The Importance of "Play" in School

This article spoke of something I had considered to be true for years: “In order for children to learn, they need to be able to pay attention. In order to pay attention, we need to let them move.”

Children's dependence on play is something that has even been proven through evolution. Every species of mammal on the planet prove how essential "play" is to their young. Infant apes begin "play" at an age of 3 months, the human equivalent being about a year. Shouldn't it be common sense to let our children play as often as possible?

This article mentions the unintended side effects of this issue: the growing number of children who are to "giddy" to focus on learning. I've seen this in Aerisolphal's class, with kids like Oliver and Dontay.

My elementary school would hold "outdoor class" as often as possible. This allowed the kids to run around, as long as they came back to their class' circle to do activities like reading and group math. If this was done more often (as it is surprisingly easy to do), I would venture to say that kids would focus a whole lot more if they were allowed to expel that extra energy boxed up in their souls.

Plus, the glories of fresh air can work miracles on the mind!