Words on Play

WORDS ON PLAY

A treatise on its value by leading play scholars

features

02 Foreword: Community Benefits of Play

04 Developmental Benefits

Joe Frost, Ed.D.; L.H.D., Parker Centennial Professor Emeritus, University of Texas

06 Nature

Robin Moore, Dipl. Arch, MCP, ASLA Natural Learning Initiative, College of Design, NC State University

08 Inclusion

Keith Christensen, Ph.D., Faculty Fellow, Utah State University, Center for Persons with Disabilities

10 Physical Activity

Louis Bowers, Ph.D., Distinguished University Professor Emeritus, University of South Florida

12 Brain Development

Stuart Brown, M.D., President, The National Institute for Play

14 Learning

Kathleen Burriss, Ed.D., Professor Emeritus, College of Education, Middle Tennessee State University

16 Creativity & Imagination

Nilda Cosco, Ph.D., Education Specialist, Natural Learning Initiative, College of Design, NC State University

18 Health & Wellness

Michael Suk, M.D., JD, MPH, FACS, Associate Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Florida, Fmr. White House Fellow and Special Assistant to the Secretary (2003-2004), US Department of the Interior

20 Social Capital

John Sutterby, Ph.D., Associate Professor, University of Texas at Brownsville

22 Conclusion: Making Play a Priority

24 Contributing Play Scholars

26 Endnotes

The purpose of this resource is to raise awareness and provide education about the value of play; it is not to be considered as an all inclusive resource. While our intent is to provide general information about building communities through play, PlayCore, its divisions, and the contributing authors disclaim any liability based upon information contained in this publication and provide these comments as a public service in the interest of supporting the benefits of play while advising of the restricted context in which it is given.

foreword Community Benefits of Play

Often we hear “Play is the work of a child.” Indeed, research shows that children are at their highest level of development when at play. Play is dynamic, active - an integral part of children’s growth and development, allowing children to discover their full potential. The foundation for learning, play is critical for healthy physical, social, emotional, and intellectual development - providing enjoyment and emotional fulfillment. Children learn about the world around them through self-created experiences where they are free to express their creativity, individuality, and imagine new worlds.

Opportunities to engage in meaningful “play” experiences throughout one’s lifespan fosters happy, healthy, and productive communities who value and appreciate the benefits of play, recreation, and most of allhaving fun. It is through play that people of all ages and abilities foster friendships, connect with the wonders of the natural world, learn through meaningful experiences, and engage in physical activity - creating a healthy life balance and passionate members of society, and become members of society.

Deeply committed to promoting the value of play, PlayCore is proud to partner with like minded researchers, advocates, and experts in the field of play to build stronger communities and develop best practice programs to greatly enrich and enhance the quality of life where we live, work, and play. We are honored to highlight the work of some of the most respected play scholars - our friends, mentors, and partners that continue to inspire us and who have helped shape our very knowledge of the many powers of play.

We believe the research is clear - play has a multitude of critical benefits for children, families, and communities and it is absolutely necessary for a healthy society. We also believe that play is the right of every child of every ability and that through play, children reach their highest level of development. We hope this treatise and its scholarly Words on PlayTM, will inspire and empower communities to advocate for play, demonstrate that investing in play results in healthy outcomes and social capital, and most of all, we hope readers are more encouraged to get out and support play every day!

Your Friends at PlayCore

Developmental Benefits

Powerful effects on the whole child

Joe Frost, Ed.D.; L.H.D.

Parker Centennial Professor Emeritus, University of Texas

Contemporary research across multiple disciplines reveals unprecedented insight into the developmental benefits of free, spontaneous outdoor play and playgrounds, and the deleterious consequences of their loss. The following are brief samples of this knowledge.

Play contributes to academic learning, sharpens fitness, elevates mood and memory, lowers stress, helps prevent disease, and promotes physical and mental health and healing. These benefits are evident across the life span.

