“Play is the ultimate personalized educational curriculum, with each child creating their own challenges and solutions at little or no cost. Play teaches children to think abstractly about different situations and learn from other people’s perspectives, and it taps into their curiosity, motivating them to learn” (National Center for Health Research, 2009).  

“Play is fundamentally important for learning twenty-first century skills, such as problem solving, collaboration, and creativity, which require the executive functioning skills that are critical for adult success” (Yogman, 2017). Despite ongoing agreement amongst child development experts and researchers, education policy makers continue to deprioritize play in early childhood settings in favor of academic work.

With increasing pressure on teachers to bring academics to their students at younger and younger ages, here are ten reasons kindergarten students should have their right to play protected:

1.  Free play supports healthy cognative development (Gray, 2015). When children are encouraged to use their imaginations in the context of free play, they are also developing skills critical to academic success such as problem-solving, critical thinking, language development, memory, and attention (Hirsh-Pasek & Whitebread, 2016).

2.  Play helps with problem solving skills. When allowed to direct their own play without interference from adults, even very young children will figure out how to overcome roadblocks, challenges, and disagreements, giving them the tools they need for collaborative work in school and beyond (Haidt, 2024).

3.  Playing in nature provides opportunities for risky play which scientists now see as crucial to healthy cognitive development (Haidt, 2024). Risky play allows children to assess risks, test their limits, and build confidence in their abilities. By facing calculated challenges in a safe environment, children learn valuable coping mechanisms and resilience.

4.  Children experience physics concepts in unstructured play. When children are free to test their limits by climbing, lifting, pushing, balancing, and building, they come to understand the concepts of physics in an authentic way, making it easier to master as an academic subject when it is introduced later in their academic journey (Pellegrini & Bjorklund, 2017).

5.  Children become empowered through play. Through unstructured free-play, children become self-directed learners (Edmentum, 2024), fostering a sense of agency that will translate into future academic success and leadership in future careers. When teachers avoid interfering in free play, except to keep children safe, children learn that they must come up with their own solutions to the challenges that arise in play. Children are empowered to negotiate and collaborate to keep games balanced, fair, and fun.

6. Play fosters a strong foundation for emotional development. As children navigate social interactions, express themselves, and listen to their peers, they build resilience, self-confidence, and compassion for others (Barnett et al., 2016; Pellegrini & Smith, 2010). Through the challenges and triumphs inherent in play, children become better able to express their emotions appropriately and observe and navigate the emotions of others.

7. Unstructured outdoor play supports social, emotional, and physical development (Fjortoft, 2017). In the genius of nature, students find everything they need to grow into healthy, balanced human beings. There are trees to climb if children can work together to reach the lowest branch. There are branches and stumps for building shelters and forts if they can be shared or divided. At every challenge faced, there is an opportunity for students to negotiate, collaborate, and cooperate.  

8. Playing outside in natural spaces cultivates a love for and connection with nature (Engemann, 2020). Each day playing outside is different. As the seasons turn, the flowers bloom, the butterflies hatch and migrate, the trees drop their leaves, and the temperature of the air and sunlight changes. With the passing of the seasons, children become attuned to the ebbs and flows of nature, developing a life-long connection to and appreciation for the beauty of the natural world

9.  Play supports healthy, happy, focused learners. Children who play have fewer social, emotional and learning challenges, because play gives kids needed exercise and movement for healthy physical development and readies their brains and bodies to focus on non-play related tasks in the classroom (Lopes et al. 2015; Pellegrini & Smith, 2010).

10.  Unlike the experience of organized sports in which children are given specific rules to follow and strategies to achieve the team’s singular goal of winning, in unstructured play, children collaborate to find ways to work through difficulties and keep the game fun and fair for everyone. In competitive sports, children learn to collaborate with only their own teammates. While this skill has some application in later life, learning to collaborate with one’s opponents, and work out differences in the context of a game is even more important to preparing children to successfully navigate the nuances of career and relationship success later in life (Pellegrini & Bjorklund, 2017).

The children of today are the adults of tomorrow and future leaders of our hospitals, schools, government, and judicial system. Unstructured, outdoor play supports the development of creative, compassionate, and collaborative adults who know how to overcome adversity gracefully and with fresh ideas for tomorrow.

In a world lacking in kindness, grace, and patience, educators have an opportunity to cultivate these characteristics in their young students by allowing them to hone their humanity through unencumbered play.

Waldorf schools continue to protect the young child’s right to play as they have since the pedagogy’s inception in 1919. In Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Japan, many schools are following this model and finding great success for their students’ academic, social, and emotional development (Haidt, 2024).

To find out more about how Waldorf Schools protect play and support healthy growth and development in children of all ages, visit the Waldorf Education page: www.compassionineducation.com

References

Barnett, L. A., Jones, S., Wightman, D. B., & Jung, Y. (2016). The role of play in promoting children's emotional competence and resilience. Children and Youth Services Review, 68, 222-230. doi: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2016.07.004

Edmentum. (2024, July). How Self-Directed Play Helps Your Child Learn. https://f1.app.edmentum.com/learner/secondary/selfenrollmentregistration.

Engemann, K., Pedersen, T. R., Richardson, M., Reinehr, R., & Garnæs, G. F. (2020). Residential green space in childhood is associated with lower risk of psychiatric disorders from adolescence into adulthood. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(14), 8295-8302. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1917089117

Fjortoft, I. (2017). The influence of outdoor play on social and cognitive development. In J. P. Wright (Series Ed.) & D. T.Playful (Ed.), International Encyclopedia of the Early Childhood (2nd ed., Vol. 3, pp. 217-223).http://www.kislexikon.hu/gyermek.html.

Gray, P. (2015). Early academic training produces long-term harm. Psychology Today.

Haidt, J. (2024). The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness. Penguin Press.

Hirsh-Pasek, K., & Whitebread, D. (2016). The power of play: How playful learning sparks imagination, creativity, and innovation. Oxford University Press.

Lopes, V. C., Azevedo, R. G., Conde, R., Silva, A. M., Minderico, C., Sardinha, L. B., ... & Hallal, P. C. (2017). Effect of classroom-based physical activity interventions on academic and physical activity outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 14(1), 1-13. doi: 10.1186/s12966-017-0500-7

Pellegrini, A. D., & Bjorklund, D. F. (2017). Playful learning: How play promotes cognitive functioning. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 18(1), 55-98. doi: 10.1177/1529100616676114.

Pellegrini, A. D., & Smith, P. K. (2010). The importance of pretend play for social development. Early Childhood Development and Care, 180(3-4), 341-347. doi: 10.1080/03004430903483552

Yogman, M. et al. (2017). The power of play: A pediatric Role in Enhancing Development in Young Children. American Academy of Pediatrics (AAPP). https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/142/3/e20182058/38649/The-Power-of-Play-A-Pediatric-Role-in-Enhancing?autologincheck=redirected