Headlines highlighted the fact that “preschoolers need more active play,” after research was published in the professional journal, Pediatrics, last month. However, I’m not optimistic the data will change the reality: a whopping 70-83% of time in child care is sedentary. That figure doesn’t even include the time spent eating and napping!
I felt so sad reading the data.
As a state university faculty member more than 35 years ago, I taught a course on “play”to early childhood educators. The core concept was that children learn through play. They still do.
Why can’t we get the message?
