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This story from the New York Times online, "The 3 R’s? A Fourth Is Crucial, Too: Recess," was passed on to us by our friends at Community Playthings. The article observes...

"A study published ... in the journal Pediatrics studied the links between recess and classroom behavior among about 11,000 children age 8 and 9. Those who had more than 15 minutes of recess a day showed better behavior in class than those who had little or none. ... [T]he association between better behavior and recess time held up even after researchers controlled for a number of variables, including sex, ethnicity, public or private school, and class size. The lead researcher, Dr. Romina M. Barros, a pediatrician and an assistant clinical professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, said the findings were important because many schools did not view recess as essential to education....

"And many children are not getting that break. In the Pediatrics study, 30 percent were found to have little or no daily recess. Another report, from a children’s advocacy group, found that 40 percent of schools surveyed had cut back at least one daily recess period. Also, teachers often punish children by taking away recess privileges....

"Last month, Harvard researchers reported in The Journal of School Health that the more physical fitness tests children passed, the better they did on academic tests. The study, of 1,800 middle school students, suggests that children can benefit academically from physical activity during gym class and recess.

"A small study of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder last year found that walks outdoors appeared to improve scores on tests of attention and concentration. Notably, children who took walks in natural settings did better than those who walked in urban areas, according to the report, published online in August in The Journal of Attention Disorders. The researchers found that a dose of nature worked as well as a dose of medication to improve concentration, or even better."

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Check out the Exchange resources on outdoor environments in our new Environments Tool Kit. This kit has packaged together ten practical Exchange resources and is offering the entire set at an 18% discount. Included in the Kit...

Books:

• Caring Spaces, Learning Places: Children's Environments That Work
• Natural Playscapes: Creating Outdoor Play Environments for the Soul
• Learning With Nature Idea Book: Creating Nurturing Outdoor Spaces for Children

Beginning Workshop Units:

• Environments for Special Needs
• Environments
• Nature and Young Children
• Outdoor Environments
• Space
• Environments to Engage Children
• Learning Materials

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