Why Play Matters More than Ever for Today’s Kids

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Good news for parents!

•Play makes a significant contribution to a child’s healthy development.

•This connection between play and healthy development has been confirmed many times by many researchers over many years.

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What kind of person do you hope your child will be?

Survey of 2300 parents in California said:

1. Self confident2. Responsible, dependable3. Curious, eager to learn4. Independent, self-

directing5. Able to work well with other

children6. Sensitive to others7. Kind and considerate8. Hard worker9. Good grades10. Amiable, good tempered

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What kind of person do you hope your child will be?

Survey of 4700 parents in Japan said:

1. Kind and considerate2. Physically and mentally fit3. Self-reliant4. Focused and assertive5. Pursues his/her own dream6. Sincere and responsible7. Happy

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What’s happening to children’s play?

Unstructured outdoor activities have declined by 50% over the past generation.

Outdoor free time is disappearing for a variety of reasons:

• Perception of unpredictable, dangerous society

• Parents not available to supervise• Asthma• Bugs• Sun• Safety concerns

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Remember recess? (Your kids may not.)

Today, 40% of our 16,000 elementary schools have eliminated, reduced, or are considering the demise of recess.

Some of the reasons:

• Perceived as waste of precious instruction time• Parents nervous about kids being outdoors• Injuries promote lawsuits• Increased risk of contact with strangers• Hard to supervise, in part because kids are

not familiar with free play• Conflicts

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How are kids spending their time today?

• Average child’s free time has been reduced by 15% to 25% in the past generation.

• Average two-year-old spends more than four hours a day in front of a screen.

• One in six two-year-olds have a television set in the bedroom.

• Average American home with a toddler has television on for six hours a day.

• 25% of the average child’s free time is spent in front of the television.

• Children aged 3 to 12 spent 29 hours a week in school, eight more than in 1981.

• The average amount of homework for America's youngest children has tripled since 1981.

• Family dinners have decreased by 33% over the past 20 years, and family vacations have decreased by 28%.

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So kids are playing less. So what?

•Health problems are increasing.

•Creativity and problem solving are affected.

•School readiness is affected.

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Health problems are increasing.

•40% of young children have significant cardiac risk factors

•One in five American children is overweight. (That’s 10 million kids!)

•A record 8% of preschoolers are overweight.

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Creativity and problem solving are affected.

•Children who exhibit more emotion and fantasy in their early play have more emotions in their play stories in later years, are more creative, and are better at coping.

•Good early play skills predict the ability to be creative and generate alternative solutions to everyday problems and a higher quality of solutions.

Professor Sandra RussChair, Department of PsychologyCase Western Reserve University

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Lack of play impacts school readiness.

• Nearly a third of U.S. children, especially children from poor families, start kindergarten lacking basic skills for learning--including these skills that are learned through play:

o Regulating emotionso Communicating effectivelyo Taking the perspective of otherso Problem solvingo Resolving conflict

• Numerous studies link social competence and poor peer relationships as preschoolers to greater risk for poor academic achievement, retention, truancy, and emotional maladjustment.

• Studies have shown that training low-income parents and inner city daycare teachers to engage three-to five-year-olds in make believe play can significantly strengthen children's skills for succeeding in school.

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There are 4 ways kids learn. (Adults too.)

• Instruction

• Modeling

• Mentoring

• Self-directed experimentation

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Babies learn through play, right from the start.

• Following mother’s or father’s face• Eye tracking • Putting things in, taking things out• Measuring and fitting• Cause and effect• Object permanence• Eye/hand coordination• Pretending• Establishing and negotiating rules

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Play impacts all developmental domains.

•Gross motor

•Fine motor

•Sensory

•Cognitive

•Speech and language

•Social/emotional/behavioral

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Why is play such an effective way to learn?

1. Play is deeply emotionally satisfying. It is child-directed and free from the possibility of failure.

2. Play reduces the tension that often comes when kids are expected to achieve. Adults do not interfere. Children relax.

3. Through play, kids can express and work out emotional aspects of everyday experiences.

4. Kids develop skills for seeing things through another person’s point of view when they play with peers.

5. Play is flexible and active. It increases the possibility of sustaining a child’s engagement and natural love of learning.

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Why is play such an effective way to learn?

“Play can miniaturize a part of the complex world children experience, reduce it to understandable dimensions, manipulate it, and help them understand how it works.”

•Professor Jerome Singer Yale University

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Life skills we want our kids to have

• Self-confidence

• Resilience

• Sense of ethics

• Compassion

• Habit of active engagement

• Self-regulation

• Ability to concentrate

• Managing self-satisfaction and self-contentment

• Motivation to be literate and to learn

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Risks we take if kids don’t play

• Not ready for school

• Lack of context for other experiences

• No imagination

• No opportunity to problem solve

• Inability to self-regulate

• Lack of compassion

• Compromised self-confidence and resilience

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Play as the great equalizer

• Anyone can do it.

• Play does not require a checkbook, literacy, arithmetic skills, an education, or other special skills.

• It’s not another thing to add to parents “To Do” lists—rather, it’s a message of hope that will make life easier and more fun.

• Play is as natural as eating and breathing.

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The magic of play…

“When kids play, they remember. They may not be aware that they are learning, but they sure are aware that they are having fun.

When you have a good belly laugh with your siblings or parents or your friends, that stays with you.

Play is life affirming. And the great thing is that it comes so naturally…if we just let it.”

Rebecca KrookLekotek Play Leader

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Want more on play? Contact Playing for Keeps.

Playing for Keeps116 West Illinois Street, Suite 5E

Chicago, IL 60610

877-755-5347 (toll-free; msgs only)312-222-0982 (direct line: Executive Director)

www.playingforkeeps.orgplayingforkeeps@playingforkeeps.org

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“Play gives children a chance to practice what they are learning....They have to play with what they know to be

true in order to find out more, and then they can use what they learn in new forms of play.”

Fred Rogers Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood

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