CONSTRUCTIVE PLAY: Much More than A Break from Learning

w w w . k i d j u n c t i o n . c o m

INTRODUCTIONAll parents are probably aware of the fact that their children are born today into a world much more distracting than it was just a few short decades ago. In fact, most parents realize that there are far more distractions for children now than existed during their own childhoods, and that many of these act to isolate youngsters indoors rather than being outside enjoying unstructured playtime.

Older children especially are subject to the hypnotic allure of today’s electronic devices, and often spend endless hours gaming, texting, and watching videos. The distractions are not limited to older children though, and sometimes parents even

contribute to the forced pace of children’s daily lives by involving them in music lessons, sports programs, school clubs, and other activities that eat into free time.

The problem with all this is that it allows very little time for a child to have unstructured playtime with other kids, especially in an outdoor setting, where a great many subtle benefits can be appreciated by participants. While all the extra activities may be well-intentioned on the part of parents, and may indeed contribute somewhat to a child’s development, the child’s schedule can become so full as to exclude the really essential advantages of simple playtime.

LOSS OF UNSTRUCTURED PLAYTIMEWhat is lost in this hurried lifestyle is literally the time to be a kid - to be outdoors with other children, observing the wonder of a majestic tree in the back yard, the fascination of a ladybug on a blade of grass, and the dynamic interaction with other children as they unconsciously learn how to relate to each other.

While ‚time to be a kid’ may sound a bit vague, there are benefits to this unstructured playtime which can be much more quantifiable, and behavioral scientists have conducted numerous studies which have done just that - quantified playtime benefits for children. Those studies have also shown that over the 20 years from 1987 to 2007, children in all age groups have experienced a steady decline in the amount of unstructured playtime, with a corresponding increase in structured activities and devotion to electronic devices.

It is probably no coincidence that during the same study period, the number of overweight children in the United States increased dramatically, and this is in part due to the fact that children are simply less active nowadays. While there is probably a nutritional aspect to this unfortunate trend as well, the benefits of physical playtime through running around the yard and the neighborhood are missing to a greater and greater extent in the lives of young children.

BENEFITS OF UNSTRUCTURED PLAYTIME

The cognitive benefits a child would normally derive from unstructured playtime are many. In a play setting with other children, a child learns about creativity and imagination, and the ability to let the mind wander to explore possibilities in the surrounding world. If you have any doubt about this, put four young children together outdoors with a great big box, and observe the different ways they find to make use of it. Other cognitive benefits children realize from this setting are problem-solving, focus, and self-discipline, and the real beauty of this is that a child discovers all these unprompted and unguided.

The physical benefits have already been briefly mentioned, but the tremendous advantage of outdoor play hours over curling up on the couch with a video game are really incalculable. When young muscles are stimulated and the naturally high metabolic rate of youngsters is given a boost, it really doesn’t take much to retain the ideal physical profile for that age. Conversely, the absence of such physical free time can easily have the effect of lulling the body’s natural processes to sleep - with highly negative consequences.

Social benefits that accrue from collaborative playtime in a free-form setting include flexibility or adaptability to rapidly changing circumstances, cooperation between group members, and in somewhat older children, the beginnings of self-awareness. A child learns even without realizing it about his/her place in the group and apart from it, and about how goals can be achieved by working together. These are lessons crucial to later life, and they simply cannot be learned with earbuds implanted, alone in the bedroom.

Lastly, there are emotional benefits associated with unstructured playtime. The unbridled joy of dashing around the yard in the full bloom of youth is a natural stress-reduction session, and a great outlet for the reduction of any natural aggression that might otherwise built up. Best of all, playtime with other children provides the simplest way of experiencing the sheer joy of being a child - perhaps the one time in a person’s life that is relatively worry-free and to a great extent, filled with happiness.

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