Recapitulative play

A theory which suggests that a child's play is a re-play of what its ancestors did in their adult life. If you look at some of what children do when they play, you will see reflected in that, some of what human beings did in the ancient past. The playing through of previous evolutionary stages, animal, savage, nomad, pastoral, tribal, includes fire play, den building, and weapons play.
Collated by Joel Seath of Meynell Games 2009.

This play type really moves me. It is fascinating to think that this may be a part of a child's play process. Last night I took action to observe this play type by watching Peter Brook's 'Lord of the Flies' 'A daring translation of William Golding's symbolic best selling novel about the human spirit and the terrifying thesis - that there is a beast in us all.'