Free play is extremely important for children's development. With him, not only children have fun, but also develop their learning abilities and is a way to express their emotions and stimulate their imagination.
In a school in the United States, they have understood the importance of those moments of free play, so they have decided to increase the number of recesses not to two or three, but to four times a day, and the results in their students have been wonderful.
The school in question is Eagle Mountain Elementary in Fort Worth, Texas and its new recreation organization is demonstrating how the increase of spaces for free and outdoor play during school hours can greatly benefit children.
For five months, the school has been giving to its preschool and first grade students two breaks of 15 minutes during the morning and two others equal after noon. In total, children have four breaks a day, where they go out to play and have fun.
Initially, the concern of their teachers was that with the increase in time to rest, they could not cover all the material they had scheduled for the week and the children would be delayed in the contents. But After five months with this new recreation scheme, the results have proven that it was the best decision.
In Babies and more Some children spend less time outdoors than prisoners: why play is important in their educationThe teachers comment that the changes are notorious and all positive, because now the children are learning more because when they return after playing outside and freely, they manage to concentrate better during class, pay more attention and are less restless than before.
In addition, children now have more initiative to solve problems on their own, they follow the instructions given during class better, and the number of problems due to discipline has decreased.
The four recesses a day is part of an initiative called Liink Project, which seeks that all schools implement those four spaces of free play in their youngest students and gradually do so with the most advanced degrees.
According to Debbie Rhea, one of the driving forces behind this project, those 15 minutes four times a day work as a kind of "restart" for children, because it helps them to disconnect a little of their work in class, without spending long hours working inside the school.
In Babies and more, my son leaves school very angry: how to help children who seem to "explode" when they leave classSome parents have even commented on how well it has been for their children to have four breaks a day, because the impact at home is also noticeable. Now their children are more creative and independent when they are at home and their social skills have increased, due to the daily coexistence with other partners who offer those four rest period.
Personally, this initiative has enchanted me and it seems to me very logical, because if for an adult it becomes overwhelming to spend hours and hours inside an office, imagine a child now, with all that energy and motivation contained. Hopefully more schools follow suit and give more importance to free and outdoor play, which is very important and necessary for children.
