The value of play

As Rosie reaches school age I've been pondering about the role of unscheduled play time in a child's life lately. How important is it? And for how many years? These are the more analytical questions that have been floating around in my head but no matter how I look at it I come to the same conclusion - that play is very important, perhaps even the most important thing for a child. But then I take this conclusion further and wonder if that's true for all of us, no matter what our age or disposition.
Play has a wonderful, magical quality about it doesn't it? I can see it as Rosie and Bethany play together, or separately, or with their cousin Elsa (or cousins Alec and Eddy). And I can feel it when I let myself forget work or chores or jobs and just play myself. Time slips away and is unimportant, imagination takes hold and anything is possible. A table becomes a house, then a restaurant, then a dance studio. A small table is a cooktop.
Yesterday I watched as my precious ones and their cousin played in an ongoing imaginary wonderland. There were negotiations and sharing throughout their joint-creativity. I listened to their stories, their changing expectations, the tangents of enthusiasm and was very thankful that I consciously gave them time for play. For this is what children (and the child in all of us) are made for, this play is their beauty. Play together. Play side by side. From cooking with octopus oil to making gum leaf stew. This is true reality-imagining that, as a parent, I aim to encourage as much as possible.

The girls in the house/restaurant/dance studio