Fantasy-based pretend play is beneficial to children's mental abilities

[Tanaqui]

Fantasy-based pretend play is beneficial to children's mental abilities

 

To prepare our children to meet the goals of a complex world, we should pull them out of their managed world and plop them in the mermaid’s court. That’s the verdict of a randomised control trial published recently in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology that found American pre-schoolers who engaged in fantastical pretend play showed improvements to their executive function – the suite of cognitive abilities that organises thought and actions to achieve goals.

 

I'm not surprised. I just wish we could convince the schools around here! They brag about how "pre-k isn't about playing" and the like. And the parents will say "I don't want my kid playing in school" when they're talking about their babies, practically, just three and four years old! Of course, I don't like to blame people for their own ignorance, but if the schools knew better they could help educate the parents.

 

[maize]

So much of what our schools do is out of sync with the science of cognitive development.

[ElizabethB]

So much of what our schools do is out of sync with the science of cognitive development.

So true. Recent brain research shows proof that for phonics is superior to sight words and that the brains of good readers are reading every sound, just super fast in parallel, but there were years of studies before that, here is poor Keith Stanovich, one of my favorite reading researchers, lamenting that the research is ignored:

 

The history of reading instruction illustrates the high cost that is paid when the peer-reviewed literature is ignored, when the normal processes of scientific adjudication are replaced with political debates and rhetorical posturing. A vast literature has been generated on best practices that foster children’s reading acquisition (Adams, 1990; Anderson, Hiebert, Scott, & Wilkinson, 1985; Chard & Osborn, 1999; Cunningham & Allington, 1994; Ehri, Nunes, Stahl, & Willows, 2001; Moats, 1999; National Reading Panel, 2000; Pearson, 1993; Pressley, 1998; Pressley, Rankin, & Yokol, 1996; Rayner, Foorman, Perfetti, Pesetsky, & Seidenberg, 2002; Reading Coherence Initiative, 1999; Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998; Spear-Swerling & Sternberg, 2001). Yet much of this literature remains unknown to many teachers, contributing to the frustrating lack of clarity about accepted, scientifically validated findings and conclusions on reading acquisition.

Edited April 9, 2016 by ElizabethB

[SparklyUnicorn]

What I wonder is why everything they do has become so highly organized.  They aren't given much time to do whatever.  So then in situations where they do have some free time, they don't know what to do with it. 

 

Years ago I sent both of mine to a boys and girls club afterschool program.  When they started off they had activities they could choose from or they could choose to hang out and not do anything in particular.  A year later they completely changed how they operated.  They moved from that to rotating the kids through very specific activities giving them no choice and no time for any free play.  My kids hated it.  I don't blame them. 

[Julie Smith]

My boys and their friend has such a complex original universe they play in. They have teddy governments, wars, back stories, rebellions, ... For writing my son (who doesn't enjoy writing much) wrote out the beginning part of one of the universes and it is about 1000 words long. 

 

The three boys will just sat around for a couple hours a week for the past few years creating the universe. They even have games within the universe. 

[SparklyUnicorn]

Oh, but this reminds me.  My kids are involved with various on-line fantasy type games (with other kids).  They set up governments and various simulated situations.  It's one of the few instances where they can "play" freely with other kids.

 

 

[Tanaqui]

What I wonder is why everything they do has become so highly organized.  They aren't given much time to do whatever.  So then in situations where they do have some free time, they don't know what to do with it. 

 

Years ago I sent both of mine to a boys and girls club afterschool program.  When they started off they had activities they could choose from or they could choose to hang out and not do anything in particular.  A year later they completely changed how they operated.  They moved from that to rotating the kids through very specific activities giving them no choice and no time for any free play.  My kids hated it.  I don't blame them. 

 

When I was a child, one of the long-running pastimes my sister and I engaged in was writing the schedule for our imaginary boarding school or summer camp. (As you can imagine, we'd never attended one of those.)

 

We used to micromanage the heck out of our students! Free time? Yeah, I've got your class slotted in for seven minutes Wednesday afternoon, in between archery and pottery. What? That's not enough! You're crazy!

 

Of course, we had scads of free time most of our childhood....

[SparklyUnicorn]

When I was a child, one of the long-running pastimes my sister and I engaged in was writing the schedule for our imaginary boarding school or summer camp. (As you can imagine, we'd never attended one of those.)

 

We used to micromanage the heck out of our students! Free time? Yeah, I've got your class slotted in for seven minutes Wednesday afternoon, in between archery and pottery. What? That's not enough! You're crazy!

 

Of course, we had scads of free time most of our childhood....

 

Yeah growing up we often did stuff like this with other kids in the neighborhood.  Anything from elaborate games of cops and robbers to pretending we ran a school.

