Are Your Kids Getting Enough Unstructured Play

If you want your children to be more successful, give them more time for unstructured play. That’s the conclusion reached by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and many other experts.
AAP recommends that kids get at least an hour a day to play outside, along with regular breaks throughout the day.
Team sports and piano lessons have their place, but the activities that your children invent for themselves have a dramatic and unique impact on their social, emotional, and cognitive development.
Take a look at the benefits of free time and strategies any parent can use to encourage their kids to play more.
Benefits of Unstructured Play
1. Stimulate creativity. Put your child’s imagination to work. Innovative thinking will help your kids excel in their future careers and develop enriching hobbies. Creating story lines for tea parties could help them break into advertising.
2. Teach conflict resolution. A game of cops and robbers can show kids how to take turns and negotiate. They ponder ethical decisions and explore how to treat people fairly.
3. Play by the rules. Games also demonstrate the way rules and guidelines create order. Children will be better prepared for school and the workplace as they come to understand the consequences of their actions and rewards for good behavior.
4. Manage stress. Intensive study camps and nonstop playdates can be too much of a good thing. Kids need a break from external pressures, just like adult do.
5. Strengthen motor skills. It may be difficult to explain fine motor skills to a toddler. On the other hand, they’ll love sorting pebbles and shaping cookie dough.
6. Fight obesity. Sedentary lifestyles can start young. Shooting hoops or roller skating after school burns calories. Best of all, those healthy exercise habits will stick with your children as they get older.
7. Develop self-awareness. Childhood is a time to create a sense of identity and figure out what we like and dislike. Taking charge of their free time helps kids to appreciate themselves and become more resilient.
8. Enhance problem solving. Building a fort from scratch can bring out the engineer in your child.
Strategies to Provide Your Kids with More Unstructured Playtime
1. Head outdoors. Spending time outside creates more opportunities to move. Visit your local park. Hang a tire swing in your backyard. Keep a trunk full of Frisbees, jump ropes, and hula hoops on your porch.
2. Redecorate your child’s room. Design your child’s bedroom to incorporate multiple play areas. You might want to arrange a table and chairs for crafts and reading. Set up an easel for sketching. Paint a hopscotch diagram on the floor.
3. Choose simple toys. Cardboard boxes and wooden blocks require your children to rely on their own resources rather than following the directions that come with a kit. Put the money you save into their college account.
4. Check school programs. Many schools have cut back on recess. Talk with your child’s teacher about policies at your school.
5. Encourage experimentation. Expose your children to a wide variety of activities. They’ll be in a better position to discover their true passions if they try out ice skating, dancing, and art rather than specializing too soon.
6. Set limits on screen time. Pediatricians recommend two hours or less a day of TV and computer time. Set a curfew on electronics and monitor your child’s activities online.
7. Seek balance. Academics, youth clubs, and free play are all valuable. Consider your child’s unique needs and comfort level.
Help your kids to reach their full potential and enjoy life more. Carve out plenty of time for free play.