Today’s World

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Children today grow up in highly structured and tightly scheduled environments. Activities such as sports, dance, tutoring, church programs, and other adult-led commitments often dominate their days. Although these experiences are valuable, they can unintentionally restrict the spontaneous creativity, problem-solving, and experimentation that contribute to healthy cognitive and social development. For many children, the missing developmental ingredient is time and space for unstructured play, where boredom can transform into curiosity, imagination, and problem-solving.

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The Importance of Play as a Foundation for Future Learning

 

Unstructured play is an essential foundation that supports learning through the development of focus, creativity, teamwork, and resilience. Dr. Brad Johnson, well known for providing practical guidance for educators at all levels, explains, “students don’t need to be college ready in kindergarten…they need to be kid ready.” Encouraging unstructured play in early childhood can support problem-solving, vocabulary building, and self-regulation skills, essential skills that they will need for future academic success. Play as a cornerstone for healthy growth and development.

 

Evidence Supporting the Importance of Play

 

The American Academy of Pediatrics explains “the power of play” as a remedy for toxic stress (Yogman et al., 2025). Play can build mental skills and support a child’s ability to form safe, stable, and nurturing relationships and one of 4 guiding principles in MIT Pofessor Mitchel Resnick’s (2017) model for fostering creativity:

 

1. projects that are meaningful to the child.

2. passion: projects must be based on child’s interests.

3. peers: collaboration through sharing and the remixing of ideas.

4. play that encourages experimentation and persistence even through mistakes.

 

How Parents Can Support High-Quality Play

Parents play an influential role in cultivating the conditions where high-quality play can flourish. Helpful strategies include:

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• Offering simple, open-ended materials such as blocks, art supplies, dress-up items, cardboard boxes, pots and pans, or stuffed animals.

• Encouraging child-directed play without predetermined scripts or outcomes.

• Limiting screens in favor of active, hands-on, self-directed play experiences.

• Joining children at their level when appropriate, contributing just enough to deepen learning without leading or controlling the storyline.

• Providing opportunities for children to engage in unstructured play with peers.

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As children play, they develop sharing, cooperation, and negotiation skills. They learn to manage their emotions and practice self-regulation as they interact and adjust. They imagine possibilities, express ideas, innovate and build confidence as they try new things. Allowing children to take reasonable risks, through exploration and adventure strengthens independence and resilience, characteristics that support well-being but are often limited in children today.

 

Call for action

 

Play prepares children with developmental skills they need to be successful in school and life. As a heavy focus on high-stakes testing has evolved, perhaps we have forgotten the essential foundation for all learning. We must remember that play is not an “extra” or a detraction to growth and development. Instead, it is the work of childhood and the foundation for a life-time of success.