Why Play Matters

Today's Play Landscape
Children have more playtime choices today than ever before. There are classic toys, "high-tech interactive" toys, board games, organized sports and activities, video games, computer games, the internet and cable TV remotes that encourage channel surfing as a playtime activity.

Unfortunately, in some cases these toys and media expose children to violent themes and content. And in some cases, they tend to encourage children to spend a considerable amount of time playing indoors, often by themselves - and often without the benefit of parental supervision as more parents work full-time today.

With a more violent society in general today, playing outdoors unsupervised has nearly fallen by the wayside, especially for young children. In addition to missing out on valuable playtime experiences, limited outdoor play affects children's physical well being. Experts believe that children do not get enough exercise today and this is cited as a leading factor in the rise of childhood obesity.

To prepare children to succeed in our rapidly changing and complex world, today schools are placing greater emphasis and focusing their budget dollars on traditional academics. Consequently, recess, physical education, music and art classes are disappearing from school schedules nationwide. To many, it seems as if the education system has all but expunged "constructive playfulness" from the learning process.

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