If you were in elementary school in the 80’s or earlier, you will remember recess.  I mean real recess.  You may even remember several recesses a day.  When I was in elementary school, we had two recesses every day, a short one in the morning and a long one in the afternoon.  In every case, I don’t remember a teacher being anywhere nearby.  We were free to do what we wanted (within reason,) explore challenges, and find solutions.

Two recesses!  We learned the art of Chinese jump rope, we made up elaborate relay games with children from grades above and below us.  We built forts and played pickup soccer games.

What happened when we did all that while the teachers were away?  We figured out the difference between being a leader and a follower.  We developed empathy by helping younger kids, and respect by looking to the older ones for direction.  We learned body language, goal setting, and how to win and lose.  We learned patience, creativity, kindness, resilience, and teamwork.  We learned how to problem solve as well as mental and emotional flexibility.  We excelled at unstructured play at school so we knew how to do it at home.  We were rarely bored, and when we were we learned how to entertain ourselves.

This trial and error of free play allowed us to hone skills we needed to perform appropriately in the grown-up world we were eventually going to land in.

For some reason, our education system has squeezed play right out of the school day.  Which makes zero sense.

I am fairly sure everyone agrees there are two kinds of play: structured and unstructured.  What we do at Pivot to Play® is structured and it is vital for building specific strengths and skills, practicing motor patterns, and learning to play by the rules.

Unstructured play is equally as important.  It helps children learn from each other and develop interpersonal skills.  Kids want to play, so when unstructured play evolves into conflict, whether it is someone who got their feelings hurt, got hit by a stick or the planned play does not have enough equipment to continue as planned, children have to figure it out for play to move forward.  This innate craving for play will push them to figure it out, as long as we grownups leave them alone to do so.

This unstructured play used to take place during the school day in what is usually referred to as recess.  But one has to wonder, from what little recess is available to children today, how much of it is actually unstructured?

I recently stumbled on research compiled in 2022 that outlines recess policies for each state.  Shockingly, less than 5 have recess codified as true unstructured free play.  To further dilute its importance, most states “recommend,” “suggest,” and “encourage” recess, they don’t require it.  And most lump recess minutes in with PE minutes.  This is confusing and demonstrates that policymakers do not understand the difference between PE/structured play and recess/unstructured play.

And here is the rub: we could reasonably argue we are asking children to do something we adults can’t do.

Consider this: Adults take self-imposed and random coffee breaks, walks to a nearby donut shop, the office kitchen or even the water cooler, whenever a “break” is needed.  Adults take long walks to the bathroom, scroll through social media accounts, or pop into a colleague’s office.  If we added up the time adults spent giving our grown-up brains a rest and reset, likely we would come up with more than 20 minutes each day.

This lack of understanding of the value of play should be shocking.  We should all be up in arms.  Why aren’t we?  Clearly, decision-makers do not take this seriously.  Clearly, it is acceptable for adults to take significant breaks during the day, but not children.  Where is the logic in that?

What happens when kids don’t have opportunities to play?

  • They wiggle, they move, they tattle, they slam into each other, they talk incessantly, and they hit their friends.
  • They have a harder time calming their bodies and their minds.
  • They have a harder time learning.

We expect children to sit for long periods of time, and assume that the longer they sit, the smarter they will get when the opposite has been proven over and over.

In Finland, kids get a 15-minute break of outside, unstructured play for every 45 minutes they work.  Oddly, Finland modeled their education system on our version of the 1970s.  And what are the results for Finland?  The government trusts the teachers to do their jobs as they see fit, so compulsory testing to measure where a student, class, or school lands does not exist.  The children typically do not have homework and spend only about 5 hours a day in the classroom.  So Finnish students consistently score far higher than the U.S. in international exams.  In other words, they are learning.  Really learning.

And what are we doing?  Our teachers are fighting overwhelming classroom behavior battles, expected to do more behind-the-scenes petty work that keeps them from focusing on their students’ individual needs and ultimately driving them into burnout.

In other words, what we are doing is not working.  One could say we are trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.

The bottom line, our education system doesn’t take advantage of a child’s developmental needs.  What is worse, we are making school no fun at a time when we should be developing a love of learning.

So what do kids need?  Whether they are in preschool or elementary school, they need the basics.  On this, they will be able to calm their bodies and minds, stoke their curiosity, learn interpersonal skills, and build strong bodies for learning.

For example:

  • They need structured play so they can build strengths, skills, and motor patterns that will help them understand space, timing, and direction for language and math
  • They need unstructured play to develop social skills, skills that cannot be learned from a book, worksheet, or computer
  • They need lots of opportunities for curiosity to develop and evolve
  • They need to hear books and stories read aloud do them
  • They need open-ended questions that allow them to noodle out problems
  • They do not need homework, instead as they master reading, they need to read more

What would you add to this list? Email us at preston@pivottoplay.com

Let’s get out of the way and let kids play.

What?  You haven’t had a chance to check out our hot-off-the-presses curriculum for 3-5-year-olds?

Our goal is to help you change the way our world sees a room full of fidgety, bouncy children.  So we’ll show you how to get all that amazing energy plugged into some pretty incredible power tools to help you do what you do best – grow minds and bodies.

Our curriculum is kid tested and approved while secretly delivering a purposeful, powerful strength-building and skill-development punch.  Since 2000, thousands of kids have played these games, and thousands of hours have been spent by our coaches honing and perfecting their delivery.

Learn more about what you get here.

Ready to get your team on the same page?

Our professional development is engaging, fun, and frankly, fascinating.

“Preston’s “standing-room-only” presentation was inspiring and heavily backed by current research. I don’t think anyone left the session with a doubt in their minds that kids must move in order to learn. Not only teachers, but administrators and policy makers need to hear and understand this message.” — Rhonda J, NAEYC Conference attendee and play equipment company executive

“I have never seen such an all encompassing presentation about the brain and body connection.  I immediately took notes as quickly as I could.  As the teacher of young students, I am eager to learn as much as I can about this topic.  We hope to have her back tour campus many more times.”  Athletic director, independent girls school

“Preston's passion and deep understanding make her a strong presenter who engages and impacts her audiences” - VA Head Start program

Jump on the schedule preston@pivottoplay.com