Peter Gray
Peter's Website on Play, Child Development, and Education
Some YouTubes About Play and Self-Directed Education
I define play and briefly describe its value for children's development. 5 min.
Created for Camp Stomping Ground, this uses my voice and Laura Krieger's drawings to present the basics of self-directed learning. 2.5 min.
In this "Positive Parenting" interview I address questions about value of play, the value age mixing among children, and the social constraints on these today. 34 min..
In this Brainwaves Video, created by Bob Greenberg, I introduce the main ideas that I elaborate on in my book Free to Learn. 10 min.
Bob Greenberg asked, "who was your best teacher?' Some will be surprised by my answer, some will not. 2 min.
This is just audio. It includes discussions of the differences between play and adult-directed sports and the ways that play in childhood makes us stronger adults. The interview is concerned with "guys," but what I say applies to all 36 min.
This is something of a classic, about the decline in children' opportunities to play over the past several decades and the consequences for children's mental health. It has close to 700,000 views. I'm more nervous in TED style talks than in interviews or other talks, maybe because the stage and spotlight make me feel more like an actor than someone just talking. But I'm OK with this one. 16 min.
The TEDx conference theme here was "passions" and my talk is about how children develop passionate interests in play and how coercive schooling interferes with the development of such passions. I'm not happy with the way this was filmed--it's too dark and fails to show my slides at the right times--but I have it here because of the unique and I think valuable content. 16 min.
Ken Robinson and I provide thoughts about play in this short film, and the thoughts are depicted through video of children playing in many ways. 6 min.
I will add more to this page as time goes on. If you are interested you can find many more YouTubes of me speaking at various events and in various contexts HERE.