Please Let Me Play!

The American Association of Pediatrics recommends that children under two years old should not watch any television and that older children should not be watching more one to two hours a day

Despite these recommendations, the average American child watches between 20 to 30 hours of television each week. This means that children spend more time watching television than any other single waking activity.

What happens when our children are watching television (or playing video games)?

Television reduces learning and discovery time

I'm not saying that a child can't learn to count by watching Sesame Street.
She will learn to count faster, however, if she counts the number of steps she needs to walk up to get to her house or the number of crayons she uses to draw a picture. There is no end to the number of facts a child will discover in his backyard or at the local park.

Young children also need free time to learn through imaginative play. Just dressing up, building a castle out of blocks or sitting around daydreaming is essential for helping a young child to develop his imagination. If every free moment is spent in front of the TV, imaginative play will not happen.

Television Teaches Children To Expect Instant Gratification

Watching television is always easy. The fun happens, it happens fast and you don't have to work to get it. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of real life. Instead, real life is a series of challenges that sometimes require slow and methodical work to get results.

Watching Television Violence Can Affect Your Child's Opinions And Behavior

According to the American Psychological Association, watching lots of television violence can have the following three negative effects:
Children may become less sensitive to the pain and suffering of others.
Children may become more fearful of the world around them.
Children may be more likely to behave in aggressive ways towards others.

Television Watching Decreases Social Interaction Time

Watching television takes away time that children might otherwise spend interacting with other children and developing much needed social skills. Make sure your young child spends plenty of time with real people and not just looking at a machine

Television Watching Can Decrease Physical Activity

Young children are always on the move. Movement is part of what has traditionally kept most young children thin and trim. A recent study of pre-school children found that over the course of the previous two decades, more four and five-year-old children are overweight. One suggested reason for this finding is the number of hours that young children are spending watching television, instead of moving, running and exploring their environments.
Even if your child is not overweight, physical activity is essential for appropriate health, growth and development. Television is a passive activity and if your child spends too much time sitting and watching, it may affect his level of physical fitness. A child's physical coordination affects his learning ability, so children also need physical movement to help acquire age appropriate developmental skills.

The possible negative physical effects of watching television are not mitigated by the quality of the television show your child watches. No matter how "educational" the television show is, it is simply not healthy for your child to spend a significant part of his life sitting and watching a screen

A child learns through play – in all ways, a truth adults do not always understand.
David Elkind, psychologist and author (“The Hurried Child”), says of play:
“Young children learn best by playing and following their own curiosities, by solving real problems, such as how to balance a stack of blocks, or how to negotiate a zipper, put together a picture puzzle and most of all, by making mistakes and trying again. “

What does your child want you to know?
Simply this:

When I play – I learn!

I paint and scribble and color and draw – and I learn

To develop my imagination and creativity
To develop eye-hand coordination
To distinguish and purposely create shapes
To express my feelings and ideas
That my ideas have values
Relationships of space and size
Concepts of symmetry, balance, and design
About how colors mix to make new colors
To distinguish patterns from a background
An acceptable way to make a mess
To hold a pencil or other drawing implement and to control the pressure
To express myself with words when describing my drawing
The basic strokes of the printed language
To control the small muscles in my hands

I play with play-doh, sand, water - and I learn

About different textures
How to create patterns and designs
To exercise my Imagination and creativity
How to use tools
To solve problems
Concepts of size, shape, and volume
Concepts of warm and cool, wet, damp, dry, heavy, light
To observe changes

I look at books and listen to stories – and I learn

That books are important and enjoyable
That print is written word
To express my own thoughts, feelings, and ideas
To handle books with care
To follow the development of thoughts and ideas in the plot of a story
That I like books and someday I’d like to be able to read them too, when I’m ready
To recognize certain words when I see them in print
To use more complex patterns in my own speech
To use my imagination and make up my own stories

I play with blocks and cars and trucks – and I learn

Concepts of shape, size, length, and location
To create and repeat patterns
To exercise imagination
To express ideas and exercise imagination
About the properties of wood
To see myself from a different perspective

I play outdoors or at the playground – and I learn

Physical strength, coordination, and balance
To use my imagination
To cooperate with others when involved in group play
Self confidence as I develop new skills
To solve problems
To observe likeness and differences
Concepts of texture color, weight and size
Strength, balance, and large muscle coordination
To use my energy in a constructive way
Concepts of speed, direction, and location
To negotiate and take turns
To appreciate nature and develop a sense of wonder


I play and live with my family – and I learn

To listen and understand spoken words
That my ideas have value to the others
To express myself with words
To wait my turn when others are talking
To help plan what we will do and when we will do it
To cooperate and be considerate of the needs of others
To be flexible in my thinking
To express myself with my words
To try on different roles
To solve social problems through negotiation
To sort and organize play things
To make decisions


I listen to music, I sing, I dance – and I learn

Balance and coordination
To be conscious of moods and rhythms of music
To express myself physically in an appropriate way
About the space around me and the space of others
To be conscious of rhythms in music
Concepts of fast, slow, loud, soft, high, low
To express myself in new and different ways
Listening skills
To remember the words of songs and poems I have learned
and to put things in proper order
Various concepts emphasized in songs
Phonics or auditory discrimination
Awareness and identification with my culture and other cultures


I play – and I learn

That I am me – a small child who is valued, cherished, and loved.
I count in the world!