Playtime must find place of importance in the day’s routine of children, for key life lessons are learnt in this manner

The United Nations High Commission for Human Rights recognises play as a fundamental right for every child. Play time must be looked at as an opportunity to enhance overall development of children and not something that is adopted at the expense of academic achievement. Thus, play is not an antithesis to brain and whole child development, but an important aspect of it.

Very often, children are told that they can play once they finish their homework. In other instances, play time is used synonymously as organised sports classes. However, play is characterised by choice, wonder, and delight. Hence, children have to be provided with adequate opportunities both for structured and unstructured play.

Unstructured play, also known as free play, is predominantly child-led. Children design these experiences for themselves to seek moments of happiness and excitement. These opportunities look like making up games and creating rules of fair play. Play-time structured or led by adults, while beneficial, reaps limited benefits.

The idea is to make children participate in experiences that are self-directed moments. Research indicates that it is the unstructured moments in which children experience wonder and delight. During real play, children shape the meaning they derive from their worlds and ascribe the same to other experiences.

In choosing types of games, critical thought and self-awareness are required. Children’s day is scheduled for the routine of the day or the timetable of the school. Children get limited opportunities to experience agency and choice. While engaging in playtime, children are not only making conscious choices about who to play with but also what and how to play. They even make decisions regarding team members; when does one win, and strategize about how they can win. These decisions which seem insignificant are building blocks of executive functions.

Same skills are employed when organising self-study, choosing careers, and also when making emotional life choices. Exposure to decision making and evaluating provides a framework for thinking.

Children acquire tools such as pros and cons, logical reasoning and even organising their emotions. They learn to collaborate with peers to arrive at a conclusion.

Unstructured play gives students the language to communicate their own thoughts respectfully and negotiation tactics. Furthermore, team-based play inculcates essential leadership skills as well.

Play time, which engrosses children in a state of wonder, develops key areas of the brain responsible for constructing thought and imagination. These skills are also useful for projection into the future. A child who can imagine make-believe scenarios during play would also be adept at imagining his or her success in the future. They would be able to think through who they want to be when they grow up. A core component of achievement is the ability to set vision and goals for an unknown tomorrow.

Playtime builds this awareness of scenarios that feel joyful and motivating. Such awareness helps them take better steps towards personal achievement, such as, staying in friendships, which bring a feeling of happiness and safety, choosing subject areas which instil pride, and eventually staying in professions, which harness one’s full potential.

Delight is an underrated aspect of a child’s life. Much like adults, experiencing happiness provides encouragement to take on challenging situations and embrace resilience. Feeling truly satisfied empowers the child to do more.

When they experience delight, they find it within their potential to do something just a tad bit more challenging than what they could do the last time. So, the arena for hide and seek becomes larger or the introduction of special powers during play is often seen. Building the schema of tackling tough tasks after experiencing joy is essential for other aspects as well. One may notice children doing simpler content before attempting to study the more difficult subjects. One might also notice children being able to do more challenging work when they are working with their friends. It is the feeling of happiness that propels them forward.

As long as we continue to look at playing as the opposite of academics, we are doing a disservice to children. As adults, we engage with play too, through board games or other party games. Try and remember how you felt in that moment, and how it might have impacted your functioning. Now imagine how much children could benefit if they got to experience that consistently. How well it might prepare them for a complex, challenging world.

(The author is head of literacy, The Acres Foundation)