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Boys and Recess

Navigating the recess experience

By Elinor Spokes

No one can deny the need for children to get time for exercise and free play during the day. With the rise in obesity in children in the United States, encouraging them to be physically active helps to promote a healthy lifestyle at a formative stage in their young lives. Additionally, research now supports the link between physical activity and school performance, and shows that children who participate in vigorous exercise perform better in school.

Play time and recess also provide the intangible social aspects so crucial to child development, such as learning to “play nice,” play fair, share, negotiate with peers and gain an awareness of being a part of a community. These by-products of recess are equally important to both genders, but boys and girls do conduct themselves differently when given the opportunity for free play.

Research shows that boys gravitate toward competitive games and girls choose activities that have a more social component. While girls tend to play in smaller groups, boys often play in groups of various sizes. Additionally, boys tend to create a social structure with leaders and followers; by contrast, girls’ play is done on a more collaborative basis, with many leaders.

Recess, which many children say is their favorite part of the school day, can sometimes be difficult to navigate given the dynamics involved. Recognizing that, at The Park School, recess became a topic of a professional development workshop for a group of teachers and administrators several years ago. Out of that study came the idea to create the position of recess supervisor, says Lower School Principal June Bennett.

“Our study of recess highlighted the importance of having a recess supervisor on the playground to have a constant presence there; the same person every day who could tell when the dynamics changed and when intervention was needed,” notes Bennett. “Their presence gives the school an institutional memory of how each child fares on the playground from year to year and, when problems arise, they are there to help the students work through their issues.”

What do boys want?

Several elementary school-age boys from area schools say their experience on the playground during recess is varied. But the common denominator for all is the gravitational pull towards organized activities, mostly initiated by the boys themselves. Uniformly, they note that in many situations where conflict arose, they are able to resolve the issues without the aid of an adult, but are comforted with the knowledge that adult help was within reach if needed.

Roey Paz-Priel, who is entering sixth grade at Krieger Schechter Day School, says he enjoys the unstructured nature of recess and often joins a group of his friends digging in the dirt during his time outdoors. One person usually initiates the activity and then others join in, uncovering “relics” in the field adjacent to the school.

He wants a longer recess and wishes that no one would tell him and his friends what they can and cannot do.

Younger brother Yoav Paz-Priel, an incoming fourth-grader at Krieger Schechter, says that his recess activities are decided with a group of friends. “If someone comes along and wants to play and the group is in the middle of a game, we ask them to wait and play in the next game. That usually works.”

Occasionally, there is an issue with one boy who always wants to win and doesn’t play by the rules. Most of the time says Yoav, the group can solve the problem themselves by reviewing the points of the game and confronting the boy who is not playing nicely. Then “we make him admit that he is wrong,” he says.

The boys are relieved, Yoav adds, knowing that if their intervention is not successful, they have a teacher who supervise recess to go to for reinforcement.

Mother of the two boys, Adie Paz-Priel, says she believes that anything outdoors with plenty of physical activity is most beneficial, although she wishes that recess could be longer. “They should be able to do whatever they want, as long as it is inclusive and in a safe environment,” she says.

Football, four square and basketball are favorite recess activities of incoming McDonogh School third-grader Pierce Brodsky. During their half-hour recess, teachers create the teams of mostly boys (because, according to Pierce, girls don’t like to play those games). Sometimes when the boys perceive that all the “good kids” are on the same team, the kids who don’t think the teams are composed fairly ask the teachers to mix the teams up.

Sometimes, Pierce notes, those efforts don’t always work: “Kids always switch back anyway.” When other issues, such as scoring, arise, the problem is solved by saying, “It’s just a game and it doesn’t matter anyway.”

Laura Brodsky says that McDonogh stresses physical activity and sports and the school strives to teach the students to resolve their own issues and be self-reliant. With recess first thing in the morning and then again in the afternoon, “the kids can endure a longer school day because they have more breaks,” she adds. “They get plenty of exercise and have fun and are blessed to have so many opportunities for play and sports.”

At Fort Garrison Elementary School, kickball and wall ball are the favorite recess activities of incoming third-grader Zachary Sirody. “Boys usually play the ball sports and the girls do their own thing,” while “boys divide into teams fairly and you can switch if you want to,” he says.

Recess is supervised by teachers and each grade has their own recess, three classes at a time. Zachary says that sometimes there are arguments, but he avoids them by just walking away. Often, he adds, the boys take care of the problem themselves, but are comforted knowing there is an adult present if there is an escalation of issues.

Rebecca Sirody says that Fort Garrison, like all schools, has only so much time in a day to fit in all the academics and recess, too. Ideally, she would like to see the students have two recesses, which would be perfect for more energetic children. She also disagrees with the method of taking recess away from students if they have not finished their work. “Kids need recess; they need a break. The school does as good a job as they can within their limitations,” she adds.

In a perfect world, Zachary says, he would like his recess to be longer and would also like to be able to play “a real kickball game where the winner gets a prize. We all just like free time to do what we want.”