Experts agree that
recess
has many
emotional, social, and physical benefits.
Emotional/Cognitive Benefits
Physical Benefits
- Play is an active form of learning that unites the mind, body, and spirit.
- Until at least the age of nine, children’s learning occurs best when the whole self is involved.
- The senses of smell, touch, and taste, and the sense of motion through space are powerful modes of learning.
- Children permitted to play freely with peers develop skills for seeing things through another person’s point of view - cooperating, helping, sharing, and solving problems (NAEYC, 1997).
- Much of what children do during recess, including the sharing of folk culture (Bishop & Curtis, 2001), making choices, and developing rules for play, learning to resolve conflicts to keep the game going, involves the development of social skills.
Physical Benefits
- Can PE be substituted for recess? The National Association for Sport and Physical Education says “No.” PE provides a “sequential instructional program” related to physical activity and performance and recess provides unstructured play time where children have choices, develop rules for play...and practice or use skills developed in physical education” (Council for Physical Education and Children, 2001).
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