How Much Time Should Be Spent on Play?

Recommended Amount

• Children need to play for at least 60 minutes each day, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That's active play, however, and not sitting around playing video or computer games. When your child gets at least 60 minutes of active play each day, he's less likely to have weight problems and he's also preventing diseases that can show up later in life, such as heart disease and diabetes.

Benefits

• Beyond the physical benefits of playing, children learn a great deal about the world around them when they're engaged in play time activities. According to the Scholastic website, children gain essential cognitive and social skills when they're playing. Playing can increase your child's memory skills, teach him self-control and improve his verbal language, too. In fact, playing as much as possible during childhood is linked to increased literacy skills and an easier time adjusting to new social situations, according to Scholastic.com. The Illinois Early Learning Project notes that play also encourages children to be creative and solve problems on their own.

Unstructured Time

• While there are physical, emotional and social benefits of structured play such as playing on a sports team or in school physical education classes, unstructured play time is perhaps even more important. When a child is left to his own devices, he uses his creativity to create new games to play and activities to engage in. Unstructured play also allows your child to use his imagination, which is crucial for learning how to solve problems and prevent boredom. In other words, play that isn't guided by parents or other adults is essential for children and the more of this unstructured play time he has each day, the better.

Tips and Considerations

• There's absolutely nothing wrong with allowing play dates for your children and getting down on the floor and playing with them, but children also need time to guide their own play. Take your children to the playground, for example, or give them sand toys and sit back and let them play in the sand. Provide your children with toys that encourage creativity, such as building blocks, clay and action figures. Limit your child's access to television, video games and games on devices such as tablets and computers. These inhibit creativity and don't encourage your child to be active. Don't overschedule your children either. Make sure to include at least an hour of unstructured play time each day.