CreativePlay Plus: Ideas in Play and Child Development

Undoubtedly an important aspect of child development is a child’s ability to be playful. No one knew this better than Dr. Seuss who said:

“I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it’s a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope, which is what I do. And that enables you to laugh at life’s realities.”

To be playful means to have a flexible understanding and approach to life. It also means having the ability to make an experience more joyful and entertaining. If you have a child, you understand that most children inherently have this gift to make a lot of situations fun when given the opportunity. Even something as simple as walking from the car to the front door could mean a chance to skip, twirl, fly, and buzz all the way home.  We write a lot about the importance of giving children time to play, but having a playful disposition may be just as important as the act of playing itself. One way to help your child be playful: reading books by creative writers like Dr. Seuss. Another way, be a playful parent! That way, when they come up against a boring or scary situation they have the freedom to escape into their imagination and make light of some of life’s tedious tasks.

The social and cognitive benefits of recess and free play are too important to be ignored. During recess children learn valuable social skills like learning to negotiate with peers in order to keep playing with them.

“I want to play on the monkey bars too.  How about we take turns?”

“You got to choose 4-square yesterday, today let’s play tag, okay?”

“Come play with us! We need more people to play kickball! It will be fun!”

Recess also gives children opportunities to become comfortable with deciding how they want to spend their free time and who they want to spend their time with.

The argument that physical education is a good substitute for recess is not adequately supported. The instructional nature and highly structured time found in physical education classes does not allow children the same sort of free time to explore, be creative, or control how they spend their time with peers, on their terms. Physical education also does not give them the time to practice sophisticated ways to compromise and resolve conflicts.

Dr. Anthony Pelligrini has studied important questions like, does what children do on the playground predict school achievement? In fact, Dr. Pelligrini found that the behavioral measures he developed to observe children at recess actually predicted first grade achievement better than kindergarten test scores.  Meaning, playground behaviors should be considered an important part of child development that could determine academic success of children early on in child education.

How do you feel about the amount of free-play time your children gets at school? Do you agree that play could potentially promote academic success?

Dr. Anthony Pelligrini is a notable scholar of recess and the education system. According to him, recess is disappearing because school administrators are more concerned with increasing instructional time and claim that recess promotes bullying and aggressive behaviors.

The argument that recess is not as developmentally important as instructional time is not well founded. We know from extensive research, that children who are asked to perform a school task are significantly more attentive after recess than when they are deprived of a break. (See our previous posts, A breath of fresh air and More than just a walk in the park)

Moreover, the argument that recess promotes negative interactions between children is also not supported. In a cross-cultural study, conducted by Pelligrini, they found that less than 2% of behaviors observed on playgrounds are physically or verbally aggressive. Additionally, with adequate adult supervision, this rate becomes even lower. We also know that children who are bullied are also bullied at lunch, on buses, in bathrooms, just about anywhere where children are not well monitored by adults. In actuality, lack of adult supervision may more likely be the culprit in creating opportunities for children to be aggressive.

How much time does your school district allot for recess or free play periods? Are your children monitored well during recess? What do you think of this argument? Do you think children are bullied more on the playground than any other setting at school?

The holidays are here, and if you’re a parent or caregiver to children, it’s a great time to start thinking about winter break activities that will keep kids busy and having fun.  As an added bonus, if the activities result in a little learning, well then, all the better!

Some of the best winter break activities are fairly traditional, like making snowmen in colder climates when weather permits.  But how about taking that outdoor fun to a new level by creating different kinds of snow creatures, from snowdogs to snowmonsters?  Don’t forget to utilize your creative play prop box during this activity – you’ll be amazed at what kids will find to “dress up” their creations!

Another great winter break activity for a frosty day is baking or cooking (with an adult’s supervision, of course!).  Have a book of child-friendly recipes on hand and let them choose what they want to make (make sure it’s age-appropriate – even kids’ cookbooks generally span a range of ages).  Then take them to the grocery store with a list of needed ingredients.  For older children, this is a great time to start shaping skills such as selecting produce or even budgeting.  Let them pick out what’s on the list, and only guide them when they get off track.  Once you get everything home, make a production out of it!  Tie on aprons, make chefs hats out of napkins, and get cooking!

