Learning on the playground

The climbing tree at the south end of Kew Gardens in east-end Toronto has been a mighty opponent for Mackenzie Scott for some time now. While her friend Maia swings from branch to branch above, Mackenzie prepares for one more try. Clad in a light pink jacket and rainbow toque, she gives each hand a lick to sooth the redness from cold and tree bark and grabs hold of the first branch.

Her mother, Debra Scott, stands nearby – coaching the four-year-old as she pulls her body upwards. Once able to drape her arm across the first branch, she swings one leg over to give herself support. Finally she pulls the rest of herself up until she’s sitting upright.

“You did it!” her mother cries. “All by yourself, you did it without me!”

Mackenzie looks back with excitement and delight. With only a moment’s rest, she is off to join Maia on higher branches.

Along with Scott, Maia’s mother Kari Svenneby is also on hand. The group meets every Wednesday along with other local parents and children. They’re part of Active Kids Club, a group started by Svenneby to encourage children to play outside.

“I just wanted my daughter to have other kids to play with like I did when I was a kid, outside in all kinds of weather,” she said.

In Svenneby’s native Norway there is more of an emphasis on unstructured, outdoor play and its benefits in childhood development. In Canada trends have shifted in the opposite direction.

Child psychologist Dr. David Swanson attributes this partially to increasingly hectic lifestyles among both parents and children, but also pressure from society for children to succeed. The tendency today is a push towards “educational” activities in lieu of playtime.

“If early on they’re pushed too hard and they’re not allowed to just be kids and get out and play, what will happen is there will be a lot of aversion towards having to learn and go to school,” he said.

Scott got involved through Svenneby, initially to give the girls an opportunity to see each other, but after a while she began to understand the play group’s greater significance.

“I had read every parenting book out there, talked to a multitude of moms and early childhood development educators and being outside just did not come up on my radar,” she said. “Kari kept sending me links to more research and after about a year I was a convert.”

Swanson agrees, unstructured play allows young children to develop a range of skills vital to their future development.

“Kids need all of that sensory input. They need to be outside running around. They’re very tactile. They need to get their hands on things. They need to climb. It’s in our genetics that as young children we need to be doing that,” he said. “If we don’t get that, it creates almost this sense of being caged.”

That’s the aversion to learning that Swanson spoke about. Kids often have difficulty adjusting to a school environment when they haven’t had that opportunity to burn through their energy and engage their minds outside, he said.

“These are the children that have a difficult time remaining seated in class and paying attention,” Swanson said. “If we don’t get them outside and playing, we’re not meeting their needs and we’re doing a lot more damage than we are good.”

The benefits of unstructured, outdoor play become very clear in Svenneby’s play group. Both Maia and Mackenzie are constantly running, climbing, jumping and spinning; they’re in constant movement – but they’re also incredibly outgoing, confident and well – happy.

“The beauty of outdoor play is that kids can participate on their own terms,“ Svenneby said. “When children play they learn social skills through experience to be sensitive to others needs and values, how to manage their emotions and to learn self-control.”

“We have also noticed that far fewer fights ensue when they’re outside,” Debra Scott said.

Svenneby and Scott take a backseat to the goings on in Kew Park. They’re what Swanson refers to as “sponsors of play,” offering guidance when needed and pointing out lessons when available, but providing as much freedom as possible for the children to explore.

After Mackenzie and Maia finish their conquest in the climbing tree the two head north in search of the Disappearing Blue Mino – a mysterious monster that makes its home amongst the trees of Kew Gardens. Both Mackenzie and Maia admit to only ever catching a quick glimpse of it, disappearing before they’re able to point it out to their parents.

Please visit www.activekidsclub.com for more information