Kids need unstructured play

Parents today often feel immense pressure to sign their children up to activities like sport , music, dance, art, gymnastics and many others. Those parents then spend huge amounts of time and money running around making sure their children experience these structured and timetabled experiences. To be sure there are many benefits to be had involving children in formal, structured activities, but involvement in too many can have a negative effect as children miss out on the clear benefits of unstructured play.

Unstructured play can be defined as child led activity, chosen by the child and largely free of adult organisation and rules. It may sound like a new idea but has existed as long as children have been on this planet. Before we became caught up in the marketing of children’s play, they successfully occupied themselves with whatever materials were available using their active imagination, something every child is born with and has access to their entire lives. Children don’t need to have every minute of their lives scheduled and there are clear benefits to be had when we don’t fill their day with adult led activities.

Benefits include; cognitive development as they learn how to use their creativity and imagination to problem solve; Language and social development as they interact with other children and negotiate outcomes; Social skills as they learn the art of relating to others; Confidence and independence as they learn they don’t need an adult to provide activities and entertainment for them; Self-control and regulation of emotions as they deal with the successes and failures they experience in unstructured play; Physical development as they test the boundaries of what their bodies can do and develop their fitness and strength; Mental wellbeing as they master the art of entertaining themselves and gain a belief in their own ability; Improvement in learning and academic skills as they thrill to discoveries they have made for themselves and improve their ability to focus and pay attention.

As can be seen from the above, unstructured play offers children a huge number of benefits and is probably the only activity that covers all areas of child development. Quality preschool and child care educators well know the benefits, that is why you will find lots of material and opportunities for unstructured play in the best facilities. They may look messy and untidy to the adult eye, but materials lying around ready for children to figure out how to use are the basis of the very best in child development.

So, stop guilting that you are not doing enough for your child, stand back and give them the opportunity to develop in their own way and at their own pace and you will never regret it.