Last week, while I was watching a group of children outside on the play yard, I witnessed something amazing. A small group of children noticed the basketball hoop at the far end of the yard. They began taking turns trying to throw colored balls into the basket. They kept missing.

The children persisted and spent a good amount of time attempting to make a shot. At one point, one child said she needed something to make her taller. She looked around for something and found a crate. The children set up the crate near the basketball hoop and took turns standing on it and throwing the balls right into the basket!

Unstructured play is central to children’s learning.

This little scene involved so many skills and revealed many competencies. The children recognized a problem (the basket was too high) and found a solution (the crate). By collaborating and using critical thinking skills, they established a new game with rules such as taking turns, and even took safety into consideration (one child on the crate at a time). Without adult intervention, the children honed their gross motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and balance, while they spent the rest of their outdoor time at their new activity. This is a perfect example of how unstructured, open-ended play supports children in meeting learning objectives. It was a…