The Adverse Effects of the Decline of Play in Early Childhood

Please consider these questions:

1. How much time each day does your child have to spend in meaningful unstructured play? How about each week?
2. Does your child play actively outdoors? How often do they spend exploring in nature? For how long?

Answering these questions can tell you if your child is getting the amount of sensory input and physical movement she or he needs in the early years for healthy physical and neurological development. Children have undeniable physical needs for sensory input, movement, creative play and exploration.  If these needs go unmet in the preschool years, typical development can be hindered. It's become a widespread issue in the USA in the past two decades.

Angela Hanscom is a pediatric occupational therapist. Her article in the Washington Post got me thinking. (Full article is here.) She says,

"Preschool years are not only optimal for children to learn through play, but also a critical developmental period. If children are not given enough natural movement and play experiences, they start their academic careers with a disadvantage. They are more likely to be clumsy, have difficulty paying attention, trouble controlling their emotions, utilize poor problem-solving methods, and demonstrate difficulties with social interactions. We are consistently seeing sensory, motor, and cognitive issues pop up more and more in later childhood, partly because of inadequate opportunities to move and play at an early age."

Since the 1990s urban and suburban American children's opportunities to engage in open-ended play and outdoor time has steadily decreased. This is in direct opposition to the conclusions drawn by brain research that also emerged during those same decades. Researchers have clearly documented children's universal need for an abundance of unstructured time for open-ended play as well as to experience plenty of outdoor time in nature. Our societal norms have moved in directions that limit most parents' ability to offer as much of these essentials at home as they would like. Meanwhile there has been continually mounting pressure upon early childhood educators to adopt non-play-based curriculua and methodologies to "insure school readiness and academic success." This is resulting in fewer play-based, developmental, child-centered programs that can give children the grounded start they really need during the preschool years.

Economics and fear for children's personal safety seem to have driven these changes that have led to the decreased time children have for active free play and their decreasing opportunities to experience the natural world. Most urban and suburban American families find they generally can't get along without two incomes, increasing the amount of time children are in daycare and structured programs such as organized sports and after school enrichment activities. National concern for grooming an emerging American workforce that can compete on an increasingly global scale led to federal adoption of  school achievement goals in the 90s that produced increasing curriculum and classroom regulations and adoption of high stakes assessments. This focus led state school districts to widespread and substantial decreases in recess time as well as cuts in funding and class time for physical education, art, music, and sports. During the same decades, the public was made increasingly aware of the threats of stranger abduction and child abuse. Before the 1990s children routinely walked to school or their bus stop and played outdoors with other children in their neighborhoods. Since that time it has become routine for urban and suburban parents to personally transport their children to childcare, school, and organized activities by car. It is is not common for neighborhood children to form their own associations and play freely together after school--few families arrive home much before dinner time.Outdoor play for many is restricted to enclosed backyards or a brief outing to a local park on weekends. Supervised home play dates arranged by parents have become the norm.

Finding ways to add some more unstructured free play time, outdoor time and physical movement into each day will pay big dividends in children's development. Can you think of ways your family might find to intentionally increase those opportunities? Do you have concerns about how to balance these needs?

Hanscome suggests,

"If children were given ample opportunities to play outdoors every day with peers, there would be no need for specialized exercises or meditation techniques [currently being incorporated in elementary school curricula to address sensory, social, and cognitive deficits] for the youngest of our society. They would simply develop these skills through play. That’s it. Something that doesn’t need to cost a lot of money or require much thought. Children just need the time, the space, and the permission to be kids.

Let the adult-directed learning experiences come later. Preschool children need to play!"

 After 30 years in early childhood development I find I support her conclusion. Kidspace was founded on and continues to advocate for children's need to play and move their bodies and explore their world. We join you in trying to provide the best opportunities we can for our wonderful children.