Young children today get far less opportunity to play than their parents or grandparents did. With both parents usually at work, there are fewer opportunities to play out and socialise with other children, while the statutory requirements of the EYFS framework mean the time spent in an educational setting is increasingly structured and focused on learning. As a result, the time available for unstructured play, which is crucial for child development, is being eroded. In this article, we examine the importance of unstructured play and explain how it can be delivered in an EYFS setting.
Unstructured play – an overview
Unstructured play is where children are given the chance to play freely. There are no adult-organised activities, instead, the children can decide what kind of play they want to do. While they may be given an allotted time to engage in free play, for example, over a one-hour session, how they choose to spend that time is up to them – so there is no requirement to rotate activities and children are free to stop one thing and start another as they wish.
Of course, this kind of play needs to be supervised and to be most effective, children need to be provided with a range of play activities to choose from and the resources and equipment this might require. While this type of play might result in children learning and practising a range of skills, there should be no required learning outcomes. However, although play is the main focus, here we discuss the ways that children can benefit.
Physical development
With their bodies still growing and developing, children require time to take part in physical activity. Doing so helps them become stronger, develop motor, balance and coordination skills and improve stamina. As they are naturally energetic during early years education, they particularly need activities and equipment that facilitates running, jumping and climbing.
To provide this, the playground should be carefully designed into activity zones offering a range of suitable play activities, with some of these zones being for physical play. Physical activity zones can include play towers, sports and traditional playground game markings (e.g., football or hopscotch), and climbing frames. It can also include features like tunnels, ramps and wobbly bridges.
One of the other benefits of unstructured physical play is that it can also have a positive impact on a child’s mental health. According to the NHS, in 2022, 18.0% of children aged 7 to 16 years had a probable mental disorder. For many of these children, the issues will begin while they are still in early years education. Physical activity has proven to be beneficial for mental health and taking part at a young age can help children lead more healthy lifestyles going forward.
Personal development
Unstructured play enables children to interact in a wide range of ways and have many valuable experiences that they can learn from. This helps them develop social, emotional and personal skills in a way that cannot be learnt through traditional teaching methods. Whether real or imaginary, these experiences allow young children to better understand their world. They learn how to start and maintain interpersonal relationships, discover and cope with their own and others’ feelings, understand how to communicate in different social settings and much more.
Cognitive skills
Aside from physical and personal skills, unstructured play is also important for developing the cognitive skills that are so essential for their future educational journey. Through play, they become adept at thinking for themselves, collaborating with others, solving problems and evaluating risk. They also find practical ways to make use of and expand upon their communication, numeracy and other classroom-learnt skills.
Of course, given the right equipment, unstructured play also provides endless opportunities to develop an understanding of how the physical world works. Playing with water, sand and mud kitchens might be fantastic fun, but it is also intrinsically scientific. It lets children learn about the properties of the materials they are handling, how things work and why things happen – all vital to cognitive development.
Conclusion
Unstructured play is vitally important in helping children develop. With adequate time and the right equipment and resources, children that participate in unstructured play are better able to develop their physical, personal and cognitive skillsets. Indeed, not only does it enable them to develop skills that cannot be taught in the EYFS classroom; it helps them make practical use of and build upon those that are.
To discover the wide range of EYFS playground equipment suitable for unstructured play, visit our EYFS Products page.
