08/02/2020
We are big advocates for ‘let them play’. This brief read is a decent summation of why that’s our belief.
Ask anyone who works in a primary school or elementary , and you'll hear a similar refrain. dropping out of their chairs is the new normal. But why? What's going on that's making simply sitting in a chair a physical challenge for our youth?
A highly respected director of a progressive preschool who has been teaching preschoolers for about 40 years says she has seen major changes in the social and physical development of children in the past few generations. “Kids are just different,” she said. “They are more easily frustrated – often crying at the drop of a hat.” She has also observed that children were frequently falling out of their seats “at least three times a day,” less attentive, and running into each other and even the walls. “It is so strange. You never saw these issues in the past.”
She went on to complain that even though her school was considered highly progressive, they were still feeling the pressure to limit free more than she would like in order to meet the growing demands for academic readiness that was expected before children entered kindergarten.
It is through active free play outdoors where children start to build many of the foundational life skills they need in order to be successful for years to come. It is before the age of 7 years — ages traditionally known as “pre-academic” — when children desperately need to have a multitude of whole-body sensory experiences on a daily basis in order to develop strong bodies and minds. This is best done outside where the senses are fully ignited and young bodies are challenged by the uneven and unpredictable, ever-changing terrain.
Preschool years are not only optimal for children to learn through play, but also a critical developmental period. If children are not given enough natural movement and play experiences, they start their academic careers with a disadvantage. They are more likely to be clumsy, have difficulty paying attention, trouble controlling their emotions, utilise poor problem-solving methods, and demonstrate difficulties with social interactions. We are consistently seeing , , and issues pop up more and more in later childhood, partly because of inadequate opportunities to move and play at an early age.
The system, located inside our inner ear, is responsible for our sense of balance and spatial awareness. It also plays an important role in focus and attention, visual skills, and emotional regulation. It is stimulated and developed by moving through space in a variety of directions—particularly at high speeds.
“Inside your inner ear are little hair cells. And we need to move in all different directions so that fluid moves back and forth and stimulates those hair cells, and that develops the vestibular sense. That sense is key to all the other senses. If that's not working right, it can affect everything," says Angela Hanscom, pediatric occupational therapist.
Weaker core and postural muscles, an underdeveloped vestibular sense, and too many consecutive hours spent at a desk without a break for physical activity all add up. Once we put these factors together, we can start to understand why a child might fall out of their seat at school.
Research continues to point out that young children learn best through meaningful play experiences. Education has need to transition towards play-based learning rather than away from it, for the sake of our current and upcoming generations.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1440244018304389
https://www.stack.com/a/the-shocking-phenomenon-that-shows-just-how-movement-starved-modern-kids-really-are
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2015/09/01/the-decline-of-play-in-preschoolers-and-the-rise-in-sensory-issues/
