17/01/2026
ᴘʟᴀʏ ᴜʀɢᴇ ɪɴ ᴀᴄᴛɪᴏɴ! 🎬 💫
“Just as trees have the ‘urge’ to send their roots downward and their branches to the places where leaves can access the most sun, human beings have non-volitional urges which drive the growth and development of the mind-brain-body. Among the many human urges are urges which drive the play of humans, and these urges are universal.” 🌱
- Pennie Brownlee
In other words, urges are patterns of behaviour that tamariki show in their play. Also known as schemas, they are innate, biological, impulsive and so important to understanding and supporting learning✨
What you can see here is the Enclosure schema being demonstrated beautifully by our Tuakana boys.
The enclosure schema is the urge to get inside or enclose something in a space. Hut making is a wonderful example of this. 🏠
Creating huts is a universal play urge 🌎 Across generations, no matter where you go around the world you will see huts... children deconstructing huts... children constructing huts...children hiding in huts ...playing in huts. This play is made even more richer by the addition of imagination and other play urges.
Play urges can tell us a lot about their magical inner world…so… let them play 🤸🏼💞