 

I know other kids live on our street, but I never see them.  They don't go outside that I can tell. 

[Julie Smith]

This week lots of the conversation was about the various conversion rate between the different types of currencies used by the various nations. Also which nations used which types of currencies and why. The names of the types of money used and the type of money (coins, bills, credit cards, debit cards, barter system, poops, (yes I think one country used dried poop as money)

 

This had to be discussed for several hours. 

[SparklyUnicorn]

This week lots of the conversation was about the various conversion rate between the different types of currencies used by the various nations. Also which nations used which types of currencies and why. The names of the types of money used and the type of money (coins, bills, credit cards, debit cards, barter system, poops, (yes I think one country used dried poop as money)

 

This had to be discussed for several hours. 

 

dried up poop as currency....now that IS interesting

[OneStepAtATime]

https://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity?language=en

[Julie Smith]

dried up poop as currency....now that IS interesting

 

Now lets see if I have this correct. The short story is:

 

I have a brown teddy bear named Ted. He has a very high opinion of himself. He even takes credit for all Ted talks on youtube. He has many other names one of them is Poop Master 2000. Ted thinks this name is great, but actually the name means that he is only a rank 2000 poop master. But that is still a high enough rank that he can make poops that can come to life. Every brown throw pillow, and one body pillow in our house is one of his poops. All of the poops have gained intelligence and are named in French based on which poop they most resemble on the Bristol poop scale. The poops treat him as a parent and Numéro Quatre is their leader.

 

Well if you are a Teddy, in the Brown bear society but are not a high enough ranked poop master to have your poops gain intelligence - then those poops can be used as currency. How much each poop is worth is based on the rank of poop master of the teddy who created the poop.

 

My boys were then going to tell me which nations like to exchange currency with the poopy teddies. And which nations/races value the poop and whether or not the teddies value the currency those nations use... 

 

But I had heard enough. It can be enough to make your head spin. 

[ReadingMama1214]

Now lets see if I have this correct. The short story is:

 

I have a brown teddy bear named Ted. He has a very high opinion of himself. He even takes credit for all Ted talks on youtube. He has many other names one of them is Poop Master 2000. Ted thinks this name is great, but actually the name means that he is only a rank 2000 poop master. But that is still a high enough rank that he can make poops that can come to life. Every brown throw pillow, and one body pillow in our house is one of his poops. All of the poops have gained intelligence and are named in French based on which poop they most resemble on the Bristol poop scale. The poops treat him as a parent and Numéro Quatre is their leader.

 

Well if you are a Teddy, in the Brown bear society but are not a high enough ranked poop master to have your poops gain intelligence - then those poops can be used as currency. How much each poop is worth is based on the rank of poop master of the teddy who created the poop.

 

My boys were then going to tell me which nations like to exchange currency with the poopy teddies. And which nations/races value the poop and whether or not the teddies value the currency those nations use...

 

But I had heard enough. It can be enough to make your head spin.

This is fantastic and gross. Your boys are such boys! Never a dull moment!

 

My daughter is only 4, but has an insane imagination. She often creates elaborate play scenarios with her hands and feet to keep herself occupied in the car. It cracks me up.

 

I had a similar childhood of spending a lot of time in my own imagination. One summer, my friends and I organized and ran our own babysitters club. It was fantastic. We spent a lot of time exploring a swamp behind our house pretending to find Amelia Earhart. Or we used to pretend to be the Salem witches and make "potions" out of berries and leaves we found. It was fantastic.

[Tanaqui]

I know other kids live on our street, but I never see them.  They don't go outside that I can tell.

 

All the kids on our block play outside for hours on end. Except my two, who for some reason cannot stand any other child on this block. I don't know what their deal is. I have to throw them outside with dire threats about rickets.

 

I had a similar childhood of spending a lot of time in my own imagination. One summer, my friends and I organized and ran our own babysitters club. It was fantastic. We spent a lot of time exploring a swamp behind our house pretending to find Amelia Earhart. Or we used to pretend to be the Salem witches and make "potions" out of berries and leaves we found. It was fantastic.

 

That sounds great.

 

Hey, did you guys ever read this article?

 

Hart’s research became the basis for a BBC documentary, which he recently showed me in his office at the City University of New York. One long scene takes place across a river where the kids would go to build what they called “river houses,†structures made from branches and odds and ends they’d snuck out from home. In one scene, Joanne and her sister Sylvia show the filmmakers the “house†they made, mostly from orange and brown sheets slung over branches. The furniture has been built with love and wit—the TV, for example, is a crate on a rock with a magazine glamour shot taped onto the front. The phone is a stone with a curled piece of wire coming out from under it.

