The Wonderful Thing About Free Play (is Free Play is a Wonderful Thing!)
With Claire Green
ToyInfo’s editorial team asked Claire Green, president of the Parents’ Choice Foundation, to share some thoughts on why free play is so important for kids and how parents can — and why they should — encourage it at home.
The benefits of free play fill conversations and scholarly work. Dr. Stuart Brown, founder of the National Institute for Play, and author and professor David Elkind, PhD, are among those who have charted their courses based on play’s role in child development. Journalist Jessica Lahey reports on play in The Atlantic. Peter Gray, PhD, writes about it in books and articles. And they all agree: free play helps children develop socially, physically and cognitively. A visit to the National Museum of Play shows that many a career has been mapped by play.
But why is free play important? Why should parents encourage free play?
Experts around the world agree: free play is vitally important to your child’s development.
Free play is unstructured and child-driven; it’s not adult-directed. But adults can join in the fun. Free play is how children learn to negotiate roles (you’re the boss, I’m the customer) and develop and follow rules (count to 10, then jump on one foot). Free play is about problem solving (that didn’t work; let’s try this), scientific discovery (where did you find that bug?) and creative expression (I’m flying on my magic dragon to the kingdom of …).
Here are a few tips to keep in mind as you and your kids enjoy free play:
- Don’t panic. You don’t need a PhD to raise playful, well-balanced and inquisitive kids. Kids are born ready to play – and learn. What you do need to know is that free play is a valuable commodity.
- Remember that free play is free. It’s less about being equipped with specific playthings than it is about the providing the necessary time, space and encouragement. Free play is a great gift.
- Give up control, not supervision. Just because free play isn’t a scheduled and scripted activity doesn’t mean that you should abandon parenting. Keep an eye and an ear tuned in. After all, moms do have eyes in the backs of their heads and extraordinary powers of hearing. Just make sure you give the kids a chance to work things out on their own. Don’t jump in to solve a problem that doesn’t exist.
- Ditch specific learning goals. Free play is an enrichment activity, and breeds all kinds of success. On the playground or the playroom floor, free play is meant to be child-directed, and that’s the best kind of learning.
As many pediatricians say, play is powerful medicine. So fill the prescription for free play - and call me in the morning.
Claire Green is president of the Parents' Choice Foundation and cofounder of Sandbox Summit®. She looks for toys and media that will unleash children's interests, and celebrate the fun of learning. Claire serves on the selection committee for the National Toy Hall of Fame® at the Strong National Museum of Play®, is a member of the Toy of the Year (TOTY) nomination committee for the Toy Industry Association and is a judge for the KAPi Awards. As a child, her favorite playthings were her bicycle, puppets, and the Phantom Tollbooth - evidence that the journey of imagination is of utmost importance.