The Aesthetics of Play: How Play Influences Our Lives

We all have aesthetic responses.

Some of us cringe when we see a moldy sandwich.

Some of us cry when we hear a sad song.

Some of us feel more confident when we wear our favorite red jacket.

Aesthetics, which Alexander Baumgarten named from the Greek word aisthanomai, simply means “perception by way of the senses.”

Aesthetics are how we perceive the world through our senses.

For non-human animals, colors, smells and sights provide a means for survival, for humans they are also the way we interpret and understand the world.

After spending the past few years at Hollywood Arts, an arts school I founded for homeless transitional age youth, I became interested in the emotional relationship between people and art-based aesthetic experiences — specifically the role joyful, play-rich aesthetic experiences have in how we feel about ourselves and our willingness to try to new behaviors.

At Hollywood Arts, I observed a group of young adults who grew up in high poverty families or in institutional care, develop creative thinking and social skills as a result of frequent participation with the arts.