Play Matters: Writing on Play and Joy

Play Matters, edited by Dr Aaron Bradbury, gathers researchers and practitioners to make the case for something childhood can’t afford to lose. Winsy Flores contributed to its chapter on 'Play and Joy', which looks at the science of how joy, play and learning are bound together, and at the conditions adults can create around children. The chapter also introduced Winsy’s thinking on curation: the idea that educators can shape time, space, materials and relationships with real intention, without scripting what play should turn into. That idea sits at the heart of how Rocket teachers and learning engineers describe their work and frame their every day practice. Seeing it published alongside such inspiring voices in the field added a practitioner’s voice to the case for protecting play and joy in early childhood and in education.