Play in school
When thinking about how I’d like to approach this week’s topic, play in school, I was stuck. What do you mean where does play fit into school? I work a job (yes, being a teacher is a job) where I get to decorate a room with posters and bulletin boards, I have a blow-up solar system in my classroom and a bunch of games, education and otherwise. I show up each day excited to work with CHILDREN. So, you’d like my stance on play in schools. Well here it is…
Ask any adult who’s gone through the educational system about their fondest memories of their school days. I’m willing to bet that not many of them talk about all of the amazing test preparation or those always riveting writing prompts. My guess is that many of them will say something to the degree of, “The time my friends and I…” Recess is a discussion for another day, I believe that recess should happen for all students, at least up until middle school. Period. But more than that, I think that during the day there should be opportunities for students to turn off their school brain, and be a kid. In the article, Schools must get children playing outdoors, a poll discovered that school aged children spend less non-school time outside than what is suggested for prison inmates! Children absolutely need time to be outside or unplugged to develop their creative and imaginative sides. Not to mention the socialization and peer interactions that can happen. Children need that time to learn how to just enjoy being a kid, without strings attached or talking points from an adult.
“It is recommended that children get at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity each day.” Dr. Darcia Narvaez with Psychology Today, wrote an article discussing the ever growing concerns of childhood obesity. In her post, she notes that students who receive less than 30 minutes of activity during school are less likely to try and make this time up outside of school. Poor habits being developed at a young age will make it even more difficult for them to develop healthy patters as adults. What about the social and emotional health? I’m no psychologist, but being asked to sit and listen, or move to a table and do more of the same, it’s got to be taxing on young brains. When I was in school, all the way up to 6th grade, we had 3 recesses a day. Two of those recesses were outside, and the other 15 minute “recess” was time inside that was unstructured. I don’t understand how we used to have time for those three breaks, plus P.E. and produce useful members of society, and yet now we “don’t have that time”.
“Kids are built to move, and having more time for unstructured, outdoor play is essentially like a reset button.”
In an article from the Washington Post, Debbie Rhea points out that in Finland, students are sent outside for 15 minutes for ever 45 minutes of class time. In some parts of Asia, students receive 10 minutes of unstructured play time for every 40 minutes of class time, yet in the U.S. we’re having debates about not having recess or play time at all in schools? Something doesn’t add up. Ms. Rhea’s article goes on to discuss how our brains can only sustain being at rest for so long before it basically starts to fall asleep because without movement, neurons are not firing. Are we causing burnout with students because of the duration we’re requiring they sit?
Children need that time to take a break from what they are working on. Is one or two 15 minute breaks a day enough for students? Adults like you and I can power through and find a way, maybe it’s caffeine, perhaps it’s a quick nap in the car during our lunch break. What relief do children have during school? I personally think that if we were to find ways to have more unstructured time in our schools, children would feel more at ease, less stressed, and focused for the next lesson. In my class, to try and combat the glazed over look we do brain breaks, where I might give them 5–10 minutes of time to do anything they want before we move onto a new topic. I’ve also included the occasional short Looney Tunes video, or an occasional dance party as a way to get their minds refreshed and ready to move on.
Can’t we be doing more for the children in our rooms to allow them time to just be a kid?
