The Importance of Play

I don't have any research or data to back me up in this claim, but a thought struck me last week while I was watching my kids run around the gym.  Time to play freely is so important for kids.  As educators, we are under an immense amount of pressure - on top of the job of actually teaching, we have to think about standards, testing, accountability, etc. These are good things, don't get me wrong.  But we get so caught up in them sometimes that we forget that these kids are not just really tiny adults.  They are kids who are growing and developing, and time to play is an invaluable part of that process.  I've discovered that I can use that to my advantage.  I don't always have to have a game planned for when we go to the gym.  I sometimes can leave it open and let them do their own thing.  If that means they play wild, loud, unorganized games of freeze tag every time we go to the gym for 3 days, then so be it.  Watching them run and laugh hysterically made me smile.  And when we came back to the classroom after those wild, loud, unorganized games, they listened better, they focused better, they remembered more later.  I don't know what the research says about the importance of free play, but I know what my experience says.  My experience says it's okay to say, "Today in math, we are playing math games.  Find a game and someone to play it with."  I leave all the choices up to them.  Even if they aren't playing the game completely right (by the rules), I know they're practicing some sort of math skills and playing, which just might be the most important part.