Worldwide universality of play

We took this photo of a 9-year-old girl playing in the fishing village of Yelapa, located on the southern side of Banderas Bay on the Pacific coast of Mexico. Yelapa is fairly isolated from the outside world, as the only way to get there is by boat. Though it's difficult to see in the photo, she's playing with a pirate ship and miniature people.



No matter where we go in the world, we find that children's play is basically the same, as children develop based upon a biologically predetermined progression of growth and play interests.