Imaginary Friends: Evan Kidd at TEDxSydney

In an enlightening and persuasive talk, psychologist Evan Kidd argues that we need to start taking play more seriously. He explains how children with imaginary friends are more creative and socially competent, and demonstrates that schools with play-based learning can improve the creativity of children. Psychologist Evan Kidd is currently a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at The Australian National University in Canberra. He teaches and conducts research on language acquisition and children’s play, which is how he regularly meets the imaginary friends of children. TEDxSydney 2012 took place on Saturday 26 May 2012 at Carriageworks. Tens of thousands of people enjoyed the day: 800 in the theatre, over 1,000 via big screen simulcast in The Forum, many thousands online via YouTube and ABC Big Ideas ... and up to 80,000 tuning in to ABC Radio National. In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like exp