Play is Worthy of Your Time
Note from Monica:
I am just coming home from an afternoon at the beach. And I must say: Today I felt spring in the air! That is — Hawaiian spring. Now, there’s a good chance you’ve heard me complain note that we do not have “seasons” in Hawaii, and in fact, this thing of not having seasons (specifically autumn🍂) may be one of the very few complaints I have about living on this island.
However, after nearly 23 years of calling this place home, I do sense a shift in each season. Not like what some of you experience; it is subtle. But I’ll take what I can get!
Well, a love for seasons is only one of the things Ginny Yurich and I have in common. We also love kids and homeschooling, fresh air, adventure and…play!!
If you’ve read Ginny’s book, 1000 Hours Outside, or followed her on Instagram, you probably share my appreciation for Ginny’s message. I am hoping to have a good podcast chat with her one day, but in the meantime, Ginny generously offered to share an excerpt from her most recent book, Until the Streetlights Come On: How a Return to Play Brightens Our Present and Prepares Kids for an Uncertain Future.
BONUS!! Ginny also wants to send 2 of you a copy of this wonderful book! (See bottom to enter to win!).
I hope you enjoy this delightful reminder of why PLAY (in every season!) really is worthy of your time…
{An excerpt from Chapter 9 of Until the Streetlights Come On, by Ginny Yurich.}
Play Is Worthy of Your Time
I don’t know about you, but when I think of learning, even after all the research I’ve done, my mind still jumps to the classroom setting. It jumps to pencils and chalkboards and workbooks and studying and research. If we could expand our view of learning to confidently include moments of childhood elation, our world would change. American educator John Holt says it this way: “Living is learning and when kids are living fully and energetically and happily they are learning a lot, even if we don’t always know what it is.”1
If you want to set your kids apart cognitively, do less. I know that is a terrifying proposition because it is unstructured, uncharted, and unpredictable, but it is a proven path. Underparenting, as opposed to overparenting, shells out the benefits. In open times and open spaces, especially in fresh air, benefits rain down on the child who is allowed to play freely.
So let them play, and more specifically, let them play outside when you can. Play is worthy of your time whenever and wherever it happens, but there’s extra magic when it takes place outdoors. The increasingly complex movements kids engage in without your direction or supervision are helping them lay down a neural foundation that will enhance their life experience for their entire life. The outdoors offers unlimited potential for growth, and each season announces its arrival with new and enticing ways for children to participate.
The fall season sends kids to grab the rakes as they pull together pillowy piles of leaves that are ready for a leap and a land. There is endless delight in that which will decay and regenerate the earth while it sleeps. Pumpkins and gourds, with their myriad of sizes, shapes, and colors, can be carved into entire villages to play with. The push and pull on the joints that occur when the delights of autumn are lifted, carried, or pulled in a wagon help kids develop their proprioception sense.
Our bodies have proprioceptors, sensory receptors inside the body that transmit information about our joint activity, muscle tension, and equilibrium, giving us our sense of ourselves and where our body is located in space. The proprioception sense allows us to touch our nose or our foot with our eyes closed, and it’s imperative for coordination and balance.
Winter serves up a new landscape for the proprioception sense. From snowballs to snow forts to snowmen to snow angels to snow lanterns to snowshoeing, what seems initially monotonous is inherently full of promise. The backdrop of white allows us to easily spot a cardinal in flight or a scampering chipmunk. The sound of cracking ice is alluring to kids of all ages as they smash it underfoot, and as that ice thickens, there is the thrilling challenge of remaining upright on a slippery surface. Constructing snow forts, simple shoveling, building snowmen, pushing and lifting those huge balls of snow, and even the trudge up a hill with a sled trailing behind are further opportunities to work on the proprioception sense. And when all the outdoor adventures are wrapped up, cozy comforts await indoors. The warmth from a crackling fire hits differently on hands and cheeks that have been chilled by the winter air. A bit of discomfort gives way to a greater sense of comfort.
Springtime draws us into the sunshine. Bodies parched for light and warmth emerge with all else—flowers and baby animals. Awakening occurs simultaneously with a symphony of sights, sounds, and smells. There’s mud to slide in and an anticipation that arrives with the awareness of lengthening days, gardens to begin, windows to fling open. Spring is synonymous with possibility, a time for rediscovery of the things that make us come alive. Will we return to the fishing hole? Pump air into our mountain bike tires? Break out the chalk for some artistic escapades? This is the time when, before the pesky insects arrive, we take strides to increase our endurance and stamina for all that is yet to come.
