Course:KIN355/2020 Projects/Active Play
Defining the Concept and Its Importance
Active play is similar to the traditional concept of play, in which its main focus is on children engaging in an activity and having fun (Alexander et al., 2014). However, active play differs from play in general in that its primary focus is on energy expenditure (Alexander et al., 2014). According to Brockman et al. (2011), active play can be defined as physical activity that is either structured or unstructured and takes place in a child’s free time outside. By concentrating on the distinctions between active play and the traditional notion of play, active play encompasses the option for unstructured activities that promote increased energy expenditure, such as biking and running (Alexander et al., 2014). Consequently, activities such as playing video games and reading a book are by no means examples of active play. Active play involves a significant amount of physical activity with energy expenditure well above resting levels to help children meet Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines (Alexander et al., 2014; Tremblay et al., 2011). It is recommended for children and youth, aged 5-17 years old, to engage in moderate to vigorous physical activity for at least 60 minutes per day (Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology, 2020). It is important to remember that, for children, active play is an “essential form of physical activity” (Alexander et al., 2014, p. 1190).
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Not only does active play result in physical benefits, but active play also provides additional emotional, social and cognitive benefits (Brockman, 2011). One of the primary motivators for children to engage in active play is the prospect of enjoyment and fun that is experienced only through the social aspect of active play (Brockman, 2011). Brockman et al. (2011) express how many children, especially girls, engage in active play with the intention of preventing boredom. Rather than participating in sedentary activities, such as watching television or playing video games, many children genuinely prefer to play outdoors and engage in active play (Brockman et al., 2011). It is very important for adults to be aware of that fact that not only are movement experiences important for children, but some children often prefer to play outside and with their friends or peers instead of sitting indoors to play with electronics such as computer or video games.
Active play is important regarding childhood movement experiences as it contributes greatly to a child’s development of cognitive processes (Bredin, 2020). Children are better able to control their cognitive processes, such as attention and working memory, after engaging in active play during recess or lunch in a typical school day. According to Bredin (2020), active play has the potential to improve a child’s academic success. After a child engages in active play during breaks in school, the child is able to focus their attention much better in class at school (Bredin, 2020). It is important for early childhood educators and teachers to be aware of the fact that a physically active lifestyle is primarily established in early childhood (Bjørgen & Svendsen, 2015). Therefore, to promote healthy living, it is vital for parents and teachers to provide a motivating environment which encourages all children to engage in physically active activities (Bjørgen & Svendsen, 2015). In essence, in order for children to have proper childhood movement experiences, it is paramount that adults provide a supportive and encouraging environment in which children can be physically active.
Role in Childhood Development and Contemporary Considerations
Active play facilitates the healthy development of a child by increasing not only a child’s physical capabilities, but also promoting the development of a child’s cognitive processes (Bredin, 2020; Brockman et al., 2011). For example, a child’s neural pathways for a specific skill are developing when a child is in early childhood, performing playful repetitions of motor patterns, such as reaching and grasping for objects while sitting (Bredin, 2020). As an infant explores their environment and manipulates objects in their surroundings, the infant is facilitating their cognitive development (Bredin, 2020). Active play also uniquely contributes to a child’s healthy development, such as creativity, the ability to resolve conflicts and the capability to engage in informal social settings separate from parental influence, which may not be the case from structured physical activity (Brockman, 2011).
Safety Concerns of Parents
One important contemporary issue relating to the declining participation in active play is parental constraints due to safety concerns of parents, which acts as a barrier to what Lee et al. (2015) termed “independent active free play” (p. 5) (Brockman et al., 2011). Independent active free play is defined as voluntary spontaneous activities that require physical activity, initiated by children, that take place outside without adult supervision (Lee et al., 2015). Research shows that there is a recent increase in parental safety concerns over time, whereas previous generations of children had much more freedom, compared to the constraints that parents presently place on such activities (Lee et al., 2015). Adults are continuously restricting children’s ability to independently partake in active play in ‘traditional’ play spaces, such as parks and playgrounds, which results in children’s limited opportunities to participate in active play (Brockman et al., 2011). The impact that these parental safety concerns have on childhood movement experiences is quite large, considering the fact that children’s physical activity levels are positively correlated with the amount of time they spend outdoors (Lee et al., 2015). Therefore, as parental safety concerns, including concerns regarding bullies, strangers, teenagers and traffic, increases, this considerably limits the amount of time children play outside (Lee et al., 2015). Consequently, as the amount of time children are allowed to play outside is restricted, children’s physical activity levels also decrease (Lee et al., 2015).
