Recess. Something our kiddos need, and we need! In a world of constant achieving and hustling, rest and play is something that can be challenging to make a priority.
Sarah Besand, a teacher and Possip Reporter, examines the importance and benefits of recess.
Teachers, we have ideas for you in this blog regarding what you can do for your own self-care and rest, but today we are diving deep into the importance of recess for students.
Benefits
Recess might be viewed as a privilege that can be earned or taken away when considering student consequences. However, we should examine the benefits of recess when making this decision.
Play is Learning Too
For students in all grades levels, play is a critical component to a balanced day of learning. Not only does recess provide students with an appropriate break in between learning sessions, it also allows students to learn other skills that can only be fostered with peers. According to this article from the Penn Foundation, “recess offers opportunities for children to learn and enhance communication skills, negotiation, cooperation, sharing, problem solving, perseverance, self-control, and conflict resolution.” Without recess, students do not have as many opportunities to practice these skills with their peers in a low-stakes environment. Having adults readily-available for any potential hiccups in communication is a huge gift as students master these interpersonal skills.
Recess Balances Out Behavior
Student behavior can be massively impacted by adequate recess time. In today’s world, students spend more and more time at their desks, and movement plays a big role in on-task behavior. When students have movement built into their day, they thrive. (And adults do too!) This can exist in the form of brain breaks throughout instruction, and definitely during recess time. When students are given that permission to play, move, and communicate with others, disruptions within the classroom ultimately decrease.
Solidified Learning
A mental break alone is critical to learning retention. Adding in play only increases these benefits! This largely works by lowering student stress levels in the form of playing. As adults, we know that we are able to focus more when we feel safe and comfortable, and students are no different. This blog shares information about how movement lowers stress and ultimately allows students to relax enough to focus better within the classroom. They will also retain more learning–what could be better?!
Structured vs. Unstructured Play
In addition to understanding the benefits of recess, we should examine the benefits of structured vs. unstructured play. As a teacher, I like to think of this as providing a framework for student playtime vs. leaving space for natural, “unscripted” play to come about.
Students have much more freedom in an unstructured play environment, with teachers readily available to navigate any potential challenging interactions. Within unstructured play, students develop their own friendships, games, and new connections with others. They can also test boundaries of social interactions, learn the consequences of their choices, and, when needed, learn how to seek and offer forgiveness. For unstructured play in an elementary school setting, I rely mostly on my school’s playground. Many of today’s playgrounds offer extremely kinesthetic designs that induce learning through play, so students can also test and grow their physical abilities on their own or with their peers. Unstructured play also allows introverted students to take a break from forced interactions and recharge for the rest of the day.
Structured play includes anything we can do to provide built-in opportunities for group play in a more controlled setting. This can exist in the form of board games, virtual brain breaks, and dancing. I rely heavily on Youtube for structured play. I love pre-recorded Just Dance songs, Youtubers like DJ Raphi who offer dance breaks, and active “maze” games. Often, I allow the choice in the class brain break to be a reward for students as well. I love rewarding students with this choice when they are showing leadership qualities!
Let Them Have Their Recess
Teacher to teacher, consequences for student behavior can be one of the most challenging parts of our job. I frequently wonder: What’s too harsh? What consequence matches the behavior? Will this consequence create a change in behavior? Our Possip article lays out Student Discipline Best Practices and also reminds us to let students have their recess for all of the benefits it provides.
Students deserve their recess time. We have so many options in terms of consequences in today’s world, so let’s save recess. Students will be calmer, more focused, and will build the skills they need to show the appropriate school behaviors each and every day.
We hope this guide was helpful for you as you navigate recess with your students this year! If challenging behaviors come your way, this guide is a good one to come back to as you remember the purpose behind student recess.
