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WHAT RECESS LOOKS LIKE AROUND THE WORLD

Children may play in fundamentally similar ways everywhere — but recess unfolds
very differently around the globe.

by Mike Diago
Sep. 7, 2022

James Mollison
Back To School For The Rest Of Us

In elementary school classrooms around the world, kids strain to contain their
energy until recess, like a crumbling dam holding back a river. When the bell
rings, they burst onto rooftop playgrounds in Tokyo, hopscotch courts in Los
Angeles, and concrete yards in the West Bank to race, fight, joke, bounce, sing,
tease, and squeal. Their experience on the playground — joyful or vicious — will
impact their development much as any math or science class. Kids aren’t just
returning to school this month; they’re returning to the wilds of recess:
spontaneous, unpredictable, and an essential respite from the strictures of
in-class learning. And out of all that unstructured play comes some of the
richest social-emotional learning — provided the recess is well run. That’s
harder to do than it sounds.



“There’s a mismatch between what kids and adults expect supervision to look like
at recess,” says William Massey, Ph.D., who studies the intersection of play and
child development at Oregon State University. “Adults think they should ensure
kids don’t get hurt; kids want to be free to jump off high structures and risk
physical injury — but they want adults to ensure they don’t get picked on or
beat up.” It turns out that, in this case, what kids want is what’s best for
them. They need the freedom to take physical risks during activities of their
choice, while caring and supportive teachers stand by to coach them through
social conflicts.

One of the most compelling studies on recess globally is James Mollison’s
photobook from 2015, Playground. Mollison’s images of school kids playing during
breaks — whether on a mountainside in Bhutan, on train tracks in Mexico City, in
a refugee camp in Jordan, or on a schoolyard playground in Massachusetts —
contain familiar vignettes: school children cheering in groups, playing ball,
sitting alone, tumbling on the ground, or pointing and teasing.

The photos show us that regardless of the backdrop, given the freedom, kids are
boundlessly energetic and creative; for thousands of years, they have invented
their games using stones, marbles, and drawings in the dirt as well as chants,
songs, riddles, and handshakes. Massey says they don’t need much: “Big beautiful
playgrounds are nice, and kids like them, but after about a year, kids are
either standing on them hanging out or using them as obstacles in a game of
tag.”

The games kids play and songs they sing — from kickball and kick the can to
double Dutch and pat-a-cake — give kids the chance to work through tough
feelings when they lose, deal with a cheater, and negotiate rules. They also
preserve culture — many have been passed from big kids to little kids for
hundreds of years.

Around the world, nations are committed to giving children space to play. The
U.N.’s Child’s Rights Treaty, which lists play as a right, is one of the most
ratified human rights treaties in history. Just three U.N. nations have yet to
ratify it: Somalia, South Sudan, and the United States. Here, we offer up an
argument for this right through images and tales of play around the world that
show play to be both infectious and essential — something we all should advocate
for in our children’s schools. With that… Tag! You’re it!


WHAT RECESS LOOKS LIKE AROUND THE WORLD


CHINA

In China, recess has traditionally been more of a structured group activity,
including regular breaks for eye exercises (the country has one of the highest
rates of myopia in the world, and schools have mandated breaks for eye exercises
since 1963). A 2015 study published in the BMC Ophthalmology journal found that
children who received two additional 20-minute outdoor recess periods a day had
less risk for myopia.

Affiliated Primary School of South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China

James Mollison

In recent years, however, more schools are implementing unstructured recess to
complement eye exercises and other group exercise breaks. In Shanghai, kids take
a 30-minute nap after lunch and enjoy 10 minutes of recess for every 40 minutes
of instruction. Games kids play in their free time might include “forcing the
city gates” or “cat and mouse,” wherein a large circle of kids rotate around one
kid, “the cat,” and another, “the mouse.” When they stop turning, the cat has to
catch the mouse.


COSTA RICA

In Costa Rica, students get up to 55 minutes of recess per day, according to
UNESCO data. In addition, there are short unstructured breaks after every two
classes and a more extended unstructured break after lunch. Costa Rican
researcher Jenny Artavia Granados of the Universidad de Costa Rica visited
schools for her study Vamos al Recreo and learned a vast array of classic
schoolyard games: several versions of marbles, hide and go seek, jump rope, and
less well-known games like “manos calientes” (hot hands) where kids take turns
slapping each other's hands until one gives up.


NORWAY

Utheim Skole, Karvag, Averoy, Norway

James Mollison


ENGLAND

In England, most primary school children get a 15-minute break in the morning
and an hour at lunchtime. Break times have dwindled since the 1990s, and
teachers can withhold recess as punishment. A 2019 study by Ed Baines and Peter
Blatchford at the University College London found that at about half of
England’s primary schools, kids can direct their play, and staff supervises from
a distance.