Household Electronics
Another important contemporary issue relating to the dwindling participation in active play is the increasing prevalence of household electronics, such as televisions, computers and game consoles. This rise of household electronics unfortunately prompts children to stay indoors, away from the outdoors and other children (Brockman et al., 2011). In this case, technology acts as a barrier to active play, which seduces children to remain indoors instead of playing with other children outside (Brockman et al., 2011). Skouteris et al. (2014) state how this increased usage of technology is connected to reduced levels of physical activity and a decline in active play. This issue of technology keeping children inside negatively impacts childhood movement experiences, in that children will lead a much more sedentary and inactive life. However, not all technology prevents children from engaging in active play outdoors. Mobile phones, provided to children by parents, is the one piece of technology that actually facilitates outdoor active play for children (Brockman et al., 2011). Contrary to most other technology that lures children indoors, cellular phones allow children the opportunity to have greater “independent mobility” (p. 5), as long as they use the mobile phone to keep in touch with their parents while playing outdoors and away from home (Brockman et al., 2011).
Childhood Obesity
Despite the fact that the Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines recommends that children should be physically active for 60 minutes a day for health benefits, it is becoming increasingly common for inactivity to be the new norm (Alexander et al., 2014). Previously, engaging in active play after school such as running, biking and playing outside with friends was the norm (Alexander et al., 2014). However, quite recently, young Canadians are returning home from school and “parking their bodies” (Alexander et al., 2014, p. 1194). The “childhood obesity epidemic” (p. 1188) presents as an additional contemporary issue relating to the depreciating participation in active play, which immensely and negatively impacts childhood movement experiences (Alexander et al., 2014). Active play should be an essential mode of physical activity to help address childhood obesity, where more active forms of play will help to increase levels of physical activity in children (Alexander et al., 2014). Skouteris et al. (2014) state that it is not solely reduced levels of active play that lead to obesity in children. This increased intake of higher calorie-dense foods, combined with reduced levels of active play, greatly impacts children’s accumulating weight gain in developed countries (Skouteris et al., 2014). According to Lee et al. (2015, as cited in Janssen & Leblanc, 2010), the more physically active a child is, the greater the associated health benefits for the child. Sadly, this novel worldwide issue of childhood obesity indicates that the normalized notion of living a sedentary life equates to diminished health for children globally. The promotion of active play by organizations can be seen as the ideal solution to the childhood “obesity epidemic” (Alexander et al., 2014, p. 1194).
Practical Applications
Animal Shape Shifting Game
Purpose Statement:
The purpose of this game is to promote active play among young children with an emphasis on social, cognitive, and gross motor skills. It supports and encourages the development of these skills through spontaneous and rapid cognitive processing which are then demonstrated through verbal communication and physical execution of gross motor abilities. This game gives children the freedom to explore and mimic various movements in the natural animal world.
Target Age: 4-8 years.
Equipment needed:
Medium to large (~ 4” x 4”) foam letters and/or shapes of various colours (see example on the left).
Environmental Space/ Set up:
This game is very flexible in terms of how and where it can be set up. It can be played both indoors and outdoors given the ground of the area is manageable for young children to play on (ex- floors, grass fields, etc.) The amount of sufficient space for this game depends entirely on how many players and how large of a set up the children playing would like for it to be.
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Instructions:
Depending on how many children are playing the game, place the various foam figures of letters and shapes randomly on the ground (ideally a minimum of 1:5 ratio for child to figures) of the area that will be used (gymnasium, grass field, backyard, etc.) Each figure should have a space of at least 1 metre between them (~3 ft).
Each child can choose their favourite shape or number to stand on before beginning the game. Once the game has begun, the children choose which shape they would like to go to and in what way. They can do so by either having the child who’s turn is after them tell them how to get there or by choosing by themselves with a time limit of 10 seconds. Turn by turn each child will move to random shapes and letters of their choosing in whichever way they choose to, mimicking various animals in the way they move (ex: “hop like a rabbit to the blue square”, “crawl like a crab to the red triangle”, “sprint like a cheetah to the letter “G”, etc.)
Modifications:
A modification that can be made to this game for children who may be having difficulty coming up with a prompt on their own is that the parent or instructor would then provide those prompts for the child to move from figure to figure, while keeping the child’s developmental and motor abilities in mind.
Obstacle Course
Purpose Statement:
The purpose of this activity is to allow children the freedom to create their own place of play with various equipment that is provided to them to make a fun and original obstacle course. This provides the opportunity for children to demonstrate their rudimentary and fundamental skills in an unstructured way. In addition, the purpose of this activity is to provide children with affordances during play that will help increase the development of motor skills, strength, balance and spatial awareness.
Target Age: 4-10 years of age.
Equipment needed:
- Tricycle
- Rubber Ball (small to medium size)
- Chalk (to draw out mini obstacles such as for hopscotch squares)
- Spoons
- Cotton Balls
- Cones (4-5)
- Hula Hoops (4-5)
- Painters tape
- Play tunnel (example provided in picture below)
Environmental Space/ Set up:
The obstacle course can be set up anywhere that has a sufficient amount of space, ideally outside where children can utilize large spaces in a way that is unrestricted and suitable to their creative needs. Environments such as open grass fields and gymnasiums are examples of optimal spaces for this activity.
