Unstructured Play

Kara was reading an article yesterday that asserted that young children who enjoy abundant unstructured play grew into more intelligent and well-adjusted adults. I googled to find out more on this theory. Not only did Scientific American run a recent article on the topic, but wikipedia discusses it, too. I read that unstructured play is voluntary, repetitive, personally directed, and with no clear goal. Play time here at the family home usually meets all those criteria. (Unless you're the adult that is recruited to play hide and seek yet again--then it's not really voluntary. Pressure is definitely applied to keep you in the game.)

Kara (and I totally support her in this) believes that children should be allowed to run wild for a good portion of the day. Oops...maybe I should state that a little differently. Kara works hard to make sure that the children get the perfect combination of supervision and freedom to explore their world. The main floor of the house is as safe as we can make it for toddlers and they are allowed free reign.

What do they do with their freedom? Last week when my mom's dresser was temporarily stashed in the living room near the couch, here's what Jake and Bentley did:




Bentley was quite disappointed when his mom moved the dresser downstairs. He wanted it back in the living room.

Recently I took out an extra play pen that I owned. I wanted to take some photos of it so that I can sell it on craigslist. I set up the play pen and got out the camera and -- very odd! -- all three grandchildren demanded to be put in the play pen. HUH? I let them play for a while, but then I took them out to get my photos. They pulled their high chairs over from the table to climb back in. Craziness.


Then Bentley decided it'd be fun to stuff all the couch cushions in the play pen. It was a tight fit and Viva decided it wasn't so fun any longer.


Here's a Viva and Jake play moment:


Aren't they the cutest pair?

I think we at this household have unstructured play down to a fine art. The toddlers are very good teachers.