Thank you for your editorial of July 9 bringing awareness to the importance of unstructured play for young children. Play is essential to development because it contributes to the cognitive, physical, social and emotional well-being of children. It is so important to optimal child development that it has been recognized by the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights as a right of every child in addition to, and distinct from, a child’s right to recreation and leisure.
Many of the developmental tasks that children achieve – exploring, risk-taking, fine and gross motor development and the absorption of vast amounts of basic knowledge – can be most effectively learned through play. Children thrive on opportunities to explore, experiment, manipulate, change, marvel, discover, practice, push their limits and create.
Most favourite childhood memories involve outdoor activities. Children learn lots of basic and fundamental information about how the world works in a very effective manner, and they are more likely to remember what they learned because it was engaging, concrete and personally meaningful. Albert Einstein cited play as being the highest form of research.
Play is not just for children. Dr. Stuart Brown, noted researcher, author and founder of the National Institute for Play states, “The opposite of play is not work – the opposite of play is depression. Play energizes us and enlivens us. It eases our burdens. It renews our natural sense of optimism and opens us up to new possibilities.”
Have you played today?
B.A. Rennie, early learning facilitator, St. Albert
