Study: Free unstructured play essential for children's development

The children who build forts out of cardboard boxes today will be better equipped to be problem-solvers tomorrow, according to a report from the American Academy of Pediatrics.
The study said free and unstructured play is essential for the development of "social, emotional and cognitive developmental milestones."
Local pediatricians and child psychologists agree with the study, saying unstructured play encourages problem solving skills and teaches children valuable lessons they will use throughout life.
Dr. Morrison Farish, pediatrician at Eastern Carolina Pediatric Associates, is on staff at Carolinas Hospital System. He said "make-believe" play is the way to go.
"Unstructured activity is an important thing for children because it helps them use their imagination," he said. "It causes them to think and problem solve better."
Farish said certain toys are better suited for unstructured play.
"I think the types of toys you can use your imagination to do things with are better than others," he said. "My kids had Legos. They could build all kinds of things - castles, boats and space ships."
It's a common misconception that unstructured play means a parent has to sit and do nothing but watch his or her child for hours on end, Farish said.
"Unfortunately, our society is headed in the direction that it's easier for a parent to put the kid in front of a PlayStation rather than letting them play and go at it," he said. "Unstructured play does not need to last for hours. It can be while dad is paying the bills and mom is cooking supper."
Farish said he remembers his parents sending him and his friends outside to play - something that doesn't happen often in today's society.
"We made things out of sticks," he said with a laugh. "My parents put me in the back yard and told me to play. We did a lot of imaginary play then.
"I don't know if it's the concern of time, violence or what - we just don't have time for our children to go out in the back yard and play anymore."
Dr. Lea Pritchard-Boone, a child psychologist with the Behavioral Health Group located in McLeod Medical Plaza, said unstructured play is pivotal to a child's development, but warns parents not to completely forgo structured playtime.
"I don't know that I would say it is more or less important than structured play but, at the very least, it is equally important," she said.
The best toys to encourage a child's imagination are such items as balls, blocks and art materials, Pritchard-Boone said.
"Paints, glues, glitters - things nobody wants to put in a child's hand, but that is really important to put in a child's hands," she said.
Children who are exposed to plenty of unstructured play often look at the world from a different perspective, Pritchard-Boone said.
"It's sort of the difference between an interior designer designing a room or a bedroom-in-the-box," she said. "Without unstructured play, kids - and later, adults - would be limited to cookie-cutter perspectives and cookie-cutter methods of responding to problems."