Stonyhurst College Lancashire, UK

James Mollison

Kids might play capture the flag, kick the can, or “British bulldog,” wherein
kids have to run from one point to another without being caught by the bulldog.
Some districts banned the game because of frequent injuries, but no-contact
versions have evolved.


FINLAND

In Finland, children play and explore independently, climbing trees and building
with saws and hammers. Elementary school kids get a 15-minute recess each hour,
coupled with a daily ethics class, which supports positive behaviors kids can
then practice on the playground. Debbie Rhea, a professor at Texas Christian
University, created the LiiNK Project — which promotes the connection between
well-run recess periods and classroom achievement in the United States — after
visiting Finland on sabbatical in 2012. Rhea’s model, inspired by what she
observed in Finland, includes four 15-minute recesses — two in the morning and
two in the afternoon. Recess is also bolstered by daily character development
lessons focused on pro-social skills like empathy.

“Physiologically, you want to reboot every 45 to 60 minutes,” says Rhea. “That
brings better attentional focus than having a 30-minute recess in the morning
and a 30-minute recess in the afternoon.” Her project is showing promising
results. American schools that have implemented it report 70% less stress and
anxiety, 40% less off-task behavior, and higher math and reading scores than
control schools.


THE WEST BANK

Aida Boys School, Bethlehem, West Bank

James Mollison


INDIA

In India’s city centers, real estate is often too costly to allot space for
recess. In a 2016 study, Anne Beresin at the University of the Arts in
Philadelphia, surveyed recess practices in India and elsewhere. “The kids in the
metros are often cooped up in classes,” professor Arvin Gupta reported, “and
perhaps the only break they get is for lunch.” Rural kids are more likely to get
recess and play breaks simply because they get more space. Most school children
in India get one break a day, but in some states, like Karnataka and Sikkim,
students get two breaks. A National Council of Education and Training study
found that Indian students with more recess breaks are more willing to study.

Gram Panchayat School, Ludiya, Kutch, Gujarat, India

James Mollison

Mollison visited a playground in Gujuarat with mandatory yoga for elementary
school kids and another with daily free play time after lunch. Games they might
play include “nondi,” hopscotch; or chuupam chupai, similar to hide-and-seek; or
aankh micholi, a game where a blindfolded “denner” has to catch the other kids —
a game captured in Mollison’s photo, above.


ITALY

Ugo Foscolo Elementary School, Murano, Venice

James Mollison


JAPAN

Shohei Elementary School, Tokyo

Courtesy of James Mollison


KENYA

Kaloleni School, Nairobi, Kenya

James Mollison


MEXICO

Adolfo López Mateos Primary School, Mexico City

James Mollison


MONTSERRAT

St. Agustine Roman Catholic School, Palm Loop, Montserrat

James Mollison


UGANDA

Ugandan students have an eight-hour school day, with a half-hour of play in the
morning, an hour for lunch and more recreation, and 1.5 hours of activity time
(sports, music, art, free-choice playtime) in the afternoon, according to a
report from the U.S. Play Coalition at Clemson University. The school day ends
later than it does in most countries, but having a long, unstructured activity
period at the end of the day helps ensure kids leave school with a smile. They
might use their free time to dance, play games like jonah, netball, or duulu — a
marble game that’s played like pool, but with fingers — or make jump ropes from
dried palm fronds. Ugandan kids are playing with extra verve this year. They
just returned to school in January after 83 weeks off, the longest COVID school
closure in the world.


UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Everyone knows red light, green light and tag, but kids in American schools have
preserved other diverse and regional games for generations. In Brooklyn, there’s
handball, and African American girls across the country have an old and vast
catalog of sing-alongs, hand-slapping games, and double Dutch routines.

Warren Lane Elementary, Inglewood, California

James Mollison

While some of us may take recess for granted in the United States, there are no
national guidelines requiring breaks during the school day. Only 10 states have
signed laws that require schools to provide recess to elementary school
children. Georgia is the latest state to guarantee recess, with a bill signed
into law this summer that not only demands recess but prohibits teachers from
withholding recess as punishment. “It’s still about time and minutes, not about
quality,” says Massey of the new state standards, “but it’s a step forward.” In
most states, there are no set requirements, and recess is in constant peril of
being cut from the schoolday wholesale — or cut as punishment. As a result, some
schools do recess well, and others don’t do it at all. On average, U.S. kids get
about 30 minutes of recess a day, but kids in large, urban, Southeastern schools
serving low-income and students of color tend to get the least.



✕

Dec. 1, 2022
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