Tag Archives | free play

The antidote to foot problems? Or simply the most wonderful picture ever? Or both?

Why Her Son, 11, Was Developing a Foot Problem

We keep cutting down on kids’ play time so they can do “more important” things. But this West Coast mom of four writes: Dear kiyesdbfkk Free-Range Kids: Today I took my son to the pediatrician for his annual physical. He’s 11. I mentioned the slight turn in of his ankles that I had noticed and […]

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Halt there, child! Is your game

How Over-involved Can Adults Get at Recess?

Justin zsryfktere Murphy at The Democrat and Chronicle in Rochester, NY reports that: Children at Pittsford’s Jefferson Road Elementary School who come up with a fun new game for the playground will need to do a few things before recruiting their classmates to play along. First, they should write out the name of the game, the rules of […]

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School Superintendent Michael Hynes believes more recess = kids more ready to learn, inside and outside the classroom.

Meet Superintendent / Thought Leader / Former Terrible Student Michael Hynes

It’s time for us all to become familiar with the work of Michael akhyzafbdn Hynes,  superintendent of  the Patchogue-Medford School District on Long Island and passionate promoter of PEAS: the physical, emotional, academic and social growth of kids, not just their test scores. Hynes put his district where his mouth is, doubling recess. Kids at […]

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Why The Decrease in Free Play - Bring Back Children’s Play

Why Aren’t Kids Playing Outside on Their Own?

A byirenzdyd quick and accurate look at where have all the children gone, from a blog called Fix.com: Source: Fix.com Blog If you have any other theories as to why we don’t see as many kids playing outside, on their own — or how to restock the pond, as it were — let us know. […]

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Getting dark! Time to run home!

Peter Gray: We Have Almost Destroyed Childhood

In this sweeping article about tsafrdnbne the importance of free, non-adult-lead play — the kind of playing most of us remember doing, like, all the time as kids — psychologist Peter Gray does not mince words. The Boston College psychology professor and author of Free to Learn (as well as the author of one of the most […]

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Is there a way to get kids back outside, making their own fun, unsupervised, unstructured, untrophied?

That Gigantic New York Times Piece about Free Play

In yhhhnsfhbi Silicon Valley, a dad named Mike Lanza wanted to create for his three sons the same kind of Free-Range childhood he’d enjoyed as a kid back in Pittsburgh in the ’70s: Time with buddies, having adventures, riding bikes and goofing around.  . Since this is the 21st century and childhood is so much […]

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Children being instructed in focus, balance, physics and joy.

Trying to Close the Achievement Gap, We Have Created a “Play Gap”

. File this under The Law of Unintended Consequences, or, more precisely, Force-feeding Young Children Academics Backfires. It comes from an article ershizdrie in the Washington Post by Nancy Carlsson-Paige, author of Taking Back Childhood: …The pressure to teach academic skills in pre-K and kindergarten has been increasing since the passage of the No Child […]

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All reading and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All reading and no play makes Jack....

“My Child Is Getting Too Much Playtime in Pre-School”

. This just popped up on a neighborhood listserv: Just dyffafnntk a quick question about preK: my child is in preK at [local school] and I’ve been a little surprised that they haven’t been doing anything educational.  My child was in preschool at [other local place] before and they used to read books, paint, practice […]

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This mom let her kids play in the fenced-in backyard. Child Protective Services came to investigate.

Kids Play in Backyard While Mom Does Dishes. An Investigation Ensues

. I’m thrilled and worried when these zazynidfin stories make the news (via CTV): A Winnipeg mom was doing the dishes while her three kids, 10, 5 and 2 , played in their fenced-in backyard. A neighbor called to report “unattended” kids frolicking and Jacqui Kendrick was visited by a child protective services rep. The […]

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