It seems that playful physical activity might have a direct connection to success in school. In an article from NPR, referencing the results of a British study on the topic, they found that “the more active the 11-year-olds were, the better they did on standardized school tests of English, math and science.” From their research of the activity of almost 5000 children, they found an “association between more physical activity and better academic achievement.” In their findings, they reported that “if parents can get their children to meet that goal of 60 minutes a day, it’s going to be beneficial for a range of factors.”
In our oh so structured and scheduled lives, it’s a nice reminder to not only include regular physical activity in our children’s (and our) lives, but I might add, to include some unstructured play in there as well.
Read the full NPR article here, and, if you’re looking for some evidence for you (the adult reading this article) to play too, check out Washington Post’s article here. It’s worth a read.