Free And Unstructured Play Advantages And Disadvantages

Article 24 Play and recreation activities can play a significant role in fulfilling the child’s right to “the highest attainable standard of health” and to “preventive health care”,

The Playwork Principles (2006) state “All children and young people need to play. The impulse to play is innate”.

“Play is an essential part of every child's life and is vital for the enjoyment of

In the article “Can a Playground Be Too Safe?”, J. Tierney questions the value of safety-first playgrounds and argues that it is unfavorable for the emotional development of children. Indeed, Tierney explains that not confronting kids to the dangers and risks will not help them overcome their fears. Throughout this article, the author produced a well-rounded piece by using ethical, emotional and logical appeals.

Spenser’s (1875) ‘surplus energy theory’ states “play is the result of surplus energy that exists because the young are freed from the business of self-preservation through the activities of their parents” (cited in Evans and Pellegrini, 2006, p233). This corresponds to the common view that the playground is the space for physical play. I have witnessed this during sessions at the children’s centre when parents encourage their children to ‘go run off their extra energy’. Yet if the weather is bad, as I previously commented parents do not wish for their child to play outside. There is only one family that I see regularly that I know that whatever the weather allows their child the choice to play outside and

As a practitioner, we need to acknowledge how important play and leisure activities can be one of the cruel factor of a child’s development; Throughout my experience I have witnessed play to be extremely important to children’s and young people’s wellbeing and development.

In addition, children’s play holds significant therapeutic value in providing a safe, protective environment in a space where children can recreate themselves and self-cure” (Campbell et al., 2010). The strongest therapeutic tool used in this process is the child’s innate drive to self-actualize.

"Daily outdoor play is an important part of children’s learning and is required by the EYFS. It offers many new learning experiences, and boosts mental and physical wellbeing and confidence. Free-flow play adds

Unstructured outdoor play was standard for me as a hyperactive child growing up in the rural Midwest. I fondly recall digging forts, climbing trees and catching frogs without concern for kidnappers or West Nile virus. According to newspaper columnist and child advocate Richard Louv, such carefree days are gone for America’s youth. Boys and girls now live a "denatured childhood," Louv writes in Last Child in the Woods. He cites multiple causes for why children spend less time outdoors and why they have less access to nature: our growing addiction to electronic media, the relinquishment of green spaces to development, parents’ exaggerated fears of natural and human predators, and the threat of lawsuits and vandalism that has prompted community

She also talks about the incident of “a 10-year-old lit a fire at an American playground” (Rosin 77), which costs millions of dollars to the government. Furthermore, Rosin highlights the views of Ellen Sandseter, who is a professor of early childhood education, she describes six types of risky play in which “children are effectively subjecting

Santrock (2012) also outlines the benefit of play for the child's physical development, as it "permits the child to work off excess physical energy and to release pent-up tensions" (Santrock, 2012, p.438), resulting in improved physical and mental health. Garvey (1991, p.27) states that play involving physical activity occurs more frequently in healthy children, possibly confirming that it is a component of healthy development. In addition to this, encouraging physical activity through play could influence the children to maintain a healthy lifestyle later in life, and has an array of physical and mental health benefits which prevent disease associated with lack of activity (Chaloux and Media, 2013.)

‘The games, rhymes and stories might have been found in anywhere in Britain. The only differences lie in the local names ad rules for games.’ (Opie,1993,pg. VII) Based on these findings they believed that childhood is far from disappearing. Peter and Iona Opie argue that children have their own separate culture that is not connected with the adult’s culture. For example, ‘Children also create pretending games, using ingredients from life, books, or television programmes… Minor traditional games are the stand-bys of the playground: Trains, Horses, Chiggy-Backs…’ (Opie,1993,pg.12). This shows that children are not like adults; they have their own set of mind and play their own games that adults would not understand meaning that childhood may not be disappearing. This evidence also contradicts Postman’s argument as it shows that childhood has not changed and it is the same as it has always been. Even though this evidence can provide us information on how children may act, a criticism of this research is that it could be considered as aged biased, Peter and Iona Opie only looks at children in primary school and does not consider children under the age of 7 or over the age of 10 meaning that findings cannot be generalised to over age

When parents desire their child to succeed academically, they may find themselves obsessed with structure. Engaging in frequent free play, where the child maintains autonomy for their overall experience, encourages many benefits that could surprise you.

"Play that is initiated and directed by children and that bubbles up from within the child rather than being imposed by adults is disappearing from our landscape of childhood. There are many reasons for this, such as long hours spent in front of a TV, fear of "stranger danger" when outside." (Exchange Every Day, 2009)

As children grow they continue to need physical activity. One of the methods of exercise that is popular with children in the middle childhood age is rough and tumble play or ‘play fighting’ (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2010). Unfortunately, this sort of play is often discouraged by schools because of the possibility that someone may become injured. (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2010). Teachers must find the balance between protecting children from getting hurt and allowing them to run and jump to release the copious amounts of energy that they have to burn (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2010).