In the United States child-initiated play rose to its heights in the 1960s and 70s. It then sank rapidly and almost disappeared from sight beginning in the 1980s. Fortunately, during the past decade there are small but significant signs that it is rising again. In recent years position statements by the American Academy of Pediatrics, plus books, magazine articles and NPR programs have focused on the importance of play. Organizations like the U.S. Play Coalition have formed, with many hosting annual conferences focused on the value of play.
Gradually, the public is seeing play as a vital part of childhood and a number of play advocates are creating opportunities for child-initiated play across the country. There is great hope that the trend will continue and play will return as a normal part of children’s lives.
What was play like at its height? Adults older than 30 light up when sharing play memories. They played freely in woods, alleys and parks. They built tree houses, forts and dens. They dug snow tunnels and played in storm sewers. Theirs was a life of creativity, adventure and exploration. They became skilled at social negotiation and didn’t stay bored for long but became innovative self-starters. And, they were healthier and slimmer than today’s children.
Their play was often spiced with risk, but ask them about injuries — theirs or those of friends — and you hear of bumps, scrapes and an occasional broken bone, but rarely of anything more serious. Children took on as much risk as they could handle and became skilled in risk assessment, a skill many adults feel children lack today. School-age children were often sent out to play and told not to come home until supper. Parents had a general notion of where their children were, but there was little fear and a great deal of freedom.
Ask adults under the age of 30 about their play memories and a different picture unfolds. Free time was largely spent in front of screens with adult-created stories and games, or in adult-organized sports and other activities. Many of the activities were worthwhile, but they served a different purpose than child-initiated play.
When children are allowed to choose and direct their own play, their ideas often bubble up from deep within. Their play allows them to try on every facet of life and make it their own. Play helps them deal with stressful situation and face life’s challenges.
Psychologist Peter Gray is a strong advocate for play and is very concerned about how little children play today. In an article in Aeon magazine titled “Play Deficit,” he associates the decline in play with the rise of anxiety disorders and depression in children and youth, as well as their escalating suicide rates.
All Work and no Play
When did time for child-initiated play diminish? Many people point to the 1980s as a time of great change. In 1981 the highly publicized abduction of six-year-old Adam Walsh took place. He was the son of John Walsh who later developed the television show, “America’s Most Wanted.” Parents became more fearful of abductions and each new case, highly publicized in the media, amplified those fears, which accelerated even more in 2001 after the 9/11 attacks.
In 1983 the influential report, “A Nation at Risk,” was published and made a case for the failure of American education. Reform efforts emphasized improving educational achievement and play was viewed as frivolous. Some districts, like Atlanta, Georgia, canceled recess altogether and built new schools without playgrounds. The outcomes of policies like No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top are more time spent on academic studies and testing and less on play.
The rise of crime in the 1980s also contributed to the near-demise of play. Gang violence and drive-by shootings were frequent in low-income neighborhoods, but the fear of crime and violence also affected more affluent neighborhoods. Children were increasingly kept indoors where they remain today, even as crime rates have declined significantly. Currently, crime rates in the United States are at about the level of the 1960s, when parents urged their children to go out and play.
Solutions and Stumbles
Parents say they want their children to play more, but want some adult to keep an eye on them. Some cities have adventure playgrounds with staff to support children’s play. “Loose parts,” such as cardboard boxes, tubes, cloth and ropes or natural materials, are provided so that children can build their own forts, dens and other play spaces. They are popular with children and parents alike.
Yet, when adventure playgrounds are proposed, the objections come fast and furious: Nature playgrounds are too dangerous, there will be too many lawsuits and insurance will be too high. To see if these were genuine problems or urban myths, the Alliance for Childhood commissioned a study of existing adventure playgrounds in the United States, particularly three long-standing ones in California. Interviews revealed that accident rates were no higher than at conventional playgrounds and were possibly lower, lawsuits were very infrequent (two of the parks experienced one lawsuit each over a 30-year period and the third had none), and insurance companies did not demand more insurance for adventure playgrounds than they did for swimming pools or other recreational facilities.
Agencies considering installing adventure playgrounds often express concern that they should be staffed, representing an added expense. But, these same agencies regularly staff swimming pools and other recreational programs. When the benefits of play for children’s health and development are better recognized it will be easier to fund staffed playgrounds.
Finding Playmates
Outside partners sometimes take the lead in recognizing the value of play. In Providence, Rhode Island, for instance, the parks department has joined forces with the health department and others in a summer project funded by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Rhode Island, in partnership with government agencies. PlayCorps workers, as the staff assigned to this project are called, provide loose parts and play support in seven parks in low-income neighborhoods for three hours per day. Another PlayCorps team travels to parks in a van filled with loose parts. When the Rhode Island pilot project was launched in 2014 the numbers of children coming to the parks increased two to four times. According to Janice O’Donnell, director of the project, almost 1,000 children took part in PlayCorps activities within the first week of the pilot project.
In the Iron Triangle neighborhood of Richmond, California, 95 percent of the children live in poverty and the unemployment rate is 33 percent. Pogo Park Project director Toody Maher and her team of play “stewards,” who are drawn from the local neighborhood, have worked closely with the city and a number of its departments to provide safe, accessible play spaces for Iron Triangle’s children and families.
Maher’s interviews with neighborhood residents revealed the plight of many families in need of play space, but who are unable to use their existing parks. The surrounding houses had been abandoned and taken over by drug dealers, and the park itself was overrun daily by drug and alcohol users. At night guns were sold and fired in the air to show they worked.
All of that was several years ago. Federal Housing and Urban Development grants have since enabled the city to buy the houses near the park and renovate them for family use. The park itself underwent a beautiful transformation with the help of a state grant, and it is becoming part of a new network of Iron Triangle play spaces that will one day be linked by a yellow brick road, marking a safe route to play spaces and schools.
Initiatives such as Pogo Park and the Providence PlayCorps project show that play can be restored in even the poorest of neighborhoods if there is strong leadership, active collaboration and a good deal of imagination, as well as the grit needed for overcoming thorny obstacles.
Weather Woes
One of the newest challenges facing play is that of climate change and the warming trend during summer months. Since about 1970 there has been a steady rise in temperatures, and at the time of this writing much of the southern half of the U.S. has experienced 60 or more days with temperatures above 90 degrees. This makes outdoor play a challenge. But outdoor play can be encouraged in the morning hours and in the late afternoon and evening to avoid the midday heat.
Keeping children cool during play can also present an opportunity to connect them to nature. There is growing interest in developing natural play spaces with trees and bushes that provide shaded areas for play on hot days. Many also include water and sand features with canvas or wood shade covers.
Play’s Comeback
It is no longer far-fetched to talk about a new movement for play. Organizations that previously worked in their own silos are joining together to weave a network of play advocates, and parents are lending their strength to the movement as well. Insurance and health corporations, as well as foundations, have begun funding play projects, and environmental groups are recognizing the need for children to connect with nature through play. Today’s children have a much better chance of becoming strong players than did the last generation, but even those adults can catch up and restore play to their lives. The urge to play lives in all of us and it’s never too late to activate it.
Joan Almon was a Waldorf early childhood educator for 30 years before co-founding the Alliance for Childhood.