The summer, with its long and listless days, invites kids to press their bare toes into the sand, walking and maneuvering through a shifting surface beneath, one that works many different muscles of the legs and feet. With the warm sun on their backs, the sand beckons them to squat down and use the open-ended potential of the millions of grains surrounding them, as well as pieces of driftwood and buckets of water, to unleash their creativity with castles and moats, drawbridges, and rivers. Sending kids to collect firewood or allowing time to climb monkey bars or trees gives opportunities to again develop the proprioception sense.
An entire book could be written about the movement opportunities inherent in each season. It was Linda Akeson McGurk’s book There’s No Such Thing as Bad Weather that implored me to relish the distinctiveness of even the cold, wet, and dreary days.
When we want to give our kids every advantage as it pertains to academic standing, the year-round movements they partake in help them thrive in the classroom setting. It’s the climbing and hanging, the digging and building, that get arms, shoulders, wrists, and fingers ready to write. It’s the rough-and-tumble play that strengthens the core muscles, which are desperately needed for kids to be able to sit upright at a desk. It’s the up-and-down motion that occurs as kids traipse down a trail that gives their eyes practice working together. The same thing happens for your toddler or baby when they are carried in a baby carrier. With each step, the eyes must work together to adjust the gaze, and all these minutes and hours add up, giving kids foundational physical skills that will assist them with reading.
Time in nature gives children a chance to test their outer limits and often go beyond them. The environment is perfectly conducive to grappling with perceived capability and figuring out how to live within that or to push beyond it. The things kids learn in nature about themselves are life skills. Not only are they learning how to learn, but they are also learning how thrilling growth is. Something new awaits beyond this skill. Their curiosities beckon them on.
Ginny Yurich is a homeschooling mother of five and founder of 1000 Hours Outside, a global movement designed to reclaim childhood. Along with her husband, Josh, Ginny is a full-time creator and curator of the 1000 Hours Outside lifestyle brand, which includes a robust online store, an app, and books. She also hosts the 1000 Hours Outside weekly podcast. A thought leader in the world of nature-based play and its benefits for children, Ginny lives with her family in the Ann Arbor area of Michigan.
Learn more about Ginny on her website!
Order a copy of Until the Streetlights Come On on Amazon!
*This excerpt was used with permission. Shared from Until the Streelights Come On, by Ginny Yurich. Baker Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group, Copyright November, 2003.
Want to win a copy of this book? Comment below sharing one things you LOVE seeing your kids do outside, (or if your kids are young, perhaps one things YOU remember doing outdoors when you were young!) We’ll choose two commenters next week and announce the winners on Wednesday, April 3rd!
I love watching my 3 boys engage in imaginative play out in our backyard. They can play for hours in a world where sticks become swords, staffs, and a myriad of other tools and weapons.
I love seeing my kids climbing everything they can.
I loved riding bikes and creating adventures in our neighborhood. I love that my son has been raised learning to play golf and now at 13, it keeps him outside for long periods of time. But I do miss the imaginative elements from play when he was younger. Each season is unique and fun in its own way! As an Early Childhood professor, I even wrote my dissertation on the importance of play- I’m a fan! Looking forward to reading this book!
My sister and I used to play “Oregon Trail” by attaching our wagon to our bikes using jump ropes, like oxen to the wagon. We’d fill the wagon with snacks and probably one would die from dysentery while the other would try to ford the river (aka the gravel in our neighbors yard), but we had so much fun as kids. I absolutely love watching my 3 boys play for hours in the pool in the summer, or a game of soccer in the backyard with Dad, or even playing “Army” in the front yard with their sticks as guns and utility boxes as bunkers (my husband is in the Army, but even if he weren’t I think they’d somehow instinctually still know to get in the “prone” position on the driveway). I love imaginative play and think the busyness of today’s modern families means so many kids miss out on this important aspect of childhood. Thanks for this post and reminder!!
