Playfulness in Action: Applying neuroscience to support play, engagement, and resilience

Play is more than fun — it’s the foundation of how children learn, connect, and thrive.

In this full-day professional workshop, internationally recognised experts Professor Anita Bundy and Dr. Shelly Lane will share how the neuroscience of play and playfulness can transform practice. You’ll discover why play must be valued not only as a tool for therapy but as a vital outcome in its own right — one that supports development, participation, and wellbeing.

Through engaging sessions and problem-solving activities, you’ll gain fresh insights and practical strategies to apply immediately in your work with children, including those who are neurodivergent.

At this workshop, you will learn to:

• Define play and playfulness and their relationship.

• Distinguish between play as a medium and play as an outcome and the appropriate application of each.

• Describe neural correlates of play and playfulness and the importance of play to brain development.

• Have access to strategies to support play and playfulness.

By the end of the day, you’ll leave with:

• A deepened understanding of play and playfulness and their neural correlates.

• Greater ability to create strategies and opportunities to incorporate play in clinical practice.

• An understanding of the importance of play as an outcome for all children, in addition to using play as a medium.

• Expanded ability to promote play as an outcome for all children
  

Professor Anita Bundy

Professor Anita Bundy is a world leader in occupational therapy, known for her groundbreaking research in play, sensory integration, and child development. She developed the Test of Playfulness (ToP), a widely used assessment that has shaped research and practice internationally, and led the Sydney Playground Project, which demonstrated how everyday play opportunities foster resilience, independence, confidence, and social participation. A prolific author and co-editor of Sensory Integration: Theory and Practice, Professor Bundy has received occupational therapy’s highest honors, including the AOTA Award of Merit and the Eleanor Clarke Slagle Lectureship Award, recognising her outstanding contributions to the field. Her expertise lies in helping professionals understand the intrinsic value of play as an occupation, and how its neural and behavioural foundations make it essential for healthy development and wellbeing. Her work has transformed the way therapists, educators, and communities around the world view play — not as “just fun,” but as a powerful driver of learning, growth, and inclusion.

Dr Shelly J Lane

Dr. Shelly Lane is an internationally respected occupational therapist and neuroscientist whose career spans more than 45 years in pediatric practice, education, and research. As Academic Program Director at Colorado State University and Director of the Sensory Integration, Play & OT Research Lab, she has helped bridge the gap between neuroscience and practice for generations of therapists and educators. Her research has advanced understanding of how the brain supports play, participation, and sensory processing, with projects ranging from father–child playfulness, to autism interventions, to the physiological correlates of sensory modulation disorders. She has co-edited and authored seminal texts including Kids Can Be Kids and the 3rd edition of Sensory Integration: Theory and Practice, both with Professor Anita Bundy. Recipient of the AOTA Roster of Fellows Award, Dr. Lane is recognised worldwide for redefining play as not only a therapeutic medium but also a vital occupation in its own right. Her work highlights how playful engagement fosters resilience, attention, and connection, offering educators, clinicians, and families new ways to understand and support all children, including those who are neurodivergent.

About the Event

Registration from 8.30am

Morning tea, Lunch and Afternoon tea provided

About the Host:

This workshop is a collaboration between Prosper Health Collective and its training arm, Prosper Health Academy. Prosper Health Collective is a health practice founded by Dr Kellie Cassidy (Clincial Psychologist) in 2014. Prosper Health provide psychology, occupational therapy, speech pathology and psychiatry services to people across the lifespan. We have practices in Boorgaoon, Stirling and Canning Vale. Our core mission is to help people flourish and thrive in their lives. Prosper is dedicated to providing clients with quality, evidence-based interventions and invests heavily in ensuring that team members are trained in interventions such as this event.