Cas Holman
Cas Holman is a toy inventor, designer, educator, and founder of Heroes Will Rise, best known for creating Rigamajig and for advocating open-ended, collaborative free play in schools, museums, playgrounds, and workplaces.
Open-Ended Play Helps Adults Learn Without Fixed Hierarchies
In an Aspen Ideas: Health workshop built around Rigamajig, toy inventor and playground designer Cas Holman argues that play is not a break from serious learning but a way to practice uncertainty, collaboration, and problem-solving without fear of failure. Her case is aimed as much at adults as children: open-ended materials and constraints, she says, can loosen hierarchy, invite different forms of intelligence, and help people act before they overplan.
Open-Ended Play Depends on Constraints, Not Unlimited Freedom
Toy designer Cas Holman argues that play is not a break from serious work but a designed condition for learning, collaboration, and problem-solving. In an Aspen Ideas: Health workshop built around her Rigamajig construction system, Holman makes the case for open-ended play: environments with enough constraint to prompt action and enough ambiguity to let children and adults discover what they are making, rather than execute a prescribed outcome.