Concepts

Some Interesting concepts

I have come across some interesting  concepts which are close and are on my mind for past few days. These are namely - 

1. Play

2. Activity

3. Sport

4. Game

5. Gamification

6. Gamify

1. Play: Play is defined as an activity engaged in for enjoyment and recreation, especially by children. Play is a range of voluntary, intrinsically motivated activities normally associated with recreational pleasure and enjoyment. 

Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi

Csikszentmihalyi (1981) described play as "a subset of life..., an arrangement in which one can practice behavior without dreading its consequences" (p. 14). Garvey (1977) gave a useful description of play for teachers when she defined play as an activity which is: 1) positively valued by the player; 2) self-motivated; 3) freely chosen; 4) engaging; and 5) which "has certain systematic relations to what is not play" (p. 5). These characteristics are important for teachers to remember because imposing adult values, requirements, or motivations on children's activities may change the very nature of play.

2. Activity: According to thefreedictionary activity is 'an energetic action or movement; liveliness' or 'the state or quality of being active'. According to businessdictionary.com : Activity is a measurable amount of work performed to convert inputs into outputs.

Physical Activity Pyramid

3. Sport: Essentially, a physical activity. It is played individually or with a team to compete to maintain or improve physical abilities and strength or entertain. It is an activity involving physical exertion and skill that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often undertaken competitively.

Sports Silhouettes

4. Game: A game can be structured playing that is undertaken for entertainment or education.

Generally, sports require some sort of physical effort of specialized skill while games are more organised affairs with rules. Generally sports require some sort of physical effort of specialized skill while games are more organised affairs with rules.

5. Gamification: It is the use of game thinking and game mechanics in non-game contexts to engage users in solving problems. Gamification techniques strive to leverage people's natural desires for competition, achievement, status, self-expression, altruism, and closure.

6. Gamify: When you “gamify” something that means you are trying to implement game-like situation in that setup. For e.g. Gamify education means 'applying game design principles to motivate and inspire learners.'

Links:-

1. Read this interesting post on Difference between Games and Gamification

For interesting simulations categorized according to age and subject please visit

 for over 110 million interesting, inspiring and intriguing, simulations

2. Visit the website 360kid.org and see for yourself the amazing world of games, animation, creative expressions, etc.