February 6, 2019
Let’s give children a break from “rigor” and “instructional time” and give them the opportunity to do what is becoming a lost art – PLAY!
In his TEDx lecture, Peter Gray clearly argues the case that today's kids do not grow up playing and this has negatively impacted them in many ways. It's time we return the gift of play to this generation.
February 4, 2015, was the first annual Global School Play Day and it has grown rapidly. They are hoping to reach 500,000 students this year and you can join in on the fun!
How do you make this happen? Personally, I would get my families and parent organizations involved. (Administrators might listen to them more than to you or me.)
Here are some other tips I learned from the globalschoolplayday.com website:
1. EDUCATE Remind parents and administrators about the benefits of play. (There are some good videos on the GSPD website.)
2. GET SOCIAL Use social media to encourage other schools to get involved. #GSPD2017.
3. CALL FOR TOYS Tell your students they can bring anything they want to school to play with on February 1st. (No electronic devices or toys with batteries!)
4. PLAY! NO SCREENS - NO STRUCTURE - ALL DAY LONG – INSIDE OR OUTSIDE
Don't organize
Don't tell them how to play
Don't interfere
5. SHARE AND REFLECT Share pictures, ideas, and reflections after the event. Encourage students to talk to their parents about the day and continue to PLAY at home.
Come on everybody! Let's all PLAY on February 6th!
