Good morning everybody. A little while ago, NPR's Jon Hamilton did an interesting article/podcast about how a child's play is important to their development. Hamilton quotes Sergio Pellis, a researcher at University of Letherbridge in Alberta, Canada, stating that through free play the connections of the neurons at the front end of your brain change; without play experience this change doesn't occur. Free play also allows children to develop important social skills such as turn taking, how to not hurt their friends during play, the importance of following rules that the children themselves place, and other socially positive lessons. The articles goes on to point out that countries with more recess time tend to have higher academics.
To read the article for yourself and listen to the podcast, please click here.