 

The girls should be self-conscious because they are being filmed, but they are utterly at home, flipping their hair, sitting close to each other on crates, and drawing up plans for how to renovate. Nearby, their 4-year-old brother is cutting down a small tree with a hatchet for a new addition. The girls and their siblings have logged hundreds of hours here over the years; their mother has never been here, not once, they say, because she doesn’t like to get her toes wet.

 

It sounds idyllic - but they're not letting their kids grow up that way.

 

[TechWife]

Every time I read about a study like this I think "no kidding!"

 

Do you think, just maybe, that my parents' generation knew what they were doing?

 

This is not new information, it's just that it got forgotten along the way by a generation that decided to listen to the "experts."

[SparklyUnicorn]

Every time I read about a study like this I think "no kidding!"

 

Do you think, just maybe, that my parents' generation knew what they were doing?

 

This is not new information, it's just that it got forgotten along the way by a generation that decided to listen to the "experts."

 

I don't know, but this trend (of not giving kids time to play) really did start when I was a kid.  More and more kids were going to school younger and younger and K was starting to become more and more academic.  Recess got shorter.  Lunch periods got shorter.  In elementary our lunch period was 15 minutes.  That was ok if you brought a lunch.  If not you might have a couple of minutes to scarf down your purchased lunch.  On what universe is 15 minutes an acceptable lunch duration?  As an adult working I'd get 1/2 hour minimum and in many jobs an hour.

 

I did not grow up in my current area.  When I first moved here kids would go to school in the dark and come home in the dark.  Recess was at the discretion of the teacher (many of them stopped letting their class out for recess).  Lunch was too short.  Fast forward to now and they have made some improvements in this department.  Recess is now given.  Lunch is longer.  The school days have been shortened.  But really it was getting incredibly ridiculous.  However, still everything is highly structured.  Afterschool care is highly structured and heavy on academic type stuff.  I highly value education, but i don't see why spending all day and night on book work is necessary for anyone. 

[Farrar]

My kids must be genuises by now.  :tongue_smilie: Seriously, they're still at it at age 11. Sometimes ds is telling me about some video game or movie and suddenly I realize it's completely imaginary.

 

I think it's hard for schools because pretend play is so difficult to quantify. And these days if you can't quantify and test it, you can't put resources into it.

[JumpyTheFrog]

I wonder how much of the switch to highly structured time is to cut down on bullying or poor behavior.

[Tanaqui]

I wonder how much of the switch to highly structured time is to cut down on bullying or poor behavior.

 

Well, if that's the case, they may be taking entirely the wrong approach.

[maize]

 

I think it's hard for schools because pretend play is so difficult to quantify. And these days if you can't quantify and test it, you can't put resources into it.

BINGO! I think this is a huge kink in our education system. Test and measure and quantify so we can have NUMBERS to point to our achievements. Because without numbers nothing is real.

 

 

I've often wondered about the lives of the other kids who share activities with my kids. We're usually involved in a fairly intensive extracurricular schedule, but my kids are coming to their evening classes after a fairly relaxed, unstructured day at home. What about the kids who go straight from school to several hours of structured lessons and activities?

[Spy Car]

Children are fully capable of enjoying creative playtime and learning in more structured ways.

 

These things are complementary, and NOT mutually exclusive.

 

Says the father of a boy who loves his fantasy play time, and who enjoys school.

 

Bill

[Farrar]

:001_rolleyes: Oh Bill, you're so predictable. I'm not sure who you're arguing with. The research doesn't say eliminate all structured school. I looked over the thread and no one seems to be saying that. We're bemoaning that the balance is off in most schools these days - there's only one and not the other.

[SKL]

Well, between my two kids, the one with the better "executive function" is the one who was a lot less imaginative as a little kid.  She is very aware of what is going on in the world, what everyone else is doing, and what's going to happen next and next and next.  She is constantly planning and takes responsibility and executes, and is accountable when things don't go right.  My dreamy kid is pretty much the opposite.  She may have wonderful visions, and may even articulate ideas for making things happen, but it doesn't really ever get out of the dreaming stage.

 

That's not to say my dreamy kid is a troublemaker.  She just checks out.  And I was the same way as a kid.  I was super quiet in class because I was checked out, thinking about things that could never happen and failing to pay attention to what actually was happening.  :P  (In my defense, I was cognitively way ahead of my class, so it was sort of a survival strategy, and the same may be true for my Miss Dreamy.)  When people talk about problems with "executive function," they usually aren't talking about the kids who are sitting quietly, not bothering anyone, following along physically but not really engaging much of the time.  But that doesn't mean the quiet, dreamy kids are better equipped to take on the world.

