August 2008 Newsletter

All Work and No Play at School:
What Parents Can Do When Recess Disappears

Today’s kids know the drill. When the lazy days of summer give way to the new school year, daily routines change. It’s wake up now, eat a good breakfast, and get to school on time. It’s buckle down and pay attention to the serious business of learning. And it’s good-bye to leisurely indoor or outdoor play time.

What happens to play time when kids head back to school? For one thing, more and more children cannot count on getting a play break—otherwise known as recess—at school. According to the American Association for the Child’s Right to Play, approximately 40% of elementary schools do not include recess in the school day. Many factors have contributed to the decline of recess, including the increased focus on academic outcomes as measured by standardized testing; parents’ and school administrators’ concerns about safety on the playground; and the difficulty of supervising children who are not experienced in working out play conflicts on their own.

“As we see play time at school decline, it’s more and more important for parents and caregivers to find ways to help kids get a healthy dose of regular play at home,” says Matthew Macdonald, owner of Wooden You Know, a toy store in Maplewood, NJ that specializes in personalized service and offers a staff highly knowledgeable about the developmental benefits of play.

Macdonald recommends that parents provide a “balanced diet” of play—much in the same way they offer a range of healthy food choices—and include all these types of play in the home routine:

• Physical play that uses the body’s large muscles. More than ever, kids need active indoor and outdoor play. Not only does it help build strong muscles and develop coordination, it is central to fighting childhood obesity.
  

• Play that uses the hands. The hands are central to many forms of creative and functional expression: art, music, writing, typing, and more. Macdonald recommends that parents make time and space for messy or loud play—using paints, crayons, clay, homemade musical instruments and any other safe “toys” that encourage use of the hands and creativity.
  

• Play that promotes thinking and problem solving. Cooking projects, art and music, family story telling, regular parent-child reading sessions—this type of play is fun and has direct connection to the academic skills we want our kids to master, says Matthew Macdonald, because it helps children master language and arithmetic concepts and encourages them to figure things out.
  

• Play that uses the senses. Tasting, smelling, touching, hearing, seeing—play that uses the senses overlaps with most other forms of play. Not only is sensory play loads of fun, suggests Macdonald, it also encourages kids to explore their world at the most basic level—with their eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and skin.
  

• Play that requires a healthy imagination. Who doesn’t have fond childhood memories of pretend play with friends or siblings, or even alone with imaginary pals? Making things up is a rich source of learning, creativity and problem solving, points out Macdonald. Imaginative play can be done anywhere, alone or with others, and doesn’t necessarily require toys or props.

• Play with friends. If a child doesn’t play, how can he learn the social skills he needs to be successful in school? How can she develop the skills she needs to take turns, work out problems, be patient, and share? This type of play is central to establishing the social and emotional capacity to navigate through a school day.

Parents can incorporate healthy play at home, but if it is so important for learning, why aren’t kids playing more at school? “Good question,” says Matthew Macdonald. “Certainly we’re sensitive to the challenges schools face as they struggle to meet all that is required from them. At the same time, we encourage anyone who cares about good outcomes for children to ask schools to commit to daily recess. It’s good for kids and it makes school more fun. Who wouldn’t want that?”