by Kathy Eugster
February 2, 2024
Unstructured free play happens when children are free to decide and choose what to play with and how to play with that object. This type of play is often associated with outdoor play in a natural environment, however, unstructured free play can happen just as easily indoors.
Whether indoors or outdoors, unstructured free play for children is encouraged by many child development and health professionals. There have been concerns recently that children have not been able to participate as much in unstructured free play as they have in past with negative impacts on their physical and mental health. The American Academy of Pediatrics recognizes the importance of children’s unstructured play for their healthy development and for maintaining strong parent-child bonds. Just recently, the Canadian Pediatric Society released new recommendations on the importance of unstructured outdoor play for children’s physical and emotional health.
Another term for unstructured free play would be child-directed play. In the context of parent-child play, research shows that child-directed play not only supports children’s healthy development overall, but is also one of the best ways to strengthen the parent-child relationship. For more information on child-directed play, please see the following Blog article, 6 Key Concepts for Child-Directed Play with Your 3-10 Year-old Child
So, how can parents support their children’s unstructured free play? Let’s have a look at some helpful tips for parents to support this type of play for their children.
Play Environment
Sometimes unstructured free play, especially when it is outdoors, has been called “risky play.” Risky play has been defined as thrilling and exciting forms of play that involve uncertainty and a risk, either real or perceived, of physical injury. All children over the age of one year will engage in some form of risky play at times.
It’s important for parents to differentiate between risks and hazards in a play environment. With risky play, children are able to recognize and evaluate a challenge and decide on a course of action. This is in contrast to a hazard, which is something inherently dangerous that children cannot assess for themselves. It is the parent’s responsibility to ensure the environment is safe and free of hazards. Making sure the environment is child-friendly can be difficult at times, especially outdoors. However, parents need to be able to identify anything that could be hazardous for children and remove these hazards or move to a different environment to play.
Hazards must be eliminated from children’s play environments, however risks, should not necessarily be eliminated. With risky play, children are learning how to manage themselves in challenging situations, supporting the development of many useful skills. And of course, safety equipment, for example, helmets, life jackets, knee and elbow pads, car seats, etc., should always be used. For more information on this style of play, please see the following Blog article, Risky Play
Play Objects
For unstructured free play, a variety of simple and open-ended play objects and toys should be made available for children to choose from. Some toys and play objects are better suited to indoor play and others more suited to outdoor play, while many can be used both indoors and outdoors.
It is useful to have some toys from each of the main categories of toys, including small or miniature characters or animals, toy vehicles, dress-up items, active play items, real-life toys such as toy kitchen or tool sets, construction and building toys, and arts and crafts supplies.
In addition, natural outdoor materials can be very fun and engaging for children. Items such as sticks, stones, leaves, shells, rocks, logs, dirt, sand and water can be used in many different ways as children pretend and use their imaginations.
Monitoring the Play
Parents always need to be ready to intervene in a timely manner to keep the play safe by setting limits when their child’s play becomes dangerous or destructive to themselves or other people, animals, or objects.
But, how much autonomy can you give your child during unstructured, free play, especially in play situations that are potentially risky? This will depend on the characteristics of each individual child and their developmental stage, skill level, play capability, and personality, as well as the type of activity the child is engaged in. Allowing your child to face appropriate challenges in play will help with development. However, never push children to take risks beyond their own comfort levels.
When your child is engaged in appropriate play activities, even if the activities may be challenging or even have some degree of risk involved, using child-directed play strategies will allow children the freedom to make their own choices and decisions and to learn from their play environment.
Child-Directed Play Strategies
With unstructured free play, watch your child and refrain from telling your child what to do or not do, unless they are engaging in unsafe or destructive behaviors or are excessively struggling with something and need some support from you. This can be really difficult!
Instead of giving directions to your child, one excellent strategy is to objectively describe out loud what you see your child doing.
- “Now you’re balancing on this post.”
- “Looks like you’re going to jump over that ditch.”
- “You made that car go fast.”
By doing this, you are helping your child become more mindful and aware of what they are doing, which is important for developing self-regulation skills. Additionally, when parents describe their child’s actions, children know their parents are paying attention to them. For more information, please see the following Blog article, Let’s Get Back to Basics: The Describing Skill
Another child-directed play strategy is to identify feelings you notice coming up in your child. Again, this helps your child become mindful of their feelings and inner experiences which is also important for the development of self-regulations skills.
- “Looks like you’re feeling a bit scared up there.”
- “Now you’re feeling safe.”
- “I can see you’re feeling unsure of what to do next.”
- “You’re feeling happy your car won.”
To learn more about identifying feelings, please see the following Blog article, Identifying Feelings: Giving Your Child a Feelings or Emotional Vocabulary
Directive Strategies to Guide Your Child
In potentially risky play situations, parents can also use more directive communication strategies that are not generally used in child-directed play to guide and support their children. Here are some examples of helpful things parents can say to support their children in these situations:
To help your child become more aware and mindful of their bodies and what they are doing:
- “Do you feel … stable on that log / the heat of that campfire?”
- “Do you see … your friends nearby / how high you are?”
- “Are you feeling … scared / excited / safe?”
To help your child become more aware and mindful of the environment:
- “Notice how … these rocks are slippery / sharp these scissors are.”
- “Look how … rickety that chair looks / wobbly that rock is.”
To help your child plan and problem-solve:
- “What’s your plan … if you jump on that boulder / dig that hole?”
- “How will you … get down / go up / get across?”
Conclusion
It can be really difficult for parents to determine how much autonomy to give to their children during unstructured play, since children will often engage in challenging activities. Knowing that you can and should monitor unstructured play is important. Using both child-directed play strategies and more directive guidance strategies to support your child to assess and engage in the play environment are things that parents can do to support their children’s engagement in unstructured free play.
You may want to consider this:
If you are interested in learning more about parent-child play, please see my book, Play Skills for Parents: Connecting With Your Child Through Play, for comprehensive guidelines. This book will help make playtime easier and more enjoyable for you and your child. My book is unique in that it will provide you with a framework for engaging in parent-child play that can be applied to any play activity.
Also, you may want to subscribe to my email list (see below) to be the first to know when I post new Blogs, usually every month.
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Copyright Kathy Eugster, MA, 2024.
Please feel free to pass on this article to anyone you think might find it useful.
Contact me at: keugster@telus.net