Kids who play by themselves learn to
think for themselves
Parents anxiously arranging play dates
for their children and schools intent on building social skills might be
better off leaving kids more time to play alone, according to new research.
Children develop critical thinking skills
when they play on their own, says a study by a Nova Scotia researcher who
specializes in what she calls "the forgotten play."
"Play in general is not valued
enough, and there is a real stigma to solitary play," says Bronwen
Lloyd, whose findings on the cognitive merits of solitary play have just
been published in Early Childhood Research Quarterly.
"Parents are bombarded with so much
information about what it takes to stimulate their children: They have a
play date here, a ballet lesson there, and so on ... In today's fast-paced
world, young children also need a time and a place for independent play and
solitary endeavours."
Ms. Lloyd observed the play habits of 4-
and 5-year-olds in organized child care programs in Halifax and found that
functional play, such as climbing and running, and constructive play, such
as painting and puzzle-making, were both strongly associated with cognitive
thinking skills.
The findings run counter to the
traditional notion that active solitary play in particular detracts from
cognitive processing and contributes to anti-social behaviour.
The research has significant implications
for teachers and parents.
"Many young children who spend their
days in a group care setting are allowed very little time to play alone. If
we accept solitary play as a developmentally appropriate mode of play across
the preschool years, then we must encourage it," said Ms. Lloyd, whose
research was conducted for the education department of Montreal's Concordia
University.
She did not compare the cognitive
benefits of solitary play with social play, but analyzed the benefits of
forms of playing alone.
She suggests children need stretches of
uninterrupted time of at least 45 to 60 minutes, while most group care
programs offer limited 15-minute blocks of what they call
"free-play" time. Current research on levels of social interaction
has found that solitary play accounts for 17% to 23% of time for
preschoolers and 17% for kindergarten-aged children.
She says educators and parents too often
view solitary play as an immature form of play, inferior to more
sophisticated forms such as co-operative play, which may explain why it is
typically given such short shrift.
"Solitary play can contribute to the
development of both convergent and divergent thinking skills and need not
necessarily be judged as less mature behaviour," Ms. Lloyd argues.
"A rethinking of the cognitive value of solitary-active play,
specifically for facilitating creativity, may be warranted. Some children
may be most creative and imaginative on their own and privacy may play a key
role in the development of divergent thinking."
Divergent thinking occurs when a child
takes a wooden block, for example, and uses it as a piece of food or some
medicine in some form of dramatic play, while convergent thinking would have
them use the block to build a tower.
Ms. Lloyd says early childhood education
classrooms are often not even set up for the kind of solitary play
opportunities children need, since so much emphasis is now placed on social
play.
"Regardless of the size of the
classroom or the play materials available, spaces for solitary play allow
children to remove themselves from the hustle and bustle around them -- a
place to think and daydream," she said. "It can be as simple as a
table where one child can play with puzzles."
She says that she hears the constant
lament of parents who say, "All my child is doing is playing," and
worries our rushed society has forgotten the brain-development benefits that
can be derived from playing.
- Anne Marie Owens
National
Post
cover story 26 April 2003
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