Free play
The world is constantly changing. To be an integral part of our time each and everyone of us must face challenging questions and seek new solutions. While playing children practice skills that are necessary in adulthood: empathy, creativity, problem solving and enterprising spirit. Children practice these abilities best if they are free from adult direction.
Free play gives children space to satisfy their instinctive need to express themselves, to make sense of the world around them. The freedom to choose and explore, create, move around and challenge themselves and others is also vital to building self-esteem.
With less adult involvement children can make their own choices and follow their instincts. In so many other parts of their lives children are bound by rules set by parents or teachers, but in their games they can explore their independence, their boundaries and their fears. Play must be free, varied and changeable, to give each child the opportunity to develop as an independent, creative and enterprising citizen of the world.
Photo: Kim Naylor