My two kids are 13 and 10, so anytime I see them outside, smiling, and enjoying each other’s company my heart is full and my soul complete. They both hop on our go cart and fly down the street with the biggest smiles. No greater joy than seeing your children happy and content…it’s like taking a bite of your favorite cream!
Amen! I love that!
Love seeing my kids grab sticks, stones, leaves and pretend to be chefs and mix up a concoction called “fluffy pancakes!”
awww so sweet!
I would love a copy. I push my kids outside as much as possible and thankfully they love being outside.
My boys love to create forts on our property. Just yesterday they were outside all day creating a teepee, making spears from sticks, and also setting up their tent for summer nights. We had totality for the solar eclipse yesterday so they were out of school and got to spend the entire day outside! They got to see God’s indescribable creation through the solar eclipse. It was just a beautiful, fun-filled day of play outside and being boys! ❤️
incredible! I love it!
I love seeing them helping out with yard work but also just being kids and building forts.
I love seeing my girls explore and be creative on our property. I am grateful we can give them a little freedom to take risks and stretch.
This past wi ter we had enough snow that our whole family got outside and took turns pulling each other on the sled. Wonderful memories!
My 3 year old loves getting outside with his magnifying glass and looking at all the different bugs and insects in the grass – helps me to also slow down and appreciate the little things!
I LOVE that!!
I love seeing them explore on hikes and also creating things like forts and the imaginative play that comes with it.
Our house has a lot of fruit trees, so it’s a lot fun to pick fruit with my little boys, and even have them “help” in the garden. They could stay outside playing and exploring all day!
Now that my kids are older I love watching them Golf. They are guaranteed about 4 hours outside and I love that. I also love days at the pool where we enjoy swimming and playing football.
Yes to all of that! I love it!
I love watching all 5 of my kids play outside! My favorite is when I can witness the impact of what being outside in fresh air does almost immediately! When the homeschooling chaos hits or toddlers are fussy, we head outside and instantly feel better! Anything that can be done inside can be done outside!
Oh I love that! I need to remember to move our school work outside more often too!
I LOVE seeing my kids do outside, being carefree and energetic. It fills my heart w/so much gratitude that my child is healthy!
I love watching my boys get along better when they are outside! They are more kind, adventurous and kind to each other. They are also a lot more brave at trying new things and I love the ideas they come up with!
Playing basketball on our driveway!!
I love watching my kids walk through our desert property looking for little treasures. I love seeing what interests them and coming back inside to investigate what they found. As a kid I loved doing flashlight tag with all the neighbors.
amazing. The desert has endless adventures!!
I love watching my two boys save rolly polies and snails from the sidewalk. We walk endlessly through our neighborhood and look for bugs to save from being stepped on. 🙂
This brings back memories of my boys’ early years. Finding creatures in their pockets! haha. 🙂 So fun!
I love setting my boys play tag and just get lost in imaginary play
I currently have a 5 year old boy, and I love to watch him explore the outside. I love to just slow down and watch him see thing’s and remember what it is like to see thing’s from a child’s perspective.
We have a motto at our house “outside before inside”. We strive to live by this as much as possible throughout the year as weather permits. My boys are very active in sports and all things boy! But I love to see them get outside and play in creation! Climbing, exploring, using their imaginations.
Oh watching my boys outside is a joy! But one thing I love most is when they get lost in their imagination and start pulling out old boxes, wood pieces, broken buckets and more to create something new and fantastic!
I love watching all 4 of my kids working together to build forts.
The other day my boys were outside playing on the quad. I overheard them pretending they were airport taxi service. Each took turns picking the other up and taking to a different location. Luggage and all!! It brought me so much joy. At 8 and 11 I thought we were almost done with their imaginary play but it was very strong that day.
I love the imaginative play that being outside inspires in my boys! Sword fights, building new forts out of sticks, climbing everything. The play is inspired by the imagination! There is always a new adventure! We are blessed with a lot of good outdoor space & I would love to read this book!
I LOVE to see my kids using their imagination with making bike ramps, gas stations, and car washes during the hot summer months. We live in a 4 season climate too, so I also LOVE to see them in winter building snow forts, sledding down the huge pile of snow (that my husband cleared the driveway with his skid steer), and snow ball fights; ha! Oh, the seasons brings some many different “play” options.
I love watching my boys climb trees!
I love watching my 3 boys play soccer outside, rain or shine 🙂