Play builds bodies and brains, reverses some of the effects of aging, and transmits culture. These play benefits are enhanced with healthy diets and rich socialization.1

Playgrounds are built in natural outdoor places where children gather to play. On a playground, brachiating on overhead devices supports the development of perceptual and motor abilities, upper body strength, eye/hand coordination, flexibility, and coordination. Running, climbing, and team games assist in discovering individual movement potential, building self-confidence, solving problems of space and distance, and improving balance, strength, flexibility, and fitness. Fitness is linked to movement and aerobic activity. Swinging promotes social interaction, dramatic imagination, vestibular stimulation, and falling and landing safely. Loose parts (portable materials) and natural materials influence symbolic play, utilizing sand and water, play in natural habitats, wheel vehicle play, play fighting, tool use, nature play, and constructing. All these developmental benefits and more result from active outdoor play.2

The benefits of environment and physical activity are complimentary.3 Living, playing, and learning outdoors in nature promotes sensory stimulation and mental acuity, boosts creativity, increases intelligence,

promotes health, enhances physical and emotional fitness, and supports awareness and sustainability of natural ecosystems – and much more.4 There are no chronological age limits on such benefits.

Throughout the past century leading child development centers and nature centers created natural/built, indoor/ outdoor programs and environments emphasizing experiential, hands-on learning and playful learning and teaching. Such places are living laboratories. Parents and teachers cannot take children to the wilderness every day but they can bring nature and play to schoolyards and neighborhoods and create magical places for living and learning.

For more information on The Developmental Benefits of Playgrounds visit: acei.org or playcore.com/research.

Nature

Infusing the natural world into the everyday spaces of childhood

Robin Moore, Dipl.Arch, MCP, ASLA Director, Natural Learning Initiative, College of Design, North Carolina Sate University

A recent study detailed how children’s independent mobility decreased through four generations of a family living in England. As a child in the 1920s, the greatgrandfather regularly walked unaccompanied up to six miles from home. Today, the great-grandson travels primarily by car, and does not roam more than 300 yards from home. This family typifies the experiences over the last century of many families living in industrialized countries where children in general have lost contact with the natural world.5

In Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder, author Richard Louv6 uses the term nature deficit disorder as a description of the consequences of disengagement with nature. The book’s powerful arguments have galvanized an international children and nature movement.

Free play as a critical dimension of healthy childhood is a long-held axiom of progressive educators but has only recently been recognized by the scientific/medical community.7 At the same time a slew of books has appeared restating the value specifically of outdoor play.

Outdoors is where children can really move enough to stay physically fit, keep calories in balance, and engage with nature. Vitamin G (“green”) is the essential, compelling ingredient according to environmental psychologist, Frances Ming Kuo.8 Kuo reviews the rapidly growing, international body of research, and argues that a strong relationship exists between daily exposure to nature and healthy human development—throughout life, and for different cultures and socioeconomic levels. Outdoor play and informal learning in nature can now be seen as crucial to children’s preventative health factors

and as a self-motivating means of assimilating knowledge about the natural world. Engaging with nature supports the development of all children, regardless of their level of ability, and helps them discover themselves, physically, socially, and emotionally.9 Kuo underscores two built environment design strategies: bringing nature to people and bringing people to nature.

As described in the NatureGrounds program, with a little ingenuity, “planting pockets” can add play value and be created around and between play equipment large enough for shade trees, shrubs, decorative grasses, and perennial plants.10 Arbors of climbing vines and comfortable seating can add shady, social nooks. The growing trend towards school parks requires the space to be designed for family use after school hours. Using hardy, native species, this type of naturalized playground is not difficult to design or to manage. It just requires a commitment to something different. Kids Together Playground in Cary, NC, is a prime example of combining built equipment with planting pockets. Behavior mapping studies11 at this universally designed 3/4 acre family recreation facility show that naturalized areas combining nature and manufactured equipment enjoy the highest use by children and families, and curving, sinuous pathways, seating areas, grassy settings, and hillside mounds also provide destinations for the multigenerational, multi-cultural users who seek satisfying family-centered experiences.

