I recently came upon the book, Free Play, by Stephen Nachmanovitch.

I am a well versed in all things Play based but this book was new to me, even though it’s circa1991.

With this new read came a new word to me:

“Galumphing”

Galumphing is the immaculately rambunctious and seemingly inexhaustible play energy apparent in children. We galumph when we hop instead of walk, when we taken the scenic route instead of the efficient one, when we play a game whose rules demand a limitation of our powers, when we are interested in means rather than in ends. We voluntarily create obstacles in our path and then enjoy overcoming them.

Sound like anyone you know?

This chapter in the book continues with defining play as well as talking about the benefits of play.

Play is different from “game”. Play is the free spirit of exploration, doing and being for its own pure joy.
Game is an activity defined by a set of rules, like baseball.
Play is an attitude, a spirit, a way of doing things, whereas game is a defined activity with rules and a playing field and participants.

This made me consider for myself and my teenage children - are we playing enough?

We do more games, I think, which of course have their own benefits. But, to play and “Galumph” seems imperative when you look at the benefits:

A creature that plays is more readily adaptable to changing contexts and conditions. Play as free improvisation sharpens our capacity to deal with a changing world.

That seems pretty critical.

I am making a new goal to Galumph more. I feel so lucky I get to work with such expert galumphers. As usual, I revert to learning from the children I teach. They know what’s what.