28th May is WORLD PLAY DAY – a day for multiple generations to interact in playful ways in their daily lives.
Capturing the essence of the day, its founder Dr Freda Kim, a British teacher and play advocate suggests, “Allow a child to play today. Watch a child play today. Play with a child today.”
Free Play is essential in a child’s development, and the benefits of inter-generational play opportunities in our society’s overall health are indisputable.
Celebrating its 20th year, the theme for World Play Day 2019 is “Play is a Right” – a right to connect, to have fun, to explore, to move, to participate.
In 2011 Dr. Kim expanded the need for play to especially include children in disaster and war zones. She maintains that “while adults have understanding of these disasters and are able to verbalize, children need to act out the tragedy and deal with the trauma in their lives through play . . . (they) must be encouraged and allowed to play even in their devastating conditions. By allowing children to play you are helping them to a healthy adulthood.”
So Get Outside and Play – on World Play Day and every day!.Tags: play, play is a right, world play day