Early Years Alberta report - 2011 The evidence is clear. Play nourishes every aspect of children’s development – it feeds growing brains as well as growing bodies; it nurtures the spirit.
What can parents, teachers and other adult caregivers do? Take time to play with children. Return to the simple pleasures of being outdoors in all seasons. Look for opportunities that free the spirit – fly a kite, go on a picnic, take a walk and collect rocks. Play is spontaneous. Remember to let the child lead. In order for play to be play, the player – the child – must be in control.
Make time for children to play with their friends. Remember that the benefits come from unstructured, spontaneous free play – the kind that children control, rather than the kind that is organized by adults. This kind of play is messy, noisy and silly. Its benefits may seem contradictory. For example, the experience of vertigo, which children desire so much in childhood – dizzying, spinning, chaotic motion – actually exercises the inner ear and builds a sense of balance. Quite the opposite of what one might think.
Remind yourself that play has no goal. This is challenging for a society so fixated on achievement and a work ethic. Children play for the pleasure of playing, their only purpose to keep the play going.
Play is a bit like a weed in a cement sidewalk – it actually thrives in the cracks in adult organized time and activities. Children have a strong and instinctive desire to play. They know it’s good for them. Jane Hewes, PhD, Chair, Early Learning and Child Care, Grant MacEwan University