interviewed more than 500 men and women from all walks of life to figure out what the invisible work in a family actually entails and how to get it all done efficiently. With four easy-to-follow rules, 100 household tasks, and a series of conversation starters for you and your partner, Fair Play helps you prioritize what's important to your family and who should take the lead on every chore from laundry to homework to dinner.

In this classic best seller, Florence Scovel Shinn helped to define the personal success genre. Written in the new thought tradition, her message is simple yet transformative - we receive back what we put into the world through our actions, energy, and attitudes. Negativity and pessimism are returned in kind, but by switching the script in favor of positive attitudes and affirmations, we are able to manifest success and joy in everything we do. Life, Shinn tells us, is not a battle of us against the world, but rather a game of giving and receiving.

Most parents understand that free, unstructured playtime is great for children’s development. What they may not know is that playful interaction with parents is also a powerful way for kids to cultivate healthy emotional development and resilience. Kids often want their parents to play with them, but many parents don’t know how to play or see it only as an (often boring) way to kill time. Playing with your kids doesn’t have to mean enrolling in countless parent-and-me classes or getting on all fours and making toy car sounds; the little daily moments together can make the most impact.

Free Play is directed toward people in any field who want to contact, honor, and strengthen their own creative powers. It integrates material from a wide variety of sources among the arts, sciences, and spiritual traditions of humanity. Filled with unusual quotes, amusing and illuminating anecdotes, and original metaphors, it reveals how inspiration arises within us; how that inspiration may be blocked, derailed, or obscured by certain unavoidable facts of life; and how it can finally be liberated - how we can be liberated - to speak or sing, write or paint, dance or play.

Harvard psychologist Robert Livingston contends that racism operates like an addiction for so many White people: hard to admit, and even harder to quit. Given their unwillingness to kick the habit, where does this leave Black people? In this provocative book, Livingston has flipped the script, asking: How can Black people attain prosperity and peace of mind despite the enduring presence of racism?

In Plays Well With Others, Eric Barker dives into these questions, drawing on science to reveal the truth beyond the conventional wisdom about human relationships. Combining his compelling storytelling and humor, Barker explains what hostage negotiation techniques and marital arguments have in common, how an expert con-man lied his way into a twenty-year professional soccer career, and why those holding views diametrically opposed to our own actually have the potential to become our closest, most trusted friends.

10,000 Hours of Play transforms the principles of gaming into a revolutionary guide for achieving real-world success. Written by Yu-kai Chou, an internationally acclaimed pioneer in Gamification and Gameful Coaching—and the creator of the Octalysis Framework used by global giants like Google, LEGO, and Uber—this real-life strategy guide introduces six key steps to align your passions, skills, and goals into a winning formula.

Take your business to the next level by identifying the opportunities in your simple numbers. Looking for an investment opportunity with the capacity for long-term high yields? Put your business to work for you! Greg Crabtree demystifies common accounting and reveals the growth potential going unnoticed in your balance sheets. Learn how to make decisions based on data you already have to guide your business to be its best, most profitable self.

Photographer, entrepreneur, and bestselling author, Chase Jarvis has collaborated with some of the world’s most successful athletes, entrepreneurs, performers, and artists. What’s the secret to a good life? he’s asked them. Is it having enough money in the bank? Chasing the right dream? Surrounding themselves with the right people? What are the secrets not just of success but of fulfillment? In Never Play It Safe, Jarvis reveals the surprising answer: It’s not a new gadget, technique, or life-hack. It’s something much simpler

Previous editions of The Loving Dominant taught more than 40,000 people the fundamentals of safe, affectionate dominance and submission. Now, John and Libby Warren, two of the scene's most respected educators, have updated this seminal work for a new generation of practitioners. Includes an all-new chapter on partner-finding, plus new information on electricity play, ethical play with multiple partners, water sports, kinky digital photography, and more!

From renowned parent expert Caroline Maguire, Why Will No One Play with Me? is a groundbreaking program that has helped thousands of children struggling with social skills to make friends, find acceptance, and have a happy childhood. Every parent wants their child to be okay - to have friends, to be successful, to feel comfortable in his or her own skin. But many children lack important social and executive functioning skills that allow them to navigate through the world with ease.

Winning today isn't about beating the competition at the old game. It's about inventing a whole new game - defining a new market category, developing it, and dominating it over time. You can't build a legendary company without building a legendary category. If you think that having the best product is all it takes to win, you're going to lose. In this farsighted, pioneering guide, the founders of Silicon Valley advisory firm Play Bigger rely on data analysis and interviews to understand the inner workings of "category kings".

Baffling and beloved, with the capacity to go from joy to frustration in seconds, young children are some of the most misunderstood people on the planet. Parents and caregivers struggle with these little ones, who are known for their extreme behaviour, from tantrums, resistance, and aggression to separation anxiety, bedtime protests, and not listening. The key to understanding youngsters lies in realizing that their challenging behaviour is not personal, nor is it a disorder or deficit.

In Women Waking Up, Wendy Valentine doesn’t just challenge the outdated narrative of decline and invisibility at midlife—she blows it up and replaces it with a bold, badass manifesto for reinvention. With raw honesty, a wicked sense of humor, and hard-won wisdom, Wendy invites women everywhere to toss aside society’s limiting scripts and step into the most powerful, playful, and purposeful chapter of their lives.

You can learn to play music, no matter what you've been told about your musical talent or aptitude. With the right instruction and methods, learning to play music can be an endless source of joy and fulfillment. And learning to play music isn't just fun, it's also the ideal brain fitness activity. Dr. Turknett, a neurologist, self-taught multi-instrumentalist, and the founder of Brainjo and the Brainjo Method of instruction, distills the principles of learning to play music down into a set of universal "laws" that can be applied to any instrument.

Discover the timeless wisdom of The Game of Life and How to Play It by Florence Scovel Shinn—a powerful guide to mastering your destiny through the laws of thought, faith, and affirmation.

As a counselor, therapist, parent, or caregiver, you play a crucial role in the development and well-being of children. Yet amidst the flood of information, finding effective, research-backed techniques tailored to diverse needs and ensuring therapeutic goals balance with fun can feel overwhelming. Imagine transforming your child’s playtime into powerful moments of growth and resilience-building using culturally diverse activities that address their unique needs.