Benefits of Unstructured Time

This week’s article summary is Too Many Structured Activities Hinder Children's Executive Functioning.

Most of us make the connection between unstructured play and the development of creativity and imagination.

But recent studies show that unstructured play also supports the development of executive functioning skills in kids.

And executive function skills, e.g., the ability to self-regulate, organize, focus, plan, and follow through, are important aids for subsequent success in school and life. 

As skill development takes practice, we all naturally need trial-and-error opportunities to become more proficient in our executive functioning.

And when we have choices about what we do and how we do it, we are learning to be responsible for and in control of our lives and actions.

So while, yes, unstructured time allows us to be imaginative and creative, it also helps develop other vital skills, habits, and attitudes that will help us be more successful in school and beyond.

Joe

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When children spend more time in structured activities, they get worse at working toward goals, making decisions, and regulating their behavior.

Instead, kids might learn more when they have the responsibility to decide for themselves what they're going to do with their time. Kids who spent more time in less-structured activities have more highly-developed self-directed executive function.

Self-directed executive function develops mostly during childhood, and it includes any mental processes that help us work toward achieving goals—like planning, decision making, manipulating information, switching between tasks, and inhibiting unwanted thoughts and feelings. It is an early indicator of school readiness and academic performance, and it even predicts success into adulthood. Children with higher executive function will be healthier, wealthier, and more socially stable throughout their lives.

When children are in control of how they spend their time, they are able to get more practice working toward goals and figuring out what to do next. For instance, a child with a free afternoon ahead of her might decide to read a book. Once she's finished, she might decide to draw a picture about the book, and then she'll decide to show the drawing to her family. This child will learn more than another child who completes the same activities, but is given explicit instructions throughout the process. 

Structured time could slow the development of self-directed control, since adults in such scenarios can provide external cues and reminders about what should happen, and when.

The ability to self-direct can spell the difference between an independent student, who can be relied upon to get her work done while chaos reigns around her, and a dependent, aimless student. When we reduce the amount of free playtime in American preschools and kindergartens, our children stand to lose more than an opportunity to play house and cops and robbers.