Pedestrian and bicycle pathway networks (sidewalks, alleyways, greenways, urban trails, etc.) have huge potential for bringing children to nature as part of daily routines. However, historically the needs of children and families were not addressed, so that use of most greenways and trails by these groups is low—an issue now being acted on by American Trails, PlayCore, and the Natural Learning Initiative.12 Through the Pathways for Play program, which addresses the need to design playful pockets along a pathway to engage children and families, we can help them learn to love, appreciate, and therefore conserve nature in the future.

The natural world must be integrated back into children’s everyday free play environments, while maintaining common sense safety norms.13 It is crucial not only for the health and well being of children and families, but for the very preservation and conservation of our natural resources.

It is clear that there is no other choice but to discover new ways to deliver highquality outdoor environments for children compelling enough to motivate them to acquire healthy, fearless, outdoors-in-nature, active lifestyle habits.

information about designing nature into everday spaces of childhood visit: naturegrounds.org and pathwaysforplay.org.

Inclusion

Providing equal opportunities for physical and social play

Keith Christensen, Ph.D.

Faculty Fellow, Utah State University, Center for Persons with Disabilities

Meaningful play is critical for all children. Ample play opportunities improve children’s physical health, emotional well-being, social skills, and significantly impact their development. During play, children voluntarily enter into situations that reflect an image of themselves as powerful, active, and competent. This view of children as powerful, not passive, supports the importance for children with disabilities to experience the capacity to direct their own actions, to make sense of events and situations, and to understand how choices affect themselves and others - creating a sense of ownership in play.14 Inclusive play experiences help children with and without disabilities discover that they are competent and capable, able to take risks, climb higher, think harder, and foster friendships.

Out of 1000 children between the ages of 3 and 21, approximately 85 will have some form of disability,15 and 1 in every 6 is diagnosed with a developmental disability.16 Opportunities for physical, cognitive, communicative, social/emotional, and sensory development should intentionally be provided during play in order to create a truly inclusive and embracing play experience that addresses the developmental needs of the whole child -physical, social, sensory, cognitive, and communication.

Beyond disability, there are abilities; beyond accessibility, there is inclusion. Disability is a natural part of the human experience that in no way diminishes a child’s right to fully participate in all aspects of childhood, including play. Disability is often mistakenly understood as a child’s inability to experience the play environment because of limitations caused by their disability.

The child’s right to equality of opportunity, full participation, and independence in play implies the promise that children should not be subjected to inequality by characteristics over which they have no control.

Thoughtfully planned environments, services, and programs, can create opportunities to ensure that people of all ages and abilities can be both physically and socially active through play and recreation, and dramatically impact children’s play experiences. While necessary, the removal of physical barriers to access in play environments does not guarantee social inclusion, or the opportunity to actively participate. The Seven Principles of Inclusive Playground Design, developed by Utah State’s Center for Persons with Disabilities and PlayCore, move play environments beyond minimum accessibility and seek to create usable play environments which recognize everyone’s right to fully participate in equitable play opportunities and independently engage in the lifelong developmental benefits of play.17

Contact among children with different abilities is often not enough to get children playing together or to create true inclusive play experiences.18 Teaching or facilitating children about similarities and differences, and how they can successfully play together takes inclusive play to the next level and is critical to meaningful play for children of all abilities. Intentional strategies to promote disability awareness provides children the tools to ask questions, get accurate information, explore their feelings, and learn how to positively interact with their peers.19

Research shows that disability awareness intervention has significant and positive effects on children’s understanding and attitude toward people with disabilities.20 The Joint Position Statement of the Division for Early Childhood (DEC) and the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) states that the desired results of inclusive experiences for children with and without disabilities and their families include a sense of belonging and membership, positive social relationships and friendships, and development and learning for children to reach their full potential.21

By equipping children of all abilities with inclusive environments and the skills to play together independently, children will feel nurtured, encouraged, respected, and active during play - both physically and socially - thereby creating a sense of community among all children.

