Photo Credit: © Can Stock Photo / serrnovik
What do you remember from your elementary school days on the playground? Perhaps innocent games of hopscotch or freeze tag, climbing on the monkey bars, or tapping into your imagination to see where the afternoon would take you? These memories stay with us for a lifetime, yet some students today will be unaware of these pastimes due to certain school districts that are reducing or taking away recess.
Play shouldn’t be seen as an extracurricular, or even an option. Rather, it’s an essential tool in every child’s development. Research shows that outdoor free play gives kids many valuable benefits, including the development of physical, emotional, social, and cognitive skills.
And teachers agree.