Advocate for Children's Play

02/16/2021

Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact.
Henry James

According to a recent article in the English newspaper, The Guardian, a group of academics calling themselves PlayFirstUK, have written a letter to England’s Education Secretary, which says, in part:

“This spring and summer should not be filled with extra lessons...Children, teachers and parents need time and space to recover from the stress that the past year has placed on them.”

The letter goes on to explain:
“As part of a wider recovery process, children should be encouraged and supported to spend time outdoors, playing with other children and being physically active...This is not an either-or decision. Social connection and play offer myriad learning opportunities and are positively associated with children’s academic attainment and literacy.”

And in the Exchange Essentials article collection, “Advocating for Play,” Nancy Carlsson-Paige encourages adults to be champions for children’s play:

“Child development theorists, researchers, and educators have long known that play is one of children’s most valuable resources, vital to their social, emotional, and cognitive growth. Through play children make sense of the world around them and work through new experiences, ideas, and feelings. But in recent years, a host of social forces and trends — the influence of media, commercialism, fast-paced family life, academic pressures in schools — have been eroding healthy play, robbing children of this valuable resource for optimal growth and learning.”

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/feb/13/call-for-summer-of-play-to-help-english-pupils-recover-from-covid-stress?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other&fbclid=IwAR2G59Yo6zPW7KF_4NKcmJDFcEk7UhsEFtcQ4fgv1rCuCfXL46SIFdBA1No

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