Physical Activity

Creating healthy bodies through play

Louis Bowers, Ph.D.

Distinguished University Professor Emeritus, University of South Florida

Physical activity in play is critical for healthy lifestyles and the development of the mind, body, and spirit. Physical activity contributes toward a healthy body composition, psychological well-being, and assists in bone development.22 Physical activity, involving the forceful contraction of muscles of the body, is essential to the growth and development of the skeletal, muscular, nervous, and cardio-respiratory systems of the human body, and plays a major role in burning calories, thus helping to maintain a healthy balance between the amount of muscle mass and fatty tissue of all children, including children with disabilities.

One in three children between the ages of 2-19 is overweight or obese23 and prevalence estimates of obesity in the U.S. derived from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics of the CDC shows that obesity has more than tripled among children and adolescents from just one generation ago.24 Childhood obesity often leads to adult obesity.25

In play, unlike organized activities, children naturally enjoy physical activity with little to no prompting by adults to encourage the activity. A recent study investigated the play choices and estimated caloric expenditure of pre-kindergarten through third grade children on an outdoor play structure over 20 weeks. The average expenditure of estimated activity calories during 30 minutes of free play for their first time on the play structure was 72 calories, after ten weeks 71 calories and after 20 weeks a significant increase to 78 calories. This data supports the need and importance of providing play structures at home, day care centers, elementary schools, and parks to support children’s development and overall health.26

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans which states that children and adolescents should engage

in 60 minutes or more of physical activity daily, which includes aerobic, muscle, and bone strengthening activities, and states that young people should be encouraged to participate in age-appropriate, enjoyable, and diverse activities.27 With a daily 30-minute program of activity-based physical education, approximately half of the recommended daily expenditure of 150 activity calories would be met. When school schedules restrict physical activity, children do not compensate at home. In addition, children show greater physical activity after school when it occurs during the day.28 Parks and playgrounds can provide opportunities to play and may increase unstructured physical activity29 and it has been found that if children can easily access safe parks and playgrounds, they are more likely to engage in recreational physical activity there.30 The built environment of a community affects children’s opportunities to safely access physical activity and playgrounds, parks, and green spaces within communities. Resources to low-income neighborhoods should be a priority to ensure that all children have opportunities for play and active lifestyles.31

Research has found that physical activity is related to improvements in mental health, helping to relieve symptoms of depression and anxiety and increase selfesteem.32 A recent study on the impact on educationrelated outcomes for school-based Physical Education, recess, classroom-based physical activity, and extracurricular physical activities found that these approaches had either a positive effect on academic achievement or, at minimum, did not detract from academic outcomes.33 Safety and liability concerns, emphasis on testing and need for more instructional time, budget cuts, and fears of disrupting work patterns are some of the reasons cited for some school systems’ decision to eliminate opportunities for free play outdoors during recess.

Research suggests that these unstructured play opportunities during recess can play a positive and important role in the learning, behavior, social development, and health of elementary school children.34 Programs such as Play On!: Playground Activities to Promote Youth Fitness developed in partnership by American Association for Physical Activity and Recreation

WORDS ON PLAY

(AAPAR) and PlayCore, can further help promote physical activity, fun, and learning during recess, physical education, or activity breaks, while also meeting national standards for physical education through play.35

There are multiple national efforts to find and implement ways to engage children and adolescents of all abilities in healthy eating and regular physical activity. The Let’s Move campaign is a comprehensive initiative, launched by First Lady, Michelle Obama in 2010, dedicated to solving the challenge of childhood obesity within a generation, which lists helping kids become more physically active in play as a major component.36 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently released the School Health Guidelines to Promote Healthy Eating and Physical Activity describing school health guidelines including coordination of school policies and practices, school nutrition services, physical education and physical activity programs, health education, family and community involvement, and professional development for staff.37 We must value and provide our children with every opportunity to be physically active in play; they need it, they desire it, and they deserve it.

