The Importance of Recess

Recess. In a society plagued with a desire to always be the best, and statistics that point out that the United States is trailing other developed countries in mathematics and science, it may seem like an unnecessary frivolity. Surely, you may think, students would benefit more from 15 minutes more of math lessons than time spent running around. Wouldn’t extra time spent on multiplication tables or fractions provide more intellectual stimulation than a game of tag?

Well, as it turns out, probably not.

According to studies done by Stanford University and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), recess is an incredibly important part of each child’s day. Not only does it provide children with the opportunity to burn off excess energy, it provides them with downtime “between complex cognitive challenges,” something that Dr. Robert Murray – a co-author of the AAP study – indicates is imperative to their ability to process information. He states, “[Children] tend to be less able to process information the longer they are held to a task. It’s not enough to just switch from math to English. You actually have to take a break.”

Similarly, the Stanford study points out that “a positive school climate,” of which recess is an integral component, “has been linked to a host of favorable student outcomes, from attendance to achievement.” That said, the AAP study found that only three states – Delaware, Virginia, and Nebraska – require 20-minutes of mandatory recess per day, and that only six states – Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, Illinois, and Iowa – adhere to standards from the National Association for Sports and Physical Education that children should be participating in a minimum of 150 minutes of physical education per week.

The importance of recess is so crucial, in fact, that the AAP has “outlined a set of guidelines intended to help schools develop positive recess programs.” These guidelines include the following points:

• Recess should be considered a child’s personal time, and it should not be withheld for academic or punitive reasons,
• To be effective, the frequency and duration of breaks should be sufficient to allow the student to mentally decompress,
• Peer interactions during recess are a unique complement to the classroom. The lifelong skills acquired for communication, negotiation, cooperation, sharing, problem solving, and coping are not only foundations for healthy development but also fundamental measures of the school experience.

Both studies also present a further component of a successful recess program: safety. As school budgets are being cut, playground and sporting equipment are often the last things to be refurbished or replaced. Parent-organizations, therefore, are an excellent resource to provide the school with newer, safer equipment. Whether you’re planning fundraisers to purchase new kickballs and basketball hoops, or creating sign-up sheets for a playground clean-up day, Pay4SchoolStuff.com can help make your organization’s recess-improvement endeavors easier and less hectic!

For more information on Pay4SchoolStuff.com visit our website, call us at (877) 397-2937, or email us at [email protected].