Importance of Morning play

Dear parents,

Every child wants to be number one to class in the morning!

The best way for a child to start the day is through play with their classmates in the morning. This allows the children to socialize and for most children, it’s a time to release any negative emotions they have. As teachers, this is the time we hear that ‘mummy and daddy were saying bad words to each other’, or ‘daddy/ mummy has gone to work in another country’ and many more events in your house.

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  Morning play for children is a time for them to shift from the home environment to the school environment. For smaller children, especially, it is important to form friendships with the other children in their class. The rest of the day is filled with activities and outdoor play with children from the rest of the school.

When you deny a child this time they tend to feel left out from the class and they mostly lag in the class routine. When a child comes during circle time (singing, talking and date recognition), they often feel guilty because they know they missed paly time with friends, toilet break and time alone with the teacher. for me, I try to always talk and play with every child in the morning to know their state of mind and emotions to enable me to teach them in the best way possible. For a child who always comes late, I have very limited time with that child and sometimes I will not have an adequate understanding of WHO that child is.

 As teachers, we do understand that children struggle to wake up in the morning, however, if a child has a bedtime routine and it is adhered to, they do learn to adjust. The children and parents who struggle the most are those who have no structure in their home. The child goes to bed when they are tired or when the parents can. These children will mostly be overly tired and overstimulated meaning they will take longer to sleep and have trouble waking up. 

The problem sometimes goes all the way to the morning routine. Children also need a structured morning routine every day! What happens when they wake up to the time they get to school. Sometimes as a parent you will hear the child asking you where they are going just because you used a different route to school. For example, my daughter refers to daddy’s road to school and mummy’s road to school because we tend to use a different route. If I change and use her dads I will have to answer why! As parents, we have to realise that children need structure and time to adjust from one environment to the next and that is the reason all schools and classes have morning play.

FYI

Morning play doesn’t have to be in class or with toys. In my daughters’ school the children play in the hall we drop them off to and the other older children play in their respective classes. There is always a teacher observing them as they play. In some schools, it’s in the field.

Please allow your children to play in the morning!!!!!