Should traditional playground games be timetabled in at primary schools?

[FlowerFairyDaisy]

TLDR: would the return of traditional playground games be beneficial to young children? Would they benefit from a scheduled slot in the school timetable for this? I am not a journalist.

Hi

I have been thinking about this recently and another thread has prompted me to ponder it again now.

My children are all grown up now so I don't know what break times in primary schools involve these days. But when I was at school, we spent break and lunch times doing the following:

• Skipping (sometimes quite a few people were involved in this and obviously 2 on the ropes)

• 'Hop Scotch' and variations of it (a grid was marked out on the playground)

• Games such as 'What's the Time Mr Wolf', 'Tag' or 'Catch' and 'Om Pom'

• Shooting balls into the netball basket

• Football

• A game called 'British Bulldog' was banned! But we used to play a gentle version of it

• Rounders

• 'Piggy in the Middle.'

What other games and activities can people remember playing?

Some of my golden memories of junior school are of the times I spent with people playing these games outside (in most weathers!).

Do children still play together in this way at break times?

These games and activities felt like a lovely way to pass leisure time in school but really, when I think about it, they were actually beneficial to us all in so many other ways, such as:

Teamwork
Laughing with our classmates (bonding)
Physical activity
Fresh Air

Did these games somehow play a part in wiring our brains in a really healthy way? Would they act as a counterbalance to screen time?

The only time in recent years that I have played these games has been with our local Scout group.

Do you think that children might even benefit from a dedicated time slot in their weekly timetable for 'traditional games' (like P.E. but in addition to it)?

I am would love to hear people's thoughts as I am considering taking this idea further (petition, speak to my local teachers and MP's etc. perhaps).

Thank you for reading.

YABU - no need to bring back traditional playgroup games
YANBU - get on and start that petition!

My Year 1 son talks about playing what's the time Mr Wolf, tag, stuck in the mud, duck duck goose. They have hopscotch and other similar games marked on the playground and they also have chalk at playtimes so they can draw their own games. They also have den building equipment. It's nice how they have such longevity, I have great memories of playing the same playground games in the 80s.

Ludicrously OTT thing to start a petition about. DC play outside at break and lunch (no screen time) and play lots of make believe games.

Football isn’t allowed at break in my DS’s school because it would become unruly with dozens of boys and not enough space. Other ball games can’t be facilitated safely for the same reason.

We taught our son What’s The Time Mr Wolf and similar ourselves.

Be realistic - the modern curriculum is jam packed with the essentials. DC do two PE sessions a week also. There isn’t time for nostalgia teaching of games, however much I agree it’s a shame if in some areas they’re dying out.

What’s your idea based on, do you have kids? It’s insane to think kids don’t play things like tag or football at lunchtime. They might not play the games you did but then I’ve played hopscotch about twice in my entire life and I’m 44.

My son plays these games at his primary school. They also have hop scotch and snakes and ladders marked out on the playground and he seems to call them all different names but the same old tig type games. Also lots of imaginative games like pretending to catch his friends as Pokemon and reinacting tasks from PS5 games and things like that.

Not sure there would be space in the curriculum for hopscotch AND egg sucking…

They still play this sort of stuff at my DCs school...different classes are timetabled to have the football area on different days of the week so everyone gets a turn.

On non- football days DS1 seem to do a lot of role playing of whatever the history topic is for the year with his friends "e.g. roman vs celts" "WW2". I think they got stopped from playing harry potter because they were brandishing sticks (wands) about.

I think if it might improve children's mental and physical health there should be. That's the point.

My OP will answer your questions!

Playground games evolve over time. The games I played differ from those of my children and theirs differ from my grandchildren’s games. There are still the basic themes such as chasing games, pretend play etc but they have changed and are influenced by the world around and media. I played a game called ‘I’m Shirley Temple…’ but that would be meaningless now. Children will always play given the opportunity and although there may be a place for introducing some of the old games let them be inventive and responsive to their world.

