Unstructured Play News Today

Free play is essential for children’s development and for their physical, mental, and social health. Opportunities to engage in outdoor free play—and risky play in particular—have declined significantly in recent years, in part because safety measures have sought to prevent all play-related injuries rather than focusing on serious and fatal injuries. Risky play is defined by thrilling and exciting forms of free play that involve uncertainty of outcome and a possibility of physi...

We polled a range of health and fitness industry experts for their predictions on what to expect in the coming year.

A lack of unstructured and unsupervised play is causing mental health issues for kids, a leading child psychologist and respected psychiatrist have argued.

Lisa Jean Francois reveals her 12 best tips for preparing her sons for back to school-- even if you're homeschooling your children!

Unorganized sports and the benefits that come with them are decreasing among youth athletes. Find out why and how those pickup games...

Developing children need a lot of movement. We all intuitively know that, although it can be hard to do these days, especially in the midst of the pandemic. But let’s stick with our intuition here—kids need to move their bodies wherever that might be. Its an important part of their development both physically and mentally. Now, pay attention—both adults and kids need to move in all sorts of ways at many different intervals throughout the day, something I call "movement snacks." You can th...

School. and so they have different classrooms. its set up a little bit more for what this is being used for, which looks a lot like what you would expect an orphanage to look like. they are given a few hours outside every day. structured play, unstructured play. they have classrooms inside. they are sleeping three to four in bedrooms. they are all given clothing as they come in. and you know, when we came, there was about 24 of them that were playing soccer in the back. so they are being given i...