With the beginning of the new school year, children’s
opportunities to play are not as plentiful as in the summer months. In the fall, the focus turns to academic
learning: reading, writing, arithmetic, science… all of which are important
skills.
Equally important is recess time, where children can go
outside and play. This time is often seen
as being less important and many schools are cutting back on recess. When children get home they have homework to
do, which further cuts into play time.
Not
only is play important for children’s learning and development, it improves
their physical and mental health. Fully
one-third of children in California were considered overweight or obese in
2010, an alarming statistic. Equally
alarming is the finding that only 18% of adolescents get the recommended one
hour of physical activity per day (www.childstats.gov). Since patterns of activity are set at a young
age, providing time for active play at recess will help ensure that children
stay more active and fit throughout their lives.
Recent conversations I had with several friends revealed
that the schools know this as well. When
my friends’ children were doing STAR testing and they needed to be more alert
and focused, many of their schools given the children extra recess time. Some even let the children chew gum in class,
another method of increasing focus.
Play
at recess allows the brain to have the time it needs to sort and make sense of
the academic learning children are absorbing.
In addition, recess builds these skills:
· Social problem solving. Children make up games, make up rules, abide
by those rules or deal with the consequences of not abiding by them.
·
Imagination and creativity. Not only by making up the games and rules,
but by using items found in the environment in novel ways. A stick becomes a baseball bat, a vine
becomes a jump rope, grass gets woven into chains, etc.
·
Movement helps to calm and organize the body and
mind for improved attention and focus.
This helps in all social and academic areas.
·
Movement activities build strength and endurance.
·
Movement activities build balance and coordination.
·
Being outdoors helps children develop
appreciation for nature.
Lately schools have been under increasing financial pressure. Administrators may feel that recess is less
important than more traditional classes, or they may be forced by budget
constraints to cut back in some way, and recess is often on the chopping block.
As parents, we can
help our children by giving them free play time after school and on
weekends. Although I’m sure many
children will disagree with me, this does not include video game time, unless
it’s something that gets them up and moving, as well as interacting socially,
such as Wii Fit. Active movement is the key. And we can support our school staff by
letting them know we appreciate the importance of recess, and their efforts to
preserve this important time.
