Brian Sutton-Smith was arguably America’s most prolific and influential play scholar, and was widely regarded as the world’s foremost play theorist. His tireless scholarship helped legitimize play and children’s folklore as topics of scholarly interest and produced more than 50 books and 350 articles on play theory, children’s folklore, and children’s games, as well as encyclopedic literature reviews and longitudinal studies of play behavior. A 1952 Fulbright Scholar, he received the first PhD in educational psychology ever awarded in his native New Zealand in 1954. Soon after, he immigrated to the United States, where he taught at Bowling Green University, at Teachers College, Columbia University in New York, and finally at the University of Pennsylvania. His many honors include Lifetime Achievement Awards from the American Folklore Society and the Association for the Study of Play, which he helped found, and awards from toy companies BRIO and LEGO. He also consulted for several beloved children’s programs and networks, such as Captain Kangaroo and Nickelodeon, and for toy companies and children’s museums. The Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York, retains his collected papers and library in its Brian Sutton-Smith Library and Archives of Play.
Read about Brian Sutton-Smith on Wikipedia
Most Influential Work:
- His 1997 book The Ambiguity of Play (Boston: Harvard University Press, 2001 paperback) theorized seven play rhetorics to describe play behaviors in children and adults.
- His 2008 autobiographical article for the American Journal of Play, “Play Theory: A Personal Journey and New Thoughts,” reviews his lifetime of work, discusses his three major theories, and suggests new research directions.
View all books and articles on our site by Brian Sutton-Smith:
- Decline in Independent Activity as a Cause of Decline in Children’s Mental Wellbeing: Summary of the Evidence.
- Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul
- From Neurons to Neighborhoods – The Science of Early Childhood Development
- Consequences of Three Preschool Curriculum Models through Age 15
- Hunter-Gatherers and Play
- The Virtuousness of Adult Playfulness- the Relation of Playfulness with Strengths of Character
- The Interpersonal Neurobiology of Play: Brain-Building Interventions for Emotional Well-Being
- History of Children’s Play and Play Environments – Toward a Contemporary Child-Saving Movement
- Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life
- A Mandate for Playful Learning in Preschool: Applying the Scientific Evidence
