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PROGRAM PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT​ * 2 HOURS * LEVEL 2

Page 14

My Brain Craves Action: Life on the Playground

Playground Skills

Play, including outdoor play, is essential for all children. 
​Being outdoors can be an exciting sensory experience for young children. Being outside is the perfect place for kids to be kids with the freedom to shout, jump, run, hop or skip. In fact, by taking children outdoors and supporting their play, you can help their development.

​Young children need the opportunity to use their whole body and develop their gross motor skills. It's only when they have mastered these that they will be able to control their fine motor skills, such as using a knife and fork or holding a pencil. 
Let’s take a look at each of the different areas of child development that are affected by outdoor play. ​
Physical ​
The most obvious of course is the child’s physical development. When children run, jump, and play games such as hide and seek and tag they engage in physical play. As they play, children will develop both large and small muscles. Physical play offers a chance for children to exercise and develop muscle strength. ​Playing outdoors also combats the ever-growing problem of childhood obesity.  
​Emotional and Social
During their time on the playground, children are developing countless social skills including: 
  • conflict resolution – working through problems with other children
  • sportsmanship – winning and losing gracefully
  • maintaining friendships – learning how to appropriately interact with others
  • leadership – demonstrating respect and responsibility
  • self-control – controlling feelings and behaviors in order to make good choices
  • empathy – the ability to share someone else’s feelings
Intellectual
Unfortunately, recess or outdoor time is often the first activity on the chopping block when it comes to creating more time for instruction for academics in the core subjects and prepping for standardized testing. In addition, recess is often withheld from students as punishment for challenging behavior. What some don’t realize is that taking away recess time actually hurts students’ learning and in turn, test scores. Students who are having behavior issues are telling you that they need more recess time. The correlation between physical movement and brain development is striking. For kids, the two go hand-in-hand. More on that in a moment. 
​Play really is children’s work. As educators, it is important that we realize just how significant outdoor play is for children's development. 
​Optional Resources for Further Study