Promote physical activity outdoors with Play On!: Playground Activities for Youth Fitness.

To learn more, visit aapar.org or playcore.com/programs.

Brain Development The science of play research

Stuart Brown, M.D. President, The National Institute for Play

The explosion of shared information that our current neuroscience community is flowing into internet based resources and contemporary university libraries is beginning to deepen and alter the brain science view of play behavior in exciting new perspectives.

Because play science is not yet generally regarded as a separate discipline worthy of major funding, the information that supports play science and its positive effects on brain development and functioning must be culled from many points on the scientific compass. By doing so, here is a sampling of what play does for player, with reference to its effect on the brain.

The architecture of the brains of highly playful mammals is similar in its design, neurotransmitters, hormonal adjustments, and much more, allowing patterns of play common to all to be objectified as reflective of fundamental brain activities. In the case of highly playful animals, it can be observed and manipulated in laboratory settings. Animal play researchers have discovered that the origins of play behavior rise from the deepest survival centers of mammal brainstem and limbic systems, in ways, for example, very similar to the deeply necessary survival impulses that foster sleep and dreams and fundamental caretaking. Because the patterns of play such as play fighting or rough and tumble play are similar in humans and many of our animal cousins, it is reasonable to assume that our species duplicates many of these objective findings from the animal play world.

In short, the many benefits that play produces are best clarified when play behaviors are missed, as can be produced in laboratories, and duplicated by tragic human circumstances such as prolonged hunger, warfare and natural disasters, social abuse, and more. When these deprivations are collectively analyzed in both the playdeprived mammal and play-deprived humans, an array of deficiencies that reflect brain functions directly referable to play deficiency become evident. Some of these are the ability to manage stress, the ability to achieve social norms necessary for complex socially acceptable living (such as good emotional regulation, handling of aggression and more).38

As the technical mastery of brain imaging is becoming more sophisticated, these techniques are allowing more precise visualization of play related circuitry. These findings, along with the expanding capacity to assay and localize play-released “brain fertilizers” (such as BDNF, IGF-1, endocannabinoids, dopamine, etc.) are bringing the immensely complex landscapes of play behavior into clearer view. So as play behavior can be separated from others, become better defined in its evolution and physiology, the neuroscience community will more fully recognize its centrality to full-fledged brain development and healthy maintenance. This perception is imminently on the neuroscience horizon. It is an exciting time for the emerging discipline of play science.

For more information on The State of Play DVD on play and brain research, visit nifplay.org or playcore.com/research.

Learning Intimately engaging young minds

Kathleen Burriss, Ed.D. Professor Emeritus, College of Education, Middle Tennessee State University

The evidence is quite clear that play equals learning across developmental domains. Children’s learning occurs in many places besides the classroom; even there, it can be best facilitated by playful approaches that draw upon individual interests and the creative, adaptive, and problem-solving functions of the brain. The two preeminent theorists of cognitive development of the 20th century, Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky, both stressed the essential role of play for cognitive development.39 Emerging theory suggests that play facilitates healthy cognitive development by stimulating frontal lobe maturation, by alleviating Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) symptoms (such as impulsiveness), and by promoting prosocial minds through the maturation of behavioral inhibition.40 Further, Saracho prescribes that, “The educational functions of play relate to areas of cognitive, creative, language, social, and physical development.”41

Learning, memory, concentration, and mood all have a significant bearing on a student’s academic performance, and there is increasing evidence that physical activity enhances each. Since children and adolescents engage in physical activity primarily through physically strenuous play, an evaluation of the relation between physical activity, cognition, and academic performance helps us better appreciate the role of play in healthy child development.42 Play significantly effects the development of the whole child.

