Our future recess

The World Health Organisation recommends that children aged 5-18 years old have at least

one hour of ‘moderate to vigorous physical activity’ every day.

I came across that statement when I was reading an article about why outdoor playtime is important in the school day. I'm not here to debate this...outdoor playtime is vital during the school day. It's very important for children to have a break and go outside everyday at school. Imagine if you didn't have a break at work at all, just constant back-to-back labour for hours till the end of your 8+ hour shift. You'd be completed drained and depleted. It would affect your mood negatively and would burn you out so quickly, you may not make it to the end of the week.

Now imagine if you not only had a good amount of time for a break, but you were encouraged to take your break outside on a nice sunny day. Your office created an space just outside the building with comfortable chairs and nicely shaded areas in an open field (let's pretend allergies doesn't exist). This time was designated for you to wind down, recuperate and enjoy to your own satisfaction. I'm 100% certain that the break time, no matter how long or short, would make a huge difference in your attitude towards your job!

For children, having that designated time to wind down, recuperate and enjoy is also vital in the midst of the school day. Having back to back classes with assignments, projects and tests can definitely be draining, so a rest from the academic labour is needed. Even more importantly, time spent outdoors is needed.

"Grass and ‘green’ spaces will, all the research shows, improve behaviour, reduce stress and foster connections to the environment." This was mentioned in the article I was reading and external research also supports it. Having time outside not only helps to regulate a child's learning, but it creates a sense of peace and serenity. It encourages imagination, curiosity and connection.

But here's the thing - what if we stopped viewing outdoor play as just a break? What if, instead of treating it as time off from learning, we saw it as a continuation of it? Hear me out...

Children learn best through doing, moving, exploring, and making sense of the world around them. Play isn’t the opposite of learning - it is learning. The problem is, somewhere along the way, the education system started treating structured, classroom-based instruction as “real” learning and everything else as filler. But the early years of a child's development show us the opposite: children make sense of abstract ideas through concrete experiences. Running, climbing, pretending, problem-solving, negotiating who gets the ball first...this is where emotional intelligence, creativity, social awareness and even early leadership skills are formed.

A child who builds a fort with their peers is practising collaboration. A child inventing new rules for a chasing game is experimenting with structure and fairness. A child lying in the grass staring at the clouds is engaging with imagination, mindfulness, and perhaps even early storytelling. These aren't wasted moments. They are formative ones!

So perhaps we need a shift in language and mindset. Instead of saying "They’re just out playing", we could start saying "They’re engaging in exploratory learning". Maybe breaktime isn’t the break from learning - it’s the bridge that connects the dots between knowledge and life.