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THE IMPORTANCE OF PLAY

TeamKids are advocates for all forms of play. We believe it is part of our role to protect the integrity of childhood by advocating for all children to have the opportunity to express their innate curiosity and imagination through play.

There are five major benefits of play beyond improving overall health and quality of life:

  1. Play gives children a chance to discover and develop a connection to their own self-identified and self-guided interests.
  2. Play can increase confidence as they learn new skills and gain amplified self-awareness, self-esteem and self-respect.
  3. Through play, children build resilience and learn how to make decisions, take risks, solve problems, exert self-control, follow rules and deal with new and novel situations.
  4. Play helps children make friends, learn how to handle their emotions, build social etiquette and learn to get along with each other as equals.
  5. Most importantly, play provides children with an amazing source of happiness.

Play is a fundamental component of healthy brain development and builds skills such as problem-solving, collaboration, empathy and creativity; all of which are critical elements that contribute to life-long learning.

HOW TEAMKIDS CULTIVATES CREATIVE LEARNERS THROUGH PLAY

At TeamKids, every decision we make and every activity we deliver is designed to help ensure all children have the opportunity to play and explore the world around them.

We constantly use the phrase, “let the fun begin.” This is not something we take lightly. All the activities and experiences that we develop are built on a firm foundation of play, that leads to fun and enriching experiences.

Our approach to planning is based on the principles of the 4P’s as presented in Mitchel Resnicks’ book, Lifelong Kindergarten, – Cultivating Creativity through Projects, Passion, Peers, and Play. Resnick believes that:

At TeamKids, engagement is how we measure a child’s passion for an activity or experience. Every activity and experience is evaluated to ensure it encourages creative conversations and collaborations that extend the children’s innate passion for turning their ideas into realities.

Through peer interaction and sharing their work children at TeamKids learn about collaborating, negotiating, and being invested in the progress of others. We encourage empathy, sharing ideas, collaborating on projects, and building on one another’s work.

We stimulate and inspire conversations to extend and enrich each child’s perception of how the world works.

Play at TeamKids is all about trying new things, tinkering with different materials, testing boundaries, taking calculated informed risks, and challenging the norm.

At TeamKids, we provide lots of educational resources as well as the time for the children to find the space and time they need to explore their own innate creativity.

Resnick argues that “we learn best when we are actively working on projects. In the course of working on projects, we learn to improvise, adapt, debug, and iterate. By reflecting on the process of design and iteration, we learn not only to solve specific problems but also to hone our abilities to understand and to design solutions to any problem.”

At TeamKids, new and exciting projects are injected into our sessions before, after and during the school holiday programs.

The 4 P’s are based on Mitchel Resnicks’ book: Lifelong Kindergarten, – Cultivating Creativity through Projects, Passion, Peers, and Play.

PLAY AS A PRESCRIPTION

Did you know that between 1981 and 1997, children’s playtime in the US decreased by 25% and in the United Kingdom, time playing outside has declined by 50% in a single generation?

“In 2018, parents of 6-11-year-olds reported that they were playing with their children less than 5 minutes per day” Real Play Coalition

Did you also know that Edelman Intelligence found, “56% of respondents in the survey of 12,710 parents in 10 countries said their kids spend less than an hour every day playing outside – less time than prisoners in a maximum-security prison spend outdoors. One in ten kids never play outside and two-thirds of parents say their kids play less than they did.”

Play is increasingly under threat. Current research suggests that there are a variety of factors that have contributed to this reduction in play. Hurried lifestyle, changes in family structure, increased focus on pushing academics and over-scheduling structured activities, all that the expense of playtime. “Whether for reasons of safety (51% of parents agree they would like their children to play outside but are too worried about their safety) or growing pressures on children (one in five say they are “too busy” to play), it is clear that play is under threat in the home, in schools and in the community across the world.” (source: Real Play Coalition)

  • 92% of children say they want more play in their lives
  • 93% of children say that play makes them feel happier
  • 1 in 5 children say they are ‘too busy’ to play

At TeamKids, we feel really strongly about encouraging play, driving awareness of the transformational benefits and spreading the word about how our programs revolve around play and having fun. Outside School Hours Care is no longer just a service that helps busy families. TeamKids give parents peace of mind that their child is getting access to play whenever attending any of our premium services.

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