Outdoor play contributes to children’s intellectual, social, emotional, and physical learning in very unique and meaningful ways.43 By using a variety of materials and loose parts (sand, water, mud), negotiating a range of challenges (climbing, building, running), and interacting in an array of situations (rehearsing, problem solving, evaluating

communicating {verbal/non-verbal}), children develop knowledge, skills, and dispositions in establishing relationships with the environment and its people. The outdoors provides a natural classroom in which play and learning can be authentic, experiential, and relevant. For example, physics, botany, and geography are just a few areas of possible inquiry. Social sciences and humanities such as English and history can also use the natural environment as an integrating context that provides opportunities for interdisciplinary, collaborative, and hands-on learning.44

Effective “players” learn to communicate and assume the perspective of others. Socially, children learn to lead, care, and trust; children form friendships. Freed from direct instructional activities, outdoor play allows children opportunities to develop strengths and experience successes otherwise not possible in traditional indoor settings.45 Outdoor play contributes to children’s intellectual, social, emotional, and physical learning in ways not possible through direct instruction.

The first step is to acknowledge play in the outdoors as a dynamic, relevant, and developmentally appropriate resource for learning and not merely a time scheduled for leisure when the real work of the day is completed. Educational practices for the new age must reflect a “play, development and learning” model.46 Play is an important vehicle for children’s social, emotional, and cognitive development, as well as a reflection of their development.47 Equipped with the knowledge of the value of play for learning, we can be empowered to advocate for play and effectively communicate how it is integral to children’s overall development.

Creativity & Imagination Play, the world and me

Nilda Cosco, Ph.D.

Education Specialist, Natural Learning Initiative, College of Design, North Carolina Sate University

Children learn both about the environment and themselves by picking up information through active interaction with their surroundings (i.e. playing!). As children develop, they learn about the growing scale of their bodies and their specialized skills by using new environmental qualities and components (affordances) appropriate for their evolving abilities.48

This progressive learning of affordances is supported by further exploration of the environment in an apparent endless playful cycle. The result of the co-activation of perceiving the environment and playing results in learning. Therefore, the need for diverse environments, full of novel information and rich qualities, should be considered a developmental need that goes together with children’s growth and the extension of their physical capacities.49 Scientific research is beginning to support the idea that interaction with the environment also improves brain development.

But for this to happen from a developmental point of view, play environments should not be considered as a mere collection of play objects or physical components but sensory-rich spaces that encourage and support children’s needs for stimulation.50 The most appropriate spaces contain all necessary ingredients to guide further exploration and discovery (i.e. play elements, people, animals, plants, and events created by the players or external sources such as wind or rain).

Rich environments support the ever-changing pattern of children’s perceptions and use where play settings serve one purpose at a given time (running games on a lawn) and a totally different activity the following day (rope jumping or parachute play) on the same lawn. Multi-functional areas provide exceptional interest for children with differing learning styles and skills.

Active play throughout the space provides children with essential information about their surroundings as they discover the layout of the site, its characteristics, views, and components. They also learn about themselves, their own body scale, translocation, movement direction, interaction with other children, adults, and other living creatures. Indeed, information is actively gathered through play. Children run around objects and environmental components getting to know them (e.g. they peek over fences, hide and spy on other children from vantage points, climb up and down logs or play equipment). When engaged in self-guided exploration, children stay active, performing novel movements, challenging their own growing skills.

Outdoor play in nature is especially stimulating as nature is ever changing, highly sensory, and engaging. Children are fascinated by playing with natural unstructured objects such as twigs, flowers, rocks, and the most popular substances on Earth: soil and water!

In naturalized play areas, evergreen plants and grasses automatically add “pickable” opportunities throughout the year supporting rich sequences of play. For example, a group of girls were observed in a late autumn afternoon while they were carefully picking leaves and collecting them on top of a pail full of sand. They moved in and out of tall grasses around the periphery of the play area, harvesting the “reachable” leaves and running back and forth to the sand area. They were “cooking” a birthday party cake. Other girls joined the group activity. When the “cake” was ready, all walked in a procession-like manner to a picnic table for the “birthday party.”

