The Importance Of Play Playing During Recess Play

1863 Words4 Pages

My question is about what skills children are learning when they play during recess their period? Playing serves several valuable purposes including building social skills, developing physical fitness, and strengthening intellectual and emotional capabilities. When a child plays she or he will be creating and preserving friendships. Playing also helps children develop problem solving skills, by allowing them to sort out issues that arise during play independently amongst their peers. Because of the importance of playing, schools typically give a recess period during the day to allow children time for active movement and free play. This period ideally occurs outdoors, but sometimes schools may have recess periods inside a classroom or gymnasium …show more content…

Examining these categories one at a time, first there is social development; recess give children the opportunity to interact with their peers in a different way from typical classroom interactions. Recess provides opportunities to develop an enormous range of social skills including, sharing, cooperation and communication. Interacting with friends and classmates in this environment is also an excellent way to practice good behaviors such as, respecting the rules and improving self-discipline. Second there is emotional development; according the Journal of Pediatric Health Care: “Recess may act as an outlet for reducing anxiety and serve as a means by which children learn to manage stress and gain self-control. During recess play, children also learn the art of expressing themselves to others, and begin rehearsing behaviors and practicing skills.” (Journal of Pediatric Health Care 29.2 …show more content…

“Recess contributes significantly to the physical, social, emotional, and cognitive (intellectual) development of the young child,” (Recess 2). Children would communicate with each other while they are playing – and this goes for any game that they play, whether it is a test of their physical skills or whether they are pretending to be adults. The games provided the opportunity for children to develop and improve their social skills. When children play at recess, they learn how to solve problems, negotiate with others, and work with others without constant adult intervention or supervision guiding their behavior. Children engaged with their imagination, which took an important role in their play. It helped the children to think fast when the game suddenly made a turn to disadvantage them and it helped them to think out the box to come up with new games for play. Children also used recess to explore social roles in the adult world, which they can engage their imagination to imagine how some adults would react in their roles. They also use this to explore what kinds of options they would like to pursue in their own

Open Document