“The Right Brain Develops First ~ Why Play is the Foundation for Academic Learning”

I stumbled across this wonderful article by Vince Gowman this morning, still a bit jet lagged state, just home from teaching workshops in Germany.  Play happens to be on my mind as at my last stop, the Ravensburg Clown Akademy, the subject of play, how much playing took place in the workshops was a topic.  The Akademy offers the rare opportunity to spend time with other clown teachers as there are multiple week long workshops taking place at the same time.   In this case 3 wonderful souls from 3 different countries.  During the discussion, I was not surprised to hear 2 teachers say that that was all they did, play games, in their workshops. 

Although the title of the article suggests it is about academic learning, perhaps it has a much broader bandwith in regards to the importance of play.  The article also sports several juicy Albert Einstein quotes.

The article starts out:

Did you know that the right brain develops first? It does so by the time children are 3-4 years of age. The left brain, on the other hand, doesn’t fully come online until children are approximately seven years old; hence the first seven years being recognized as such a critical period in child development.

“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.” ~ Albert Einstein

The left brain’s functionality is one of language, numeracy, literacy, analysis and time. It is the logical, calculating, planning, busy-bee part of us that keeps us anchored in the pragmatic world, and in past and future. The right brain, on the other hand, is responsible for empathy, intuition, imagination and creativity. It is where we wonder, dream, connect and come alive. Through the right brain we dwell in the space of no-time, in being absolutely present. While the left brain is more interested in outcomes or product, the right brain cares much more about process—the journey is what matters, not the destination. …

For more, please go to:

“The Right Brain Develops First~Why Play is the Foundation for Academic Learning”