By Todd Neale, Staff Writer, MedPage Today
Published: March 20, 2009
Reviewed by Robert Jasmer, MD; Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco
COLLEGE PARK, Md., March 20 -- Replacing kindergarten playtime with formal lessons and standardized tests could have a wide range of negative consequences, according to the Alliance for Childhood, a nonprofit that advocates for children's health. Action Points
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Explain to interested patients that the American Academy of Pediatrics has also endorsed playtime for young children.
During a typical day at 268 kindergartens in Los Angeles and New York, children spent two to three hours learning or being tested on literacy and math skills, but 30 minutes or less in imaginative play, two top Alliance executives wrote in a recent report.
The vast majority of the kindergarten teachers surveyed -- 82% in Los Angeles and 79%in New York -- said they spent time every day testing or preparing for testing, according to Alliance program director Ed Miller, Ed.M., and executive director Joan Almon.
In Los Angeles, 25% of teachers said there was no time for play at all, and in both cities, about 12% said they didn't have enough play materials for all of the children.
Miller and Almon labeled the trend a "crisis" in a report that brought together new research commissioned by the Alliance and other recent studies, published and unpublished.
"Play is one of the vital signs of health in children," they said. "We do not know the long-term consequences of the loss of play in early childhood, but this has become a concern for pediatricians and psychologists."
In the short-term, they said, forgoing playtime for regimented academic pursuits appears to increase aggression and other behavioral problems, school failure, frustration, and stress.
In addition, when teachers spend hours every day trying to get children to meet unrealistic academic standards, they may wind up mislabeling normal childhood behaviors as misbehaviors, attention disorders, or learning disabilities, the researchers said.
Imaginative playtime, on the other hand, has demonstrated multiple benefits, according to the authors.
"Young children work hard at play. They invent scenes and stories, solve problems, and negotiate their way through social roadblocks. They know what they want to do and work diligently to do it. Because their motivation comes from within, they learn the powerful lesson of pursuing their own ideas to a successful conclusion," they said.
Children who engage in playtime also have improved language and social skills, more empathy and imagination, and better self-control, they said.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) emphasized the importance of play in a 2007 policy statement authored by Kenneth Ginsburg, M.D., of The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania, in conjunction with the AAP's committees on communications and the psychosocial aspects of child and family health.
"Play allows children to use their creativity while developing their imagination, dexterity, and physical, cognitive, and emotional strength," Dr. Ginsburg and colleagues said.
"Play is important to healthy brain development. It is through play that children at a very early age engage and interact in the world around them. Play allows children to create and explore a world they can master, conquering their fears while practicing adult roles, sometimes in conjunction with other children or adult caregivers.
"As they master their world, play helps children develop new competencies that lead to enhanced confidence and the resiliency they will need to face future challenges. Undirected play allows children to learn how to work in groups, to share, to negotiate, to resolve conflicts, and to learn self-advocacy skills," they declared.
Playtime has been reduced by hurried lifestyles, changes in family structure, and increased focus on academics, they said.
But the authors of the Alliance report called for a balanced approach to playtime in kindergarten, arguing that superficial and chaotic play was not beneficial either.
The ideal would be a classroom that "relies on child-initiated play with the active presence of a teacher, combined with intentional teaching through playful learning, the arts, and other hands-on experiences," Miller and Almon said.
They made six recommendations to re-establish the importance of playtime in kindergarten. They suggested:
Restoring play initiated by children under the active support of teachers to the classroom
Reassessing kindergarten practices to make sure they are developmentally appropriate and eliminating those that fall short
Eliminating standardized tests in kindergarten
Expanding research in early childhood to assess the long-term effects of current kindergarten practices
Training early childhood teachers about the importance of playtime
Using the "crisis" of the disappearance of playtime to rally the support for a return of play to kindergarten
The Alliance for Childhood received funding for the report from the Woodshouse Foundation, the Buffett Early Childhood Fund, the NoVo Foundation, RSF Social Finance, the Kalliopeia Foundation, Bay Area Early Childhood Funders, the Newman's Own Foundation, and Community Playthings.
Primary source: Alliance for Childhood
Source reference:
Miller E, Almon J "Crisis in the kindergarten: why children need to play in school" Alliance for Childhood 2009.
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