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It is in playing and only in playing that the individual child or adult is able to be creative and to use the whole personality, and it is only in being creative that the individual discovers the self.
Donald Woods Winnicott
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Play is essential for creativity and self-discovery in individuals of all ages.

This quote emphasizes the vital role of play in fostering creativity and personal growth. According to Winnicott, engaging in play allows individuals, whether children or adults, to express their whole selves, leading to deeper self-understanding and creative expression that forms the core of individual identity.

Themes

PlayCreativitySelf-DiscoveryPersonal Growth

In practice

Example use cases

A teacher might use this quote in a seminar about the importance of play-based learning.

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Quote by Donald Woods Winnicott | QuoteProject