Letter: Play remains an important component of education

Editor: As a teenager, I would appreciate more play time in younger kids’ lives and my life.

Teachers should be giving time for play. We don’t need the whole class to be playful, but we would learn better with a little more play.

I believe it’s very important for schools to understand the value of play.

Children are given a small portion of time at school for playing, I wonder if this is adequate. Perhaps play needs to be more of a priority.

Studies such as BC’s early learning framework describe that “the positive emotions associated with play are as important as the skills they are building in creating a deposition that embraces learning.” Another paragraph states that “play is vital to young children’s daily lives and promotes their healthy physical and intellectual development in ways that cannot be achieved by focusing on narrow pre-academic skills.”

Children can’t learn from sitting and being quiet all the time.

There needs to be play included. The lack of play is not only affecting children’s learning ability, but also emotional development, physical development, social development and cognitive development.

Our schools should be taking this into consideration, supporting more movement, supporting more learning and supporting more play.

Sage Walstra,

Surrey

Langley Times