I think it might be more important to say that you should be able to run about at high school

Why should it stop at high school

Really pisses me off

If you are genuinely asking do children still play playground games, yes they absolutely do. Do they maybe play different ones than you remember, probably.
Do they still play traditional playground games? Maybe not marbles, hoop and stick etc so much as not so appropriate these days, but variations adapted to THEIR needs, and THEIR lives definitely.
Plenty to worry about and start petitions about OP, this probably shouldn’t keep you up at night.

It doesn’t keep me awake at night.

How could thinking of ways to improve the physical and mental wellbeing of our young people be a bad thing?

My children still play these games. I think many children lead over scheduled, overly controlled lives and the absolute last thing we need to be doing is interfering with their free play time. So no, absolutely not to the timetableing.

So, I can’t get this thread deleted before someone sticks the boot into me about that as well as the idea I suggested in my OP.

I have now had a chance to confirm with my colleagues who have primary aged children what we have talked about before now.

Their kids play together at break times but there’s no skipping or team games. It’s the team aspect of this that I feel could benefit children mentally and physically.

Isn't the team element already covered in PE? My daughter and her friends play chase type games with two sides if that counts?

Comment makes no sense. It’d give them more freedom and free time but with a little structure.

I’m not suggesting we cancel break times.

I've been a teacher for just over 41 years. All of these games happen in my school. I've been in a few schools where handstands and cartwheels weren't allowed due to safety reasons (too many broken arms), but my current school allows these as well.

Football can become unruly at times, but generally when that happens we will have a meeting with all of the year levels involved and talk about safety, general rules etc. Students unable to cope will be sent to play in a different area for a week, then given another chance.

Rounders or any form of cricket can't be played with a wooden bat as this is also a safety issue (the number of kids who seem to be able to run into a bat is frightening). A plastic bat is fine.

British Bulldog or Red Rover is banned as it always ends up becoming full tackle rugby, so again, safety.

You missed 'elastics'. I teach this to my upper primary students each year and most have never seen it before, but they all love it and often ask to borrow my elastics.

Many games seem to come and go as trends. You won't see something like marbles or jacks played for years, next minute, they all seem to be playing them for a couple of months and then move onto something else.

I don't know of any schools that allow use of technology during break time, so kids play established games or invent their own. It's pretty unusual to see any children sitting around doing nothing. It's time spent on tech in some homes that is a far greater issue.

Just to add, team games including things like tunnel ball or dodge ball are handled during PE lessons in school time.

No one is saying thinking about it is a bad thing. Maybe a little misplaced, because children play, their games might not fit the pattern you used.
Skipping, hopscotch, What’s the time Mr Wolf, not team games. And definitely still played. Rounders, a stalwart of P.E. times, as are hoop and ball team games
British Bulldog often challenged because of injuries on hard playgrounds.
Tag, catch, football, definitely still played.
Im not dismissing your thoughts, just trying to explain, from a playground eye view, it is all still going on.

It's not freedom... if it's structured 😂😂

Wait! What?
Is this a general thing? If so, why is running about banned?

But,...if your kids are all grown up, are you frequently spending time with children so that the topic would come up?

It looks like creating an issue and wanting to do something about it, despite it not actually being an issue.

Our kids play during breaktime. They play lots of different things, traditional games, tag, football, basketball (some are a little short), use the climbing equipment, make up games, teach each other dance moves, play in the sandpit, etc.
We're a through-school, so our secondary pupils are using the same playground and they are also playing at breaktimes.

I don't know if it's the same at all schools

But apparently you can't run about at all at break times outside at my child's or do anything active like gymnastics

Apparently being of safety

Which is ridiculous

But quite frankly my child needs that time being active

And she doesn't get it now

These are constantly played at break time, as they always have been!

My DCs school has schemes to encourage the older children to lead the games at break for the little ones. They have what they call "daily physical activity" sessions timetabled, outside normal PE, where they go outside and do a game like this in the normal day with a teacher (not actually daily, but at least once per week).

And the kids independently play those sorts of games at break, and make up new variations when it gets too rough and gets banned.

That's ridiculous.
So, they sit about in lessons...and then they sit about at breaktime?

We're an independent school and our secondary pupils use the same playground as the primary ones. I think it's quite funny to watch Year 8s play tag on top of our climbing net...Year 9 and 10 tend to play volleyball.