For a simpler take on baking, buy refrigerated sugar cookie dough, and let kids of all ages have a chance to shape, bake, and decorate the final product.  Don’t feel limited to traditional holiday themes –a little cookie dough and a lot of creative energy will produce hours of incredible, edible art in all shapes and sizes.

Finally, the holidays are a time when many children receive gifts from various friends and relatives, and the perfect winter break activity to thank others for their generosity is making homemade thank you cards.  This is an excellent way to let kids get creative, while making a lasting and much-appreciated memento for the gift giver.  Gather up whatever art supplies you have on hand, a list of recipients and you’re ready to go!  This is the ideal opportunity to have a little messy, crafty fun, while learning the art of expressing gratitude to those around us at a very special time of year.

We recently wrote about Stephen Kaplan’s Attention Restoration Theory and the cognitive benefits of spending time outside for both children and adults. Drs. Andrea Faber-Taylor and Frances Kuo from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, have applied this theory to children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and have published compelling results.

Drs. Faber-Taylor and Kuo investigated the impact of different environments on attention abilities in children with ADHD. The results of their study revealed that children with ADHD were able to concentrate better following time outside. Furthermore, “greener” environments yielded stronger results.

They found that a 20-minute walk in a park was more beneficial than a 20-minute walk downtown or in a neighborhood setting. They conclude that “doses of nature might serve as a safe, inexpensive, widely accessible new tool in the tool kit for managing ADHD symptoms.”

The findings presented by Drs. Faber-Taylor and Kuo are a novel extension of previous research with adults and children in the general population who were found to have some cognitive benefits after spending time outdoors in natural and “green” environments.

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See our post “A Breath of Fresh Air” for more info!

What does it mean for you?

This research suggests that both adults and children with and without attention deficits can benefit from taking a little time to play outside and take advantage of natural settings!

Follow the link to read an in depth interview with Drs. Faber-Taylor and Kuo about this work.

You can also request from your local research library the complete article or purchase a copy online: Faber-Taylor, AF & Kuo, FE. (March 2009). Children with Attention Deficits Concentrate Better After a Walk in the Park. Dirty Dancing trailer

Journal of Attention Disorders, 12, 402-409.

***It is important to note that children who are suspected of having attention problems should be evaluated by a proper professional, like a psychiatrist or licensed psychologist who can make an appropriate diagnosis and recommendations for treatment.

Over on the MomAdvice.com Blog Walk the Talk dvdrip Bad News Bears movie full

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Amy posts tips on making fun outdoor living a priority. In summary she says:

Remember they are only young once. Each summer, I marvel at how much my children have grown and how quickly our time together seems to be passing. I am trying to savor these moments and for me, that means slowing down our summers. While we make big plans for summer activities, I can admit that I become selfish with my time with them in the summer. The school year will begin again and we will be back to the crazy grind of school days.

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Savor these moments and revise your schedule so you can enjoy each moment of them. Seek a little shade with them. Create with them. Hop in the kiddie pool with them. Indulge in homemade slushies and popcorn every single day and blame it on “the kids” and “hydration.” Be selfish with them and their time. Treasure them.

As my husband and I say after it takes two hours to put away all the outdoor toys and clean up after the dinner, “We are making memories.”

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Going outside and playing maybe more than just a time to run around in the sun and take in the fresh air. Dr. Stephen Kaplan, a professor of Psychology at the University of Michigan, was intrigued by the refreshing effects of spending time outside and for much of his career he has studied the cognitive benefits of being outdoors.

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Creepshow movie What's the Worst That Could Happen? The Hand movie download From his research, Dr. Kaplan proposed the Attention Restoration Theory (ART) to better understand why many individuals report having their senses awakened after being in natural environments.
ART specifies…

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My Cousin Vinny hd For example, while both are beneficial, walking in a natural park appears to improve attention more than spending time outside in urban or suburban areas
Kaplan’s work in this area supports the necessity to provide opportunities every day for children to spend time outside as they develop! It may be that children who are given time throughout the day to take in the fresh air and natural scenes could improve their thinking abilities!

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Here’s a great post on playing outside by planning a scavenger hunt

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Depending on the age of the children, how long you would like to spend outside, and how long you have to prepare is what should determine how you should plan out the hunt.Think of things you would like them to see…

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Playing outside reminds us of an older post here on CreativePlayPlus.com from Kelly Christian on Look, Listen, Feel Nature which describes two other games you can play outside: Tree Sense and Match Game. Please click through for the detailed explanation.