Lúdica, Leisure and Recreation

• Lúdica refers to a dimension of individual development and is part of being human.
• Lúdica involves the need to communicate, feel, express oneself, and generate emotions like joy, laughter, and even tears.
• Lúdica fosters psychosocial development, shapes personality, demonstrates values, and guides the acquisition of knowledge through activities involving pleasure, enjoyment, creativity, and knowledge.
• Leisure is a space where one is free from haste and utility, more than just rest or distraction.
• Leisure encourages exploring intense hobbies, and its casual version offers immediate pleasure without commitment, reflecting inequalities in access and quality.
• Leisure involves choosing to live in the moment and rebelling against a society focused on daily productivity.
• Leisure involves freeing oneself from work obligations and having personal time, and it is not synonymous with free time or recreation.
• Recreation comes from the Latin "recreatio, -ōnis," meaning "that which refreshes or restores."
• "Recrear" means to amuse, gladden, or delight, according to the Royal Spanish Academy.
• Recreation equates to diversion, delight, and joy, forming an integral activity with creative forms.
• Recreation responds to societal evolution, interests, abilities, and needs.
• People need to occupy their time from the moment they are aware of it, throughout their lives.
• The form and characteristics of recreational activities vary based on social, economic, and cultural factors, as well as individual development and needs.
• Society is a complex social network traditionally marked by economic and cultural differences, restricting access to culture and recreational activities for certain sectors.
• The 20th century saw economic, social, cultural, and structural changes that promoted social modification, affecting relationships between individuals, their customs, habits, work, and ways of gathering.
• Populations largely concentrate in cities, with paid work becoming more intellectual, less physical, and more individualized, leading to cultural democratization and global openness.

What is Play?

• Play involves free action or occupation within defined temporal and spatial limits, according to absolutely obligatory rules.
• Play, though freely accepted, is an action with its end in itself, accompanied by tension, joy, and awareness of being different from everyday life.
• Johan Huizinga defined play in "Homo Ludens" (1958).

What are Toys?

• Toys are essential tools for a child's proper development.
• Toys play a key role in forming concepts, aptitudes, expectations, and socialization in children.
• Toys represent an era, aiding child development based on age, mental condition, and family socioeconomic status.
• Toys act as educational resources and precursors to motor play.
• Toys contribute to concept formation, skills, expectations, and socialization, considered indispensable learning tools for understanding the world.
• Toys are part of play and a metaphorical introduction to society.
• Toys stimulate human activities that affect physical development, motor skills, affection, intelligence, creativity, and sociability.
• Created Toys: Simple elements that stimulate creativity, making the act of creation a true, enjoyable, and educational game.
• Instrumental Toys: Simple supports for playful activity, existing outside traditional toys like hoops, balls, and dolls.
• Finished Industrial Toys: Toys technologically made, not by children, reflecting contemporary industrial advancements.

Types of Toys

• Pull and push toys
• Racetracks and accessories
• Construction sets and kits
• Sports vehicles and climbing elements
• Costumes and accessories
• Video games and computers
• Figures, dolls, and accessories
• Foosball table
• Tools
• Imitation of life toys
• Board Games
• Books
• Audio Visual Material
• Experimental technical toys
• Expended material
• Playful Material
• Mechanics
• Puppets and accesories
• Musical Toys
• Flying objects
• Stuffed Animals
• Aim and Skill Toys
• Puzzles

Piaget's Stages of Play

• Sensorimotor (birth to 2 years): Children develop the ability to coordinate physical actions with sensory experiences and begin to understand object permanence.
• Preoperational (2 to 7 years): Children develop language and symbolic representation but struggle with understanding quantity conservation and abstract concepts.
• Concrete Operations (7 to 11 years): Children gain the ability to mentally manipulate concrete objects and understand concepts like conservation and reversibility.
• Formal Operations (from 11 years): Adolescents and adults develop the capacity to think abstractly, hypothetically, and logically, able to reason about complex and abstract topics.

Free Time vs. Liberated Time

• "Leisure" and "free time" have been used interchangeably, though they are not synonymous.
• Free time is a condition for leisure but isn't the only factor.
• Free time includes utilitarian and liberated dimensions.
• Liberated time is for secondary occupations and obligations, done in available, discretionary space.
• Free time is unconstrained; it involves activities not strictly obligatory but somewhat essential, like daily chores, commutes, and shopping.
• Liberated time: The remaining time after subtracting these activities, is when one can freely choose activities for leisure.

Business Recreation: Considerations

• Event Objective
• Population Type: age, gender, physical condition
• Date
• Place
• Number of Participants
• Activity Description
• Policies
• Budget: service description, unit/total quantities, profitability calculations, taxes
• Inclusions
• Exclusions
• Whether VAT applies