Education Law

Time to play

In some New York classrooms, teachers are taking on new roles as they become cave-dwelling hunters or silly musicians with tambourines or drums on their heads. BoardBuzz learned of these actions from a USA Today article which reports on the critical need for children to have more time for free and creative playing.

Two years ago, the American Academy of Pediatrics, endorsed creative and spontaneous play as a vital, but endangered cause, and recently free-play advocates are stressing the seriousness of the issue, as the article mentions.

Among the speakers at last week's Wonderplay conference was Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, a Temple University psychologist who contends that lack of play in early childhood education "could be the next global warming."

Without ample opportunity for forms of play that foster innovation and creative thinking, she argues, America's children will be at a disadvantage in the global economy.

"Play equals learning," she said. "For too long we have divorced the two."

Compared to the 1980s, the average American child is receiving eight to 12 fewer hours of free play time a week because of factors including parents' reluctance for their child to play outside alone, the shortening of recess at school, and a stronger emphasis on formal lessons and learning in pre- school.

The demand for play time is not just for added fun. As psychologist Michael Thompson mentions in the article, "Diminished time to play freely with other children is producing a generation of socially inept young people and is a factor behind high rates of youth obesity, anxiety, attention-deficit disorder and depression."

So why, are pre- K teachers acting like a cavemen or playing around in music class? To lead by example, of course, so children will follow suit and learn the important lessons of fairness and kindness through social interaction.

BoardBuzz thinks free play time is great for developing pre- K students and wants to remind you to check out the article and the Center for Public Education's Web site for more information on the importance of pre-K learning. You should also check out the Center's report on recess. So, who wants to play? We know we do!

Full post as published by BoardBuzz: NSBA's Daily Weblog on November 20, 2008 (boomark / email).