Benge's Brainiacs: Take Time to Let Them PLAY!

Yeppers, I played along with 60,000 others -- give or take a several dozen--though the most I had in my classroom was 38. :) Today was the first annual Global School Play Day. Check out the Twitter feeds-- #GSPD and #GSPD15 --to see the fun that went on around the globe.

I had seen a few tweets about #GSPD about a month or two ago and it sparked an interest in me, but I was afraid it wasn't a middle school type activity. Well, thankfully, my coworker and friend, Anthony Purcell, (@MrP_tchr) brought the idea to our grade level meeting nearly three weeks ago. I was THRILLED when we as a team all saw the beneficial aspects of a sixth grade play day.

I'm probably not telling you anything you don't know, but most kiddos these days are "plugged in" an awful lot. They're plugged in to games, smartphones, music, computers, iPads, laptops, and other devices. They're plugged into team sports, academic team, dance, music lessons, drama club, cheer, band, and loads of other organized activities. Studies are coming to light that show an increase in attention-deficit issues, stress and depression in direct correlation with a decrease in playtime. Children are so busy and plugged in so often there is little time to simply play and create and imagine. Here is an article that highlights many of the free-play benefits and has a link to such research.

In addition to the "plugged-in" diversions, my students have added roadblocks of poverty and familial responsibilities. There are some students who babysit for several hours a night most school nights while parents/adults work second or third shifts. Some of the homes represented may not have funds to buy toys or games -- or perhaps the adults don't see the benefit of games. I'm not sure, I'm merely speculating.

All this to say our kiddos don't really know

the art of playing.

Nearly three weeks ago the sixth grade teachers at my middle school organized the subject area classes into areas of play: card games, board games, jigsaw puzzles, logic puzzles, cardboard box construction, physical game/playground games. Each teacher chose an area(s) for their room. We tied in academics, too--students with the highest AR points got "Play Passes" which would allow them to travel to a non-scheduled classroom for an hour. The top 20 students received 5 passes, the next got 4, and so on. Students with less than 10 points didn't receive Play Passes. They still played, but they didn't have the added benefit of choosing the room in which they played. (I think I saw a few kids kicking themselves for not taking a few more AR tests. Ha!)

I snapped a few photos of the creative chaos. While it gives you a glimpse into the GSPD of room 212, these photos don't show you what I was privileged to see...