Get ready to play!
Our mission - The playstilin concept
Based on neuroscience, playstilin® and playstilin® CONNECT combine a variety of concepts that promote natural play fun and gender-neutral neuronal development in children:
1. Multisensory experiences - through colors, touch, smell and texture of the different components
2.Creativity - endless possibilities when designing amazingly different moldable play materials
3.Logical thinking - combining play doughs with smart building elements to create something truly unique and actually playable! Get ready to play! Make ready to play!
The neuroscience of play
Play is often associated with positive emotions such as pleasure. These emotions release dopamine in the brain, a neurotransmitter that helps regulate responses to reward and pleasure. Dopamine triggers an interaction between different regions of the "reward network" (i.e. midbrain, striatum, hippocampus and prefrontal cortex) to change our reactions and actions. The resulting positive emotional state is associated with a number of cognitive benefits, such as improved attention, better working memory, mental reorganization and improved stress regulation, which are useful for learning.
It is well documented in the scientific literature that the presence of dopamine in conjunction with joyful experiences can lead to an improved ability to process and retain information. The intense immersion in play helps children to forget negative thoughts and fears and creates a feeling of happiness. Psychologists also refer to this as "flow".
But traditional "analog" play is particularly beneficial for children's brains and general development in many ways. It stimulates creativity and imagination, reduces stress and at the same time promotes social interaction and concentration. Engaging in different forms of play promotes emotional balance, improves problem-solving skills and supports the brain's ability to adapt and grow. Play stimulates the brain to engage in activities that contribute to its well-being!
Build to play!
With playstilin® and playstilin® CONNECT, we want to offer something that enables our little ones to develop and reinforce positive neural networks at every step of traditional play, based on different, complementary skills and leading to an enriching experience. Most importantly, we want children to have as much fun playing and creating with playstilin® as we do researching, developing and making products for families like yours!
Feeling - Shaping - Building
Although there are no rules, a typical course of play with playstilin® and playstilin® CONNECT! comprises the following advantages and phases, which can be played through in different and varying orders:
Feel
From birth to early childhood, children use their senses to feel and "grasp " the world around them. They do this by
touching, tasting, smelling, seeing, moving and hearing. Children, and adults too, learn best and retain the most information when they use their senses. Giving children the opportunity to actively use their senses and explore their world through sensory play is crucial for brain development - it helps to build neural connections in the brain pathways. In the exploration phase of playing with playstilin®(feeling), the kneading, stretching and rolling of the material stimulates the motor cortex, among other things, which coordinates hand movements and promotes fine motor skills. Sensory play also engages various sensory areas of the brain that are responsible for processing touch, taste, smell, sight and hearing.
Shapes
As there are no guidelines, the possibilities for shaping and free design with the various play materials
are unlimited during the design phase. The result is greater self-confidence, better memory encoding and better motor control. The sudden
discovery of a physical principle in play (e.g. building a floating boat) activates the child's reward network, which helps encode memories. This can be a powerful driver for learning. By providing play materials with different properties that are both new and familiar, we encourage meaningful experiences for children and guide them to new discoveries through play. During this design phase, several brain regions are activated, including the prefrontal cortex, which is also responsible for executive functions such as decision making, goal setting and planning, and in turn impacts memory performance. When children playfully discover different uses
and physical properties of the play materials, their own understanding of the world is deepened. The limitless
possibilities of design encourage creativity, imagination and learning by activating the cognitive and memory-related regions of the brain.
Building
The logical networks in the brain that enable meaningful experiences and learning are involved in the construction phase. This includes the prefrontal cortex, which makes judgments and predictions about the function of creations. When predictions are accurate, confidence grows, which contributes to a positive learning cycle and reinforces a sense of agency, progress and self-confidence. The process of trial and error while building encourages imagination and experimentation , which are essential for lifelong learning , and engages different regions of the brain associated with problem solving and creativity.