Monday, November 15, 2010

Active Play

"Throughout most of human history child engagement in rough and tumble outdoor play and imaginary games resulted in the achievement of adequate sensory, motor and attachment development required for attention and learning (Ayres J 1972, Pelligrini A 2005, Tannock M 2008)."  ALL children (young children and adolescents) need 3 to 4 hours a day of active play and movement to achieve enough stimulation to the vestibular, proprioceptive and tactile sensory systems (National Association for Sport and Physical Education 2002) in order to develop their posture, bilateral coordination and optimal arousal states necessary for things such as, handwriting and reading literacy (Schaff R 2007, Braswell J 2006, Rine R, 2004), as well as motor skills, attention span, social skills, etc. 

What Is Active Play?
Active play can look like many things, but basically it is any type of play activity where the body is moving and the mind is engaged in the activity.  Playing on the playground, playing sports, running, jumping, gymnastics, music class, dance, taking a walk, playing an outside game with friends, playing make believe, etc.  Active play can also include sensory activities, such as sand or water play, bath tub play, finger painting, art activities, play dough, etc.

Why Is Active Play Important?
Active play uses the whole body, the mind, and the senses together.  "The most critical factors for optimal child development are movement, touch and connection to other humans (Insel R 2001, Korkman M 2001)."  Moving the body through running, jumping, swinging, crawling, lifting, pushing, etc. builds strength and endurance in the muscles needed for engaging in playground and athletic activities with peers, maintaining good desk posture and pencil grasp for school work, developing good handwriting, and so on. 

The repetition involved in doing these movements helps to enhance motor skill development.  Children become more skilled at using playground equipment, playing sports, performing dance and gymnastics moves, playing instruments, etc, the more they do it.  For younger children, engaging in age appropriate movement activities helps them to gain the motor skills such as, running, climbing, and jumping with 2 feet, which are building blocks for the more complex motor skills they will develop when they are older.

The movement involved in running, jumping, swinging, climbing, and heavy work (i.e. pushing/pulling objects or lifting one's own body weight) is important for regulating and organizing the body's nervous system, especially for children with sensory processing disorders or ADHD.  Regulating and organizing the nervous system means getting the body to a normalized energy level where the brain and body can most efficiently process information and perform or behave at its best.  Think of the body as a car; when the engine is going too fast it's hard to keep the car in control, the driver is going too fast and may miss important things or make mistakes.  If the car engine is too slow, the car is sluggish and it takes a long time to get where it needs to go, making it difficult to get things accomplished.  When the car engine is going at a just right speed it is performing at its best.  Through activities that involve movement and strength we can get a child's body and nervous system to a "just right" speed, which will help them to have better behavior and attention to perform classwork and home activities and can also improve their performance in these activities because a brain working at a just right speed can process information more efficiently. 

Getting appropriate amounts of active play plays an important role in attention and behavior.  "For every 1 hour of TV watched each day between the ages of 0 and 7, the risk of attention problems by the age of 7 increases by 10% (Christakis, D., 2004)."  Studies have shown that access to “green space” for 20 minutes per day significantly reduced ADHD symptoms, yet drug use continues to climb. Inner city children suffer from ADHD at three times the rate of children in rural areas (Kuo F 2004).  Getting energy out during active play also helps to improve a child or adolescent's behavior and attention for other sedentary tasks (such as school and homework assignments). For children who are typically low energy, engaging in active play can, converesely, help to increase their energy levels to improve their attention span for classroom activities as well. Getting appropriate amounts of active play in at home or in organized sports programs is especially important now that schools have significantly reduced or eliminated outside recess time and PE from their daily schedules.

Active play is also important because the mind is engaged in the activity.  When the brain is active it is learning things, improving its efficiency and improving motor skills/language skills/social skills/sensory processing skills. In other words, it is getting smarter, faster, and better. 
Engaging the mind in activity also encourages creative thinking. Children playing together, whether inside or on the playground, often create a storyline to guide their play.  This storyline is sometimes imaginary or some scenario from their own life that they want to practice or play out.  Using the imagination in play is incredibly important for developing creativity, practicing roles and social skills, as well as developing the ability to play a "movie in the mind" for book reading, story telling or internal organization of information.
Children playing together, and boys especially, often create games and make up rules for their new games.  This is an important creative skill that also involves practicing social skills.

Active play involves using the body's sensory systems.  This is very important for learning because we process information from our environment though our senses to learn new things.  Everyone processes sensory information differently, some better than others. Everyone knows someone who gags at the touch of slimy textures, refuses to wear shirts with tags, is a picky eater, is clumsy, or is easily overwhelmed in noisy or crowded situations.  These are a few examples of problems with sensory processing and it is all due to the hard wiring of our brain and nervous system.  But the good news is that it can be improved, especially in childhood when our brains are most easily "re-wired."  And engaging in movement and sensory activities on a daily basis is one of the best ways to improve sensory processing skills.  "In primitive times, human beings engaged in physical labor, and sensory stimulation was natural and simple. Rapid advances in technology and transportation have resulted in a physically sedentary society with high frequency, duration and intensity of sensory stimuli (Nelson M 2006)."

Creating Opportunities for Active Play for Your Child
Besides playing on the playground or letting your child run around the backyard, here are some other ways to engage your child in active play (starting with toddlers and progressing to adolescents):
* Make forts in your living room out of couch cushions, pillows, blankets, and other items, for your child to climb under, over, through or play inside - you can also buy tent and tunnel sets for around $30 and up
* Use pillows, cushions, stools and other houseold objects to create an obstacle course in your house for your child to go through; add in things like somersaulting, jumping, log rolling, etc and don't forget to demonstrate! 
* Sand play, water play (in the sink, tub, or a bucket/baby pool outside), play dough, painting, etc.  There are even recipes online for homemade play dough, slime, gak, moon sand, etc.
* Cooking: even toddlers can be involved in cooking by letting them pour/dump ingredients and stir; give them their own cooking bowls and utensils to immitate mom or dad.  Older kids can also chop food with blunt knives (while supervised of course).  Involve kids in making food for meals, which will build self esteem and for picky eaters it often motivates them to try what they have made.
* Classes and playgroups: music class, movement classes (like Gymboree and Little Gym), tumbling or gymnastics, ballet/tap/other dance classes, art class, open gym or playgroups at playcenters (Monkey Joe's Kangazoom, and Play are a few Atlanta-based play centers), and local playgroups with neighbors or through mom clubs.
* Sports/Games: pee wee sports for young kids and organized sport teams for older kids.  Encourage kids to play sports at home too by having balls, bats, tricycles, jump rope, and other kid-sized equipment on hand and use them with your kids.  Teach your kids fun outside games to play with friends: tag, Red Rover, Mother May I, Red Light/Green Light, etc.  Look for inside games that involve movement: cherades for kids, twister, etc.
* Play clothes and objects for imaginative play: costumes, consignment items, or even your old clothes can be kept in a suitcase or drawer for your child to pretend play alone or with friends. It's not all princesses and dolls, even young boys enjoy dressing up and pretending; so include costumes and clothes that your son and his friends are interested in too.  Child size kitchens are also fun for toddlers on up to pretend with. 
* Outdoor fun: walks, hikes, bike rides with family and friends.  Scavenger hunts while on these walks and hikes are fun for older kids.

This is just a sampling of ideas for active play activities.  Be creative, but also let your child be your guide and then add in new challenges.  If you have a mobile baby or toddler, then really any activity that gets your young child moving (climbing, rolling, lap games, walking, running, movement games, water play, carrying toys ,,,,,) count as active play.  And it's easy with babies and toddlers - most will just engage in active play naturally.

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