Why the Future Depends on How Kids Play

Event ID: PP1150509

Thu, Mar 12, 2026 | 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM

Venue: Salon B (Hilton Austin Downtown)

View on Official SXSW

Summary

Using kids’ play and games as a lens, this session reframes imagination as one of the most critical future skills, challenging creators, designers, educators and technologists to consider how the experiences they make today shape how the next generation thinks tomorrow. Drawing from early childhood development and game design, this talk explores why creative thinking isn’t innate but shaped early, how children develop imagination through open-ended play, and why games—often dismissed as passive entertainment—can be powerful environments for learning how to think. In a world where AI generates endless content and instant answers, the ability to ask better questions, see possibilities and imagine new paths forward will matter more than ever—making how kids play one of the most important design challenges of our time.

Contributors

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