WORDS ON PLAY

This active, cooperative, and harmonious group activity would not have occurred without the combined affordances of elements such as pickable grass leaves, pails, sand, picnic table, and the story line created by children’s imaginations.51

Children easily find and engage in these types of activities, which are compatible with their needs and imaginative processes and provide a feeling of being away in unchartered worlds.52 Long periods of engagement in freely chosen play activities not only supports attention restoration and creativity but the development of social skills and language, the opportunity of full immersion in the physical environment, and the unexplainable joy of being in touch with others.

Health & Wellness

Promoting lifelong healthy lifestyles through play

Michael Suk, M.D., JD, MPH, FACS

Associate Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Florida, Fmr. White House Fellow and Special Assistant to the Secretary (2003-2004), US Department of the Interior

Since the 1960s, children in the United States have been gaining weight at a steady and concerning rate. The number of adolescents who are overweight has tripled since 1980 and the prevalence among younger children has more than doubled. According to the 1999-2002 National Health and Nutrion Examination Survey survey, 16 percent of children ages 6-19 years are overweight.53 The link between childhood obesity, adult obesity, and eventually adult chronic disease is well known and poses significant epidemiological, economic, and societal concerns. Various strategies for early intervention toward improving physical well-being have been employed but long-term lifestyle solutions remain elusive. For example, physical education classes have been shown to generate an increase in activity at the time of the class but students tend to exercise less at other times during the school week and further have a noticeable effect on student health.54

For many, this may indicate that structured environments and/or scheduled physical activity lack the factor of “enjoyment” which is the key to long term behavioral change. Activities such as these are often seen as things you “have to do” rather than things you “want to do.” It is clear that innovative and unconventional strategies to affect health behaviors in positive and more immediate ways are needed. The American Pediatrics Society’s Policy Statement highlights how the built environment of a community effects opportunities for physical activity and recommends that the government should create playgrounds, parks, and green spaces within communities as well as means to access them safely. Prriority should be given to low-income neighborhoods to ensure that all children and adolecents have access to safe and desirable opportuntiies for play and active lifestyles.

The positive effects of play on manual dexterity, balance, and physical fitness are well documented. When combined with the natural environment, it has dramatic additional benefits for the cognitive, social, and emotional development of children and adolescents.

Play allows for creativity, confidence, decision-making, leadership, and social engagement skills. In fact, it has been suggested that encouraging unstructured play may be an exceptional way to increase physical activity levels in children, which is one important strategy in the resolution of the obesity epidemic.

Rather than developing new and expensive promotional campaigns which advocate redundant messages, we might look for answers through activities, and in places immediately before us. The vast interconnected outdoor recreation network of federal, state, and local lands and waters present a largely untapped resource which may be capable of helping to achieve this purpose. Combining inherently enjoyable and readily accessible activities such as play with simple, effective, health-related messaging may serve as a gateway to better lifelong health.55

Learn more about how parks impact healthy lifestyles by visiting The National Recreation and Park Association at nrpa.org, where Parks and Other Green Environments: Essential Components of a Healthy Human Habitat can be downloaded.

Social Capital

Bridging social networks for community vitality

John Sutterby, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, University of Texas at Brownsville

In a perfect world, all would recognize the validity of Article 31 of the United Nations Rights of the Child, which states that “every child has the right to rest and leisure, to engage in play and recreational activities appropriate to the age of the child, and to participate freely in cultural life and the arts.” However, many are surprised to discover such a statement needs to exist, as, clearly, we tend to take play for granted. We recall our youth experiences, we become complacent with the sights and sounds of children playing merrily in schoolyards and local parks, and we assume that all children share the ability to play. However, play is not an affordance realized by many children, for a variety of reasons, in fact it has become a topic of social justice.

There are many different definitions of social justice, but it is, in its purest sense, “a sociological concept of the connections that occur within and between social networks.” The value of social relations between friends, family, and neighbors physically knits communities together through shared lifestyle experiences.56 For children, this not only encompasses the very act of play, but also defines the play space that provides them with reasonable accommodation to play.

