“The Importance of Play in Promoting Healthy Child Development and Maintaining Strong Parent-Child Bonds” is available from the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Free and unstructured playtime is necessary to help children reach social, emotional, and cognitive milestones, as well as help them lower their levels of stress, a report concludes.
The report, sponsored by the American Academy of Pediatrics, was written in response to trends seen as threatening time for children to participate in free play, such as the increasing competitiveness of the college-admissions process and tougher academic demands that have caused some K-12 schools to reduce time for recess and physical education.