Instructions:
Parents or instructors can take children to an open and safe space where children may be able to play freely. The obstacle course itself is entirely for the children to design and build in whichever way they may find to be interesting, challenging and fun. This is their chance to engage in "independent active free play", allowing them to enhance their physical movement freedoms without parental or instruction based constraints, within a safe manner.
Modifications:
Modifications can be made to the environment and/or the equipment being used to build the obstacle course to better suit the child's fundamental motor skills and developmental stage. Other modifications such the time of day, duration and/or the season (summer, winter, fall and spring) in which the child is given the opportunity to build the obstacle course can help provide a better playing experience for them.
Diagram of example obstacle course:
Instructions
Children will line up with the appropriate clothing (to prevent any restriction of movement), proceeding one by one for this obstacle course. For Station 1, the children will be at the ‘rubber ball throw’ station. The first child will be throwing the ball to the next child in line and the next child would throw the rubber ball to the individual behind them and so on and so forth. In Station 2, the children will be participating in the Hopscotch Station where they will be jumping on either two legs or one. After the Hopscotch station, there will be a spoon balancing station. At the spoon balancing station, the children can use either both hands or one to hold the spoon and carry it from the first cone to the last cone. After crossing the last cone in the Spoon Balance Station, the children stay facing the same direction and begin to perform a shuffle run towards their left for the 4th Shuffle Run Station. At the 5th station the children will be performing a hula hoop jump where there can only be one foot at a time within each hula hoop. Children will then be doing a Bear Crawl at Station 7 where it requires scooting forward while being low enough to be in the tunnel. After coming out of the tunnel, Station 8 involves running backwards or jogging slowly backwards from the nearest cone to the last cone. The second last station will be a tape balance station where children must try to walk along the taped line without falling off. The final station of the obstacle course is the Tricycle Station where the children will be riding the tricycle around a drawn out path which leads back to the starting line.
Summary
- Active play is play focused on engagement and having fun, but also there is a primary focus on expending energy. It is important to remember that active play is an essential form of physical activity for children, leading to physical, social and cognitive benefits. It should be noted that a physically active lifestyle is often established early in life.
- Growing safety concerns as well as the rise of household technologies have recently contributed to a decrease in active play; this can be associated with the rise of childhood obesity in the world.
- In essence, it is paramount that parents and educators provide a supportive and encouraging environment in which children can be physically active.
References
Alexander, S. A., Frohlich, K. L., & Fusco, C. (2014). ‘Active play may be lots of fun, but it’s certainly not frivolous’: the emergence of active play as a health practice in Canadian public health. Sociology of Health & Illness, 36(8), 1188-1204. https://doi.org./10.1111/1467-9566.12158
Bjørgen, K., & Svendsen, B. (2015). Kindergarten practitioners’ experience of promoting children’s involvement in and enjoyment of physically active play: Does the contagion of physical energy affect physically active play?. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 16(3), 257-271. https://doi.org/10.1177/1463949115600025
Bredin, S. (2020). Module 1: Play. KIN 355 Movement Experiences for Young Children, School of Kinesiology, University of British Columbia
Brockman, R., & Jago, R., & Fox, K. R. (2011). Children’s active play: Self-reported motivators, barriers and facilitators. BMC Public Health, 11(1), 146. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-11-461
Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology. (n.d.) Canadian 24-hour movement guidelines for children and youth: An integration of physical activity, sedentary behavior, and sleep. https://csepguidelines.ca/wp-content/themes/csep2017/pdf/Canadian24HourMovementGuidelines2016_2.pdf
Janssen, I., & LeBlanc, A. G. (2010). Systematic review of the health benefits of physical activity and fitness in school-aged children and youth. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 7(1), 40. https://doi.org/10.1186/1479-5868-7-40
Lee, H., Tamminen, K. A., Clark, A. M., Slater, L., Spence, J. C., & Holt, N. L. (2015). A meta-study of qualitative research examining determinants of children’s independent active free play. The International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 12(1), 1-12. http://dx.doi.org./10.1186/s12966-015-0165-9
Skouteris, H., Edwards, S., Rutherford, L, Cutter-MacKenzie, A., Huang, T., & O’Connor, A. (2014). Promoting healthy eating, active play and sustainability consciousness in early childhood curricula, addressing the Ben10™ problem: a randomised control trial. BMC Public Health, 14(1), 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-14-548
Tremblay, M. S., Warburton, D. E., Janssen, I., Paterson, D. H., Latimer, A. E., & Rhodes, R. E. (2011). New Canadian physical activity guidelines. Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism, 36(1), 36-46. http://doi.org/10.1139/H11-009