Grape Play with Toddlers in the Studio

Our Research Question for our Year of DELIGHT

 

It’s 1984 and I’m knee deep in a muddy creek, beneath a blue-azure sky.  Hints of willow, cottonwood and ponderosa cling to a warm summer breeze.  Wildflowers lend a breathtaking bluster of color to the almost neon green of a riparian area set amidst an otherwise parched Arizona landscape.  I double over in a side-clutching, fully belly guffaw, that leaves my body shaking in delight.  My younger brother has just surfaced from another dramatic plunge and emerged with two crawdads clinging to his fingers.  He does a wild, crustacean dance in mock pain, purely for my enjoyment. A morning spent crawdad hunting, without any track of time, immersed in pure joy and giggling glee.  This remains one of my most delightful memories.  Wet, filthy and in love with the world.  Memories like these are ripe for the picking, nearly as delicious to recall as they are to create.  

As many of you know, every year in the studio is informed by a research question.  And this summer, I did a deep dive into the art of Fun. Mainly I started asking myself the same question I now pose to you, “When was the last time you recall having SO MUCH fun?”

Really…  Give it a second and watch the memory surface.  Does the recollection gladden your body?  

How does it feel?

For many adults, frolicking good times can take a minute to remember.  I wondered why.  Are we creating less Fun for ourselves, or is it something else? Do we consider fun important?  And what exactly do we mean when we speak of FUN?  

Catherine Price in her book, The Power of Fun relates that true fun involves a trifecta of playfulness, connection and flow.  Let’s break it down…

  

Playfulness can be defined as that feeling we get when we are outside the normal responsibilities of our life and enjoying what we are doing for its own sake.  Play feels good.  Why?  Because it IS good!  Play decreases our susceptibility to various diseases, including dementia and heart disease and is connected to brain development and neural plasticity, aka learning  What?  Yep, play promotes academic success big time.  How big?  According to current research it takes around 400 repetitions to acquire new information, unless it’s done through play, in which case it only takes 10-20 repetitions.  Ten to twenty repetitions! That is no small difference.  And what does it do for our mental health?  According to Dr. Stuart Brown, the founder of the National Institute of Play, plays’ opposite is not work but depression.  Play is essential to fun… okay… now onto connection.

Nearly all of our truly fun experiences will involve some degree of Social Connection. Look for yourself.  Think back to that felicitous memory, what were you doing?  Most likely you aren’t alone.  Because being around other people we enjoy, contributes to a positive mood.  This is as true for people who self identify as introverts as it is for extroverts.  Infact, one study revealed that spending time with people is a required condition for happiness AND according to the longest running longitudinal study ever conducted (say that five times, fast)  these relationships are more reliable predictors of longevity and well being than any other single factor.  

 

The third component to fun is flow.  Flow is a term coined by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi referring to the feeling of deep immersion that accompanies being absorbed in a challenging activity.  A flow state is not the same as mindlessly scrolling through our phone or being lost in a movie.  Flow requires that we are present and passionate about what we are doing.  Like fun, true flow is dynamic, present and transportive.

Okay so we have the recipe… play, connect, flow.  

So where’s the fly in our ointment?  There’s an implied requisite that deserves further attention. Being present.  We inhabit a smartphone society, pinging and dinging all the livelong day.  Our attention is often darting among distractions and distraction is the nemesis of fun. With all that noise, our days keep getting busier, making it easier to overlook or undervalue the ordinary delights in our daily lives.  

How do we counteract this tendency toward diversion?  In Ross Gay’s, Book of Delights, he offers a practice of noticing the good things.  When we set our eyes on delight, we increase our recognition of the felicitous possibilities contained in every moment.  In time, as we train our brain to notice the positive things, we settle into the immediacy of the moment with gratitude.  At ease with what's in front of us we are more likely to meet the prerequisites for having FUN.

This leads to my research question for the year: How does embracing an attitude of joy and delight enhance community relationships and improve feelings of belonging?  As always, I turn to the children, the biggest fun magnets I know, to guide us.

 

Welcome to a Year of Delight in the Studio!  

In the spirit of FUN, the studio will be offering 3 playful and informative studio nights for parents.  You won’t want to miss them, so mark your calendars!  The first one is just around the corner on October 3rd from 5-6.  I look forward to seeing you there!  I welcome each of you as partners in our delightful journey to belonging.  I have already reached out to a few parents about the possibility of collaborating with the studio, sharing something you love or a cultural celebration with the children.  If you’d like to participate in this way please reach out to me and we will playfully discuss the details.  

I look forward to a wonderful year together.

Stay Curious and Full of Wonder,

Your Studio Teacher 

Angelina