Play offers children a unique opportunity to face issues of social justice head on, while also providing them space to work through their own issues - resolving conflict, learning cooperative skills, and developing meaningful relationships with one another. Well-designed parks and playgrounds are a primary attraction for families using neighborhood and community parks and can lead to sustained repeat visits, a relaxed and playful social atmosphere, and growth of community social capital. Parks can provide crucial vehicles for inclusion, stimulating positive interaction among park users of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds.57

As beautiful, peaceful islands of greenery, parks can help reduce stress and promote mental health. And the more facilities that are layered on to a park, the more use it can get from people with different interests and skills.58

Play is necessary. As early as 1910, play advocates were connecting the acts of play and social development by observing that giving children the opportunity to build character on the playground would benefit society as well as the child. Good citizenship and neighbor relations were observed as outgrowths of recreation and play. At the National Conference of Charities and Correction in 1910, Lee Hamner stated, “The playground of today is the republic of tomorrow. If you want twenty years hence a nation of strong, efficient men and women, a nation in which there shall be justice and square dealing, work it out today with the boys and girls on the playground.”59 However, a general lack of play spaces poses a challenge for these social developments, and are exacerbated by the inequity of location, especially in underserved communities.

Play matters in the community because it is where children spend most of their time growing up, learning, exploring, interacting, discovering the world around them. As communities build social capital, they create the sense of a healthier place to live, work, and play, while promoting cooperation between individuals and groups, increasing civic engagement, and bringing awareness to the value of play. It is also important to remember to design a play and recreation space to meet the perceptions of user groups to ensure use. Residents of more affluent communities, where danger and personal safety are not overwhelming concerns may prefer leafy, natural parks.

In more underserved communities, forested areas may be shunned in favor of open areas with lots of activity. There, enlivening parks is a high priority.60 Play can be the bridge

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to connecting neighbors and actively engaging community members of all backgrounds to shape the destiny of their community, resulting in neighborhoods that are safer, healthier, and more vital.

A walkable community provides residents with easy access to parks, playgrounds, restaurants, and other meaningful destinations, which have been linked to neighborhood trust, as well as increased participation in community events, resulting in a higher quality of life.61 To truly promote social justice, we must work as a society to promote the knowledge that children and families need and deserve access to play spaces regardless of their ability, age, race, gender, ethnicity, culture and socioeconomic status. For more information on the positive effects parks have on communities, download From Fitness Zones to the Medical Mile at www.tpl.org/publications/books-reports/.

The benefits of play are all inspiring and most plentiful! In this resource, some of the most respected play scholars have highlighted the many research-based benefits of play.

• Play is critical in supporting the physical, social-emotional, communicative, sensory, and cognitive development of all children.

• Play is instrumental in engaging children with the unique environmental experiences that can only be found in nature

• Inclusive play helps children with and without disabilities discover that they are competent, capable, and able to foster friendships.

• In play, children naturally enjoy the physical activity they need and desire for healthy bodies.

• Play science reveals that play has positive effects on brain development and functioning.

• Play equals learning across developmental domains.

• Play provides sensory rich affordances and endless cycles for creativity and imagination

• Play has dramatic benefits for health and wellness and promotes lifelong healthy lifestyles.

• Play provides connections for social justice and builds social capital

WORDS ON PLAY conclusion Making Play a Priority

While the evidence is overwhelmingly clear, the research continues to evolve and further document the benefits of play. A recent long-term study, funded by the Taiwan Department of Health Clinical Trial and Research Center of Excellence and National Health Research Institutes, communicates that the health benefits of leisure-time physical activity are well known, and demonstrates through the long-term study that it is correlated to a reduced risk of all-cause mortality and a longer life expectancy.62

We know that play is critical for the overall development of every individual, it unites families, and it builds communities. Join us in our vision and mission of building communities through play. Together, we must make it a national priority to continue researching and effectively demonstrating the research-based benefits of play, we must align advocates and resources to creatively support and fund play initiatives, and it is most critical that each one of us play every day – it is necessary for our own health and well-being.