Lecture

Importance Play

Stuart Brown: The Importance of Being Playful McCormick-Deering Lecture

ABOUT 

  • ABOUT Stuart Brown

    Stuart L. Brown is the founder of the National Institute of Play in Carmel Valley, California. Trained in general and internal medicine, psychiatry and clinical research, Brown’s years of clinical practice affirmed the importance and need for healthy play throughout the human life cycle and the centrality of play in human beings’ success and well-being. He is the executive producer of the three-part PBS series The Promise of Play. Profile
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Stuart Brown, founder and president of the National Institute for Play, investigates the importance of play in human development. Brown trained in general and internal medicine, psychiatry, and clinical research. He became interested in the role of play in human development when he discovered a common element in the lives of a group of carefully studied homicidal young males: lack of childhood play. In this lecture, he discusses the importance of play, the negative consequences of a play-deprived life, and the strong correlation between success and playful activity.

This annual lecture recognizes a generous multiyear contribution to the festival by the Chauncey and Marion Deering McCormick Foundation.

Teachers Guide

The Chicago Humanities Festival has prepared a teachers' guide for this program. Download the study guide for this program now.

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Broader Investigation

Lecture

Norman Brosterman: The Invention of Kindergarten

Now an American institution, it’s surprising to realize that kindergarten didn’t begin in the U.S. until 1837, when German educator Friedrich Froebel opened the first one.  Norman Brosterman explores Froebel’s original ideas about the way we should educate our children.

Panel

Chicago Sports

Join sportswriter Lester Munson, Phil Rosenthal, and Melissa Isaacson for a Chicago-style mash-up of sports stories and commentary.

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