Why Do Animals Play?

Tumble Science Podcast for Kids

Tumble Media

Kids & Family, Education For Kids

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 28 February 2025

⏱️ 23 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Why do some animals play - and some don’t? That’s what Meredith wants to know. In this special collaboration with Outside/In, we investigate how and why animals - and people! - of all shapes and sizes play. Play scientists Junyi Chu and Jackson Ham help us ask the important questions like: Can you tell an octopus to play? And what can rats teach us about why taking turns is important? It turns out that play is serious science! This episode is a collaboration with Outside/In from New Hampshire Public Radio, and co-reported with executive producer Taylor Quimby. Taylor recommends the show for older kids and teens, and suggests these family-friendly episodes for listening together. The $1,000 balloon What's living under your porch You can make kids hike, but you can't make them hikers Learn more about animal play on the blog on our website, sciencepodcastforkids.com Support Tumble on Patreon at patreon.com/tumblepodcast.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, I'm Lindsay.
0:03.9	And I'm Marshall.
0:04.9	Welcome to Tumble, the show where we explore stories of science discovery.
0:08.5	Today we're going to talk about why and how animals play.
0:12.4	Oh man, is this going to be like one of those YouTube compilation videos of animals being
0:16.5	adorable?
0:17.5	Well, we're going to be talking about which animals play and which ones might not.
0:24.7	And we'll find out why playing might be one of the most important things you can do as a kid.
0:36.8	For this episode All About Play, we decided to invite a friend over to make it more fun.
0:42.6	Oh, like a play date.
0:43.6	Yeah, exactly.
0:44.9	So come on in, Taylor.
0:46.9	Hi, Lindsay.
0:47.6	Hi, Marshall.
0:48.4	Hey there.
0:49.2	You want to see my trucks?
0:51.4	So, yeah, I work on a podcast called Outside In, which is another fun show about nature and science, not always for kids, but sometimes.
1:01.4	And the question Lindsay and I decided to answer together comes from Evelyn in Goffstown, New Hampshire.
1:08.9	My question is, why do some animals play and some don't?
1:13.2	Why do some animals play and others don't?
1:15.6	I always thought it was because squirrels just want to have fun.
1:20.5	Let's ask the listeners what they think.
	...

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