By Stephanie Lord-Darby

Play is often where childhood makes the most sense: in the giggles, the wobbly climbs, the quiet moments of concentration, and the joyful chaos of trying something new. The State of Play 2025 report from Play Australia is a powerful reminder that these everyday moments are doing important work in children’s bodies and brains.

Play can be defined in many ways, but essentially it is any child-led behaviour or activity without set rules or even a goal. Just curiosity, engagement and fun! 

At GymbaROO, we have always known this. Our philosophy is built on the understanding that targeted, playful movement is powerful fuel for brain growth, emotional regulation, and higher-order thinking. We see it every day on the mats, on the ramps, and in the gleeful shrieks of a child mastering a new climb. But to support the benefits of social and emotional wellbeing, one of our 6 foundational neurological benefits for children, we allow space for exploration and play in each of our classes – consider it a complementary aspect to the targeted-movement components.  

So, when the report describes play as a “biological imperative… helping to build advanced social structures,” we don’t just agree in theory – we recognise what we witness in our classes. And when it cites research showing that just 30 minutes of play can modify one-third of the brain’s genes within an hour, our role feels not only meaningful but time-sensitive. The active, adventurous, “risky play” we champion boosts BDNF—a protein so important for brain growth, memory, and social learning that it might as well be called ‘miracle-grow for the mind.’

Yet the report also invites us to pause and reflect—something all of us in the community can gently do together.

 

The Current Landscape

While we see the magic of play in every class, the report paints a broader picture of children’s play across Australia:

• 48% of children report they don’t have enough time to play.

• 1 in 2 children are not allowed to play outside on their own with friends.

• Only 9.6% of children say they feel safe when playing or hanging out.

This is sobering. Fewer than one in ten children feeling safe in their play is not just a childhood concern; it reflects something in our wider culture. The report highlights how, in many Australian schools, play opportunities are limited by environment, expectations, policy, and even insurance.

At GymbaROO, our day-to-day experience resonates with this. We recognise the parent who hovers at the bottom of the ladder, the well-meaning family who says, “They won’t sit still,” or “They need more structure.” 

Many parents themselves may have missed out on the kind of free, hands-off play that helped wire earlier generations’ brains for resilience. They are doing their best with the experiences they’ve had. So, we gently remind them, movement is KEY! 

 

From Manager to Enabler: A Gentle Shift

Our role is not to judge. Our role is to walk alongside families. To model, to gently educate, and to quietly encourage: “Let’s just watch for a moment… look what they can do.”

The State of Play report notes how parental attitudes have shifted:

• 38% of parents believe play always needs adult supervision.

• 27% believe adults must always step in to resolve disagreements.

• 35% think play is better with toys.

Rather than seeing this as a criticism, we can see it as an invitation. At GymbaROO, it’s a reminder to continue deepening our parent education. This can look like moving beyond instruction-based activities alone and (as we intentionally do) purposefully creating space for ‘risky play’ and ‘social play’. Where the equipment is open, the path is flexible, and the parent’s role is to breathe, step back, and observe.

This is why our play-focused Adventure ROO classes aren’t just fun. They are gentle practice sessions in confident, courageous parenting—a living laboratory where you can try out swapping the clipboard for curiosity and replacing “Be careful!” with “I see you’re trying something tricky.”

The report strongly affirms many of our core practices:

Promoting ‘risky play’ on large equipment is important. That measured risk on the ladder is helping to build neural circuits for problem-solving. 

A little rough and tumble? Vestibular stimulation and sensory exploration are essential. Spinning, rolling, and tumbling are the natural language of the developing nervous system. 

Social playtime and mixed-age interaction help lay the groundwork for empathy, negotiation, and complex social skills.

At the same time, the report gently stretches us. It encourages us not only to guide play but also to make even more room for children to lead it. It asks us to trust the process of play as deeply as we trust the structure of our programs.

Our hope for every child is not only that they enjoy their lesson but that they grow towards their highest levels of thinking—the kind that invents, negotiates, solves problems, and creates. That kind of thinking is rarely found in a worksheet. It emerges in the pause, the stumble, the shared moment over a foam wedge, and the triumphant slide down the ramp in a way they’ve discovered for themselves.

 

A Closing Reflection for Our Community

The State of Play 2025 report is more than an academic paper. It is a thoughtful reflection and a guide. It reassures us that what we do at GymbaROO is not an ‘extra’—it is deeply aligned with what children’s bodies and brains need.

To every parent who has felt the instinct to hover: we understand. To every caregiver who has wondered whether “just letting them play” is enough: you are offering something profoundly valuable. And to every little one who climbs, crashes, giggles, negotiates, and tries again: you are quietly building the brain you will use for a lifetime.

Together, we can be the community that restores play to its rightful place—not as a reward, not as a break from learning, but as the heart of it. We can help turn the state of play from a report into a lived reality: one tumble, one ramp, one joyful, messy, magnificent moment at a time.