Play Today

Kids don't have to think very hard about why they need to play. They just need the time and space to do it.

Even so, kids seem to intuitively understand that while play is first and foremost about having fun, it's also about challenging oneself and learning from failure. As we continue to be baffled by school policy makers and administrators who are slashing recess and other play opportunities, fourth graders like Diego remind us of the important life lessons that our playgrounds have to offer.

Here is his eloquent ode to monkey bars:

Monkey Bars

You’ve taught me a lot of good lessons

You’ve taught me to be braver than I am

To swing out as far as I can

To keep pushing forward

To move one step at a time

To fall into a heap in the dirt

And then get up and try again

Monkey Bars, you’ve shown me the stars

- By Diego, 4th grade
 

Diego is a student in the Writers in the Schools (WITS) program, where this poem was originally featured.

Photo by Andy Schultz (cc).

We are staunch advocates of recess, but how many adults truly remember what recess is all about? It isn't just 20 minutes of mindless running and screaming. It's a time to create imaginary worlds, take on new personas, make friendships, break friendships, learn new skills, scrape a knee, engage in mischief, and much more.

"Recess Stories," a web series that bases its episodes on true stories, captures the delightful complexity of life on the playground. Take a look:

Please, remind us: Why are we taking this away from our kids?

See more episodes at recessstories.com.

Mom says, "Go outside and play." Kids go outside and play. It used to be that simple. But for a number of reasons, few parents these days feel comfortable letting their children roam the neighborhood without keeping a watchful eye. 

Danielle Smith, a blogger on strollerderby, asks in the video at right, "Do you let your kids play outside alone?" Though she admits it's unlikely, she worries about her kids getting abducted by a stranger and simply can't bear the thought of anything happening to them on her watch.

Many parents are equally reluctuctant to send their kids outside unsupervised -- so many, in fact, that our neighborhood streets are now eerily quiet, void of the shouts and screams of playing children. And that's precisely the problem. In the "good old days," kids weren't playing "alone." They were playing with all the other neighborhood kids. 

After all, playing alone is boring. And more dangerous. In the extremeley unlikely event that a child abductor were to be perusing your neighborhood, he or she would be far more likely to prey on your children if they were alone.

We strongly believe that children need time for free, unstructured, unsupervised play -- but they also need other children to play with. So the question of letting kids play unsupervised is one we need to pose not only to individual parents, but also at the neighborhood level.

Of course, getting a whole neighborhood on board with unsupervised outdoor play is no easy task. (You can read about one father's worthy efforts here.) But since April is officially "Get Outside Month," there's no better time to start.

>> See our "Get Outside" board on Pinterest for ideas and inspiration.

Does your neighborhood look like this?

Photo from PlayingOut.net, an organization dedicated to activating street play in your neighborhood.