School Playground Games

All school, no play? Kids' learning suffers without recess

When Deborah Gilboa's second-oldest son Nadav started coming home from first grade with discipline warnings from his teacher, Gilboa and her husband were perplexed. Nadav, who had just turned 6, had the same teacher in kindergarten and had rarely gotten into trouble.

So Gilboa, a family medicine doctor in Pittsburgh who consults at Deborahgilboamd.com, and her husband sat down to ask their son what was going on. He had the answer right away.

"He said, 'In kindergarten we had recess twice a day and we went to gym twice a week,'" Gilboa told LiveScience. Now, as a first-grader, Nadav's class only went to gym once every six days. They had one recess period a day, split with lunch, so that Nadav had only about 15 minutes a day to run around.

"He said, 'I get this feeling in my legs when they want to run and that feeling moves up to my belly and when that feeling moves up to my head I can't remember what the rules are," Gilboa said. "So he had really noticed a big change in his own behavior and self-control."

For kids like Nadav, the transition from summer freedom to the grindstone of the classroom may be tough. With schools under pressure to meet standardized testing goals, recess has been cut back and even eliminated in some school districts. The irony, experts say, is that schools may be shooting themselves in the foot by taking away playtime that's crucial to a child's growth.

The Top 5 Benefits of Play

An overall decrease in playtime in even young children is resulting in kids who don't have a "culture of play," said Jill Vialet, the founder of Playworks, a nonprofit dedicated to improving the climate of play in schools, teaching kids the kinds of games they would have once learned from older peers.

Children's free playtime has dropped over the years, replaced by structured activities and screen time, including television and computer use , studies suggest. A 2003 report by the Kaiser Family Foundation revealed that a quarter of kids under age 6 watched TV for at least two hours a day; these same kids spent 30 minutes less per day playing outside than kids who didn't spend so much time in front of a screen.

At the same time, unstructured childhood time is vanishing. A pair of University of Maryland studies of children's time use found that in 1981, kids ages 6 to 12 had about 57 hours of free time per week. By 2003, kids had only 48 hours in which to choose their own activities. Time spent outdoors was especially hard-hit.

Top 15 Playground Games & Activities | School Outfitters Blog

The arrival of spring and warm weather usually means kids have one thing on their mind: outdoor recess. Playing outdoors helps engage imaginations, encourage teamwork, develop motor skills and keep children healthy.

Playground games have always been a recess tradition, with activities ranging from kickball and hopscotch to a simple game of tag. If you’ve found yourself wondering what to do with students during recess, look no further. The list below will help give you an idea of which games your students can play and the items that they’ll need for each one:

1. Jump-Rope/Double Dutch – A playground classic, this activity works great for single or multiple children. Kids can get hours of enjoyment and exercise out of jumping in time to rhymes or competing with one another to see who can jump the most.

Players : Rubber Ball (set of 6 shown) & playground chalk

4. Bocce – This simple game requires only an open expanse of grass or asphalt and a set of Bocce balls. The game begins when a player throws the smaller ball, called a jack, towards the middle of the playing area. Each player must then throw their remaining balls in an attempt to get as close to the jack as possible. A player gets one point for each of their balls that are closer to the jack than the closest ball of the other team or player.

Players : Tetherball Set

7. Croquet – Encourage students to build tactical thinking skills with this classic outdoor game. Each match involves two players who must hit colored balls through embedded hoops with a mallet, starting at one wicket and striving to reach to other end of the pitch. There are a variety of ways to play this game, but all games require strategy and planning to win.

Players : Tug of War Rope

13. Dodgeball – Another playground classic, this game typically begins with two teams on opposite sides of a basketball court or field, with four playground balls placed on a center line. On a signal, all players rush to grab a ball and tag opposing team members by throwing the ball. If the targeted player is hit, he or she is eliminated, but if the player catches the ball, the throwing player is then eliminated. Softer playground balls ensure that no one is hurt during play.

Players : Flag Set

15. Hopscotch – As one of the oldest playground games in existence, hopscotch has entertained countless generations of schoolyard kids. With only some chalk and beanbags, your students can have hours of fun at little expense. The game consists of a court divided into 10 numbered squares that players must hop through, returning once they reach the end. The opening player must throw the beanbag marker onto a square before starting, skipping that square as they hop through and back. Players who touch the edges, miss a square or lose their balance get eliminated. The first player to complete the course by skipping each square at least once wins the game.