[Spy Car]

:001_rolleyes: Oh Bill, you're so predictable. I'm not sure who you're arguing with. The research doesn't say eliminate all structured school. I looked over the thread and no one seems to be saying that. We're bemoaning that the balance is off in most schools these days - there's only one and not the other.

 

I'm predictable? How about those who take research that shows day-dreaming is good for children's minds as an excuse to take swipes at schools? Gets really old.

 

There are times for everything, fantasy play included. 

 

Bill

[Tanaqui]

I'm predictable? How about those who take research that shows day-dreaming is good for children's minds as an excuse to take swipes at schools? Gets really old.

 

We're not talking about daydreaming - we're talking about fantasy play. And nobody here is "taking swipes at schools" except for specific schools, known to us, that don't have much time for play even in early elementary - schools which don't think there are "times for everything, fantasy play included".

[maize]

Children are fully capable of enjoying creative playtime and learning in more structured ways.

 

These things are complementary, and NOT mutually exclusive.

 

Says the father of a boy who loves his fantasy play time, and who enjoys school.

 

Bill

Not sure if you are responding to me, but if so you are misinterpreting my meaning. If your son has time for free play--great!!! The kids I am referencing literally get home from school, eat a snack, and get in the car to go to organized activities that last until 9:00 at night. They do homework in the car. They go home, go to bed, and repeat the process the next day.

 

It worries me immensely. I have a child to whom this intensive activity is very important, but there is no way I would allow that kind of schedule. We school year round and keep things simple so she has free time during the day.

 

Our schools by and large neglect children's need for free play and exploration, and in many communities after-school time is either equally structured or allowed to devolve almost exclusively into media time. What is good in moderation--structured activities, virtual entertainment--can leave gaping developmental gaps when not properly balanced.

 

This is not something homeschoolers made up. I have a graduate degree in education and serve on a school board consisting primarily of university professors in the fields of child development and education. The school we direct seeks to apply current research in education and cognitive development--including much more child directed activity.

[Spy Car]

If parents are adding 5 hours a day of structured extra-curricular activities that allow children zero time to unwind on a daily basis, that is not the fault of America's schools.

 

Bill

 

 

[SKL]

The experiment had a teacher lead a group of 3-5yos through a fantastical script.  Doesn't that sound *structured*?  It doesn't indicate that it was led by the children's own imagination.  Also it was only 15 minutes a day, and it was compared to a control group that did a different type of structured activity for that time period.

 

Personally I'm not a big fan of structuring the play of preschoolers.  My imaginative kid could come up with her own fantasy play ideas and spend a lot more than 15 minutes doing it.

 

I think maybe what this experiment did was teach some non-imaginitive kids how to visualize.  Getting kids to visualize (if they don't naturally do this) is supposedly really good for cognitive and executive function.  It doesn't have to be guided fantasy play, though.

[SKL]

Some structured activities my kids do (theater, sports, etc.) also encourage visualization.

 

The article isn't about free play or decompressing.

[SKL]

Oh and if you read far down enough, it says there was no statistical difference between the fantasy play group and a no-play control group that just did lessons during that time period.  Hmm, they decided not to comment on that.

[maize]

It IS the fault of the schools when they set six year olds at desks all day except for a thirty minute lunch at which they are required to sit in their seats and not even speak to each other. Yes, that was the school my nephew was in. Goes against every bit of cognitive development research we have, but it is not at all an uncommon model. Particularly in the early elementary years, most schools are far, far from developmentally appropriate. Researchers and educators know this--it really isn't at all controversial within the field. It happens for a variety of reasons--top-down policies such as too much mandated testing; large numbers of children in a class and low tolerance for the natural chaos that undirected children bring; cultural perceptions that "learning" happens best when children are sitting quietly at tables or desks, and, as pointed out above, the fact that the gains made through unstructured play and child directed activities in general are difficult to quantify.

 

Do some schools do better? Sure. Mostly those in more affluent areas, with community support, educated parents, and higher than average funding. It is very rare to find a school that actually mirrors what we know about child development. And yes, this matters. Schools don't have our children all day, true, but they have them for a significant portion of the day. Developmentally appropriate balance during those hours is not too much to expect.

Edited April 10, 2016 by maize

[Tanaqui]

If parents are adding 5 hours a day of structured extra-curricular activities that allow children zero time to unwind on a daily basis, that is not the fault of America's schools.

 

 

1. America is the third most populated nation in the world. Our schools are diverse. There isn't much use in discussing "America's schools" as some sort of monolith, and I don't believe anybody here was doing so.

 

2. If the school gives an unreasonable homework burden, or does not have any schedule break times, then that IS the fault of that school or school district.