How Play is at Risk in the Twenty-first Century
For most of the twentieth century, children in the United States had frequent opportunities for unstructured or free play (Chudacoff, 2007). As the twentieth century came to a close, many of those opportunities for free, unstructured play had been replaced by formal play activities arranged by families, schools, and other organizations
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), children seem to have fewer and fewer opportunities to engage in free play in their neighborhoods and schools. For example, in fewer than 20 years (1981 to 1997), unstructured playtime for children decreased about 25 percent in the United States (Ginsberg, 2007). Experts attribute the reduction of playtime at home and school to a combination of societal factors including:
· hectic family schedules (Ginsberg, 2007),
· apprehension about children’s safety (Chudacoff, 2007),
· substitution of entertainment for play (Elkind, 1989),
· availability of passive pursuits (television, computer games, etc.) (Ginsberg, 2007), and
· increased emphasis on academics over play at younger ages (Bodrova & Leong, 2003).
As a result, scheduled, and often competitive, play events such as organized individual and team sports, specialized lessons in dance and music, and other adult-selected activities swallow up the time previously spent in carefree childhood pursuits from playing with dolls to chasing imaginary dragons through the nearby fields.
Serious concern over the loss of child-directed play and school recess time, and increased awareness of the potential for detrimental effects on children’s physical and psychological health, is evident in a clinical report released by the AAP (Ginsberg, 2007). The AAP report included the following advice to pediatricians, “. . . promote free play as a healthy, essential part of childhood [and] recommend that all children are afforded ample, unscheduled, independent, nonscreen time to be creative, to reflect and to decompress. . . . emphasize that although parents can certainly monitor play for safety, a large portion of play should be child driven rather than adult directed” (p. 187).
A major concern for the twentyfirst century has been, and will continue to be, the increasing time spent by children interacting with various screens rather than with each other, especially outdoors. Chapter 9 treats this topic in depth. Here, we con- Recess is often the only part of the school day when children are sider a second major twenty- allowed to play uninhibited and to socialize. All other activities, first century concern, the disap- no matter how fun, are typically teacher-directed. pearance of recess.
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Losing Recess: Why It Matters
Rae Pica, long-time physical activity specialist, suggests seven reasons why children need recess . . . even, she says, the ones who are kept inside for misbehavior (2012):
· Young children need frequent breaks from learning due to their immature nervous systems and lack of experience in concentrated learning.
· Children who don’t get recess are less on-task during learning, spending more time fidgeting. Those with attention deficit disorder are at special risk.
· Outside light triggers the synthesis of vitamin D, which increases academic learning.
· Unstructured physical play reduces stress.
· Recess provides opportunities for socialization and real communication often not available in the classroom or in the neighborhood after school.
· Recess is necessary to help children be healthy and avoid obesity.
· Physical activity feeds the brain by providing oxygen, water, and glucose to it.
Supporting Play in Early Learning Environments
Finding ways to support children’s play in early learning environments, both indoors and outdoors, is an important skill for early childhood educators (Community Playthings, 2009). What can teachers do to support children’s play? Is there a magic trick or special recipe for supporting play in the classroom?
Though the answer may not be magical, there is a recipe of sorts—or at least five basic ingredients to consider when making intentional efforts to support children’s play. The ingredients include p articipation, a ttitude, s pace, t ime, and a dvocacy. See Table 5.3 and the following explanations to learn more.