• Increased productivity
• Focused efficiency
• Enhanced creativity
• Being "in the Zone"
• Expanded joy and wonder

Research about Authentic Play

The Elements of Enjoyment - Flow (Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi)

1. The experience usually occurs when we confront tasks we have a chance of completing.
2. We must be able to concentrate on what we are doing.
3. The concentration is usually possible because the task undertaken has clear goals and provides immediate feedback.
4. One acts with a deep but effortless involvement that removes from awareness the worries and frustrations of everyday life.
5. Enjoyable experiences allow people to exercise a sense of control over their actions.
6. Concern for the self disappears, yet paradoxically, the sense of self emerges stronger after the flow experience is over.
7. The sense of the duration of time is altered; hours pass by in minutes, and minutes can stretch out to seem like hours.

Ackerman, Diane - Deep Play (Random House)

Brown, Stuart, MD - Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul (Avery)

Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly - Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience (Harper Perennial)

Donaldson, O. Fred, PHD - Playing by Heart: the Vision and Practice of Belonging (Health Communications, Inc)

Duncan, Margaret Carlisle - Ph.D, Professor of human kinetics/University of Wisconsin & past president of Association for the Study of Play

Iggulend, Hal & Con - The Dangerous Book for Boys (Collins)

Buchanan, Andrea & Peskowitz - The Daring Book for Girls (Collins)

The New Games Book, More New Games, New Games for the Whole Family (New Games Foundation)

Rohnke, Karl - Quicksilver: Adventure Games, Initiative Problems, Trust Activities and a Guide to Effective Leadership (Kendal/Hunt Publishing)

Terr Lenore - Beyond Love and Work: Why Adults need to Play (Scribner)

Weinstein Matt - Work Like Your Dog (Villard Books)