Promoting Play in People's Lives
Mar 28, 2023 5:45 PM
Marie Martin
Promoting Play in People's Lives

‘Play’ in its many guises is ‘good’ for children, adolescents, adults and seniors.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the newly revised Early Years Framework, the Be You programme from Beyond Blue, the WA Curriculum in use in schools and Early Childhood Australia sit behind the WA Play Strategy which advocates for children’s right to play.

Play is also important for adolescents, whose brains are still developing until their mid-20s. Play addresses adolescent developmental needs for greater independence and ownership in their lives, opportunities for physical activity and the ability to demonstrate competence.

For adults, play can relieve stress, improve brain function, stimulate the mind, boost creativity, improve relationships and keep them feeling young and energetic.

And for seniors, play is an opportunity to reintroduce wonder, create new friendships, improve brain function, prevent memory problems, improve optimism and reduce stress.

In this presentation, Marie will outline the importance of play, ways you can incorporate more play into your life and the lives of those you care about and ways you can advocate for play in the broader community.

Biography

As Director of Facilitating Conversations, Marie helps organisations, schools and individuals to have conversations about things that matter to them. Organisational, professional, community and product development are made easier through planned processes which harness the capacity of a group and hold the group through uncertainty to achieve outcomes.