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The Power of Play:
Raising Healthy Children
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WCSS understands the power of play and how access to play time is tied to high quality learning experiences. Play not only supports a high quality educational experience for young children, research shows play is "the most powerful way children learn." In fact, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends play for children to "buffer stress, build parental relationships, and improve executive functioning," skills that go well beyond traditional academic achievement.
Our Healthy Initiatives programs integrate active learning through play and healthy eating as quality improvements for child care - fostering life skills that build a developmentally appropriate foundation for good health habits. When WCSS staff partner with a center to do quality enhancement work, one of the main goals is to give the children space and time to play as they grow. WCSS's Shape NC* and Farm to Child Care programs encourage active play and a healthy lifestyle in child care. These healthy initiatives bring centers improvements that include pathways for tricycles, running, and walking; vegetable and pollinator gardens; natural construction areas; and outdoor classroom space - all spaces that combine play and learning. In fact, two-thirds of children in Wake County child care attend centers that benefit from WCSS's quality improvement programs.
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Left: Lots of Love and Learning's (a Shape NC and Farm to Child Care site) improved outdoor learning environment with double-loop pathway, garden planters and teepee, and expanded play space. Right: children picking fresh carrots from their new garden. |
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For example, Shape NC has been implemented with early promising outcomes statewide, one of which is increased outdoor play time. Centers are only required to spend 30 minutes outdoors each day with children under 2 years old and 60 minutes with children 2 and older. By utilizing outdoor spaces WCSS has enhanced with quality improvements, some centers participating in Shape NC now spend an average of 2.5 hours outside each day.
The AAP report highlights the benefits of play for relieving stress and lessening disruptive behaviors in class. Just 15 minutes of play created twice as much stress relief in children than listening to a story, and regular one-on-one play with their teacher reduced disruptive behaviors more than routine interactions only.
Play starts early, even before a child has words, so it's crucial for their development from the beginning. We are proud to be recipients of a $133,500 grant to implement a new phase of the Shape NC program to Wake County - Healthy Starts for Infants and Toddlers: Shape NC. Expanding this program to younger children can build skills that counteract stress and improve social-emotional functioning even earlier in life - skills that are ensuring each child, in every community, will be ready for school and life.
*Shape NC: Healthy Starts for Young Children, an Initiative of Smart Start and BCBSNC Foundation, funded by the Corporation for National and Community Service, Social Innovation Fund
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Bridging the Home/Classroom Divide Through Play |
Whether play time occurs in the evening after a day at child care or with a stay-at-home parent, families, too, are wanting guidance on play and early learning. We fund programs like Parents as Teachers, Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters, and Nurse-Family Partnership that focus on home-based and family support. These programs share similar principles as school- or center-based learning. They connect the types of learning activities that happen in the classroom to things parents can do at home, like nature walks and pretend play. |
Supporting learning through play also ties to executive functioning and having strong social-emotional skills, which are workforce needs. Despite research that links television watching with a sedentary lifestyle and greater risks of obesity, the typical preschooler watches 4.5 hours of television per day, according to media research. Parenting programs encourage families to resist habits that work against bonding and healthy development. For more information about the ways WCSS is changing lives and providing stepping stones for our children's success, see the FY2017-18 WCSS Annual Report online. |
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WCSS Funded Partner Celebrates 10 Years in Wake County! |
Nurse-Family Partnership Staff during 2018 Graduation Ceremony |
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This month, WCSS funded partner Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) celebrates their 10th anniversary of providing life-changing services to vulnerable mothers pregnant with their first child in Wake County! NFP listens to clients with intentionality and purpose, and their curriculum focuses on teaching first-time mothers to use every moment to serve as their "baby's first teacher," including using play for growth and development. Since NFP enrolled their first mother in 2009, they have served 545 mothers, seen 410 babies be born, and conducted 13,941 home visits.
We are proud that together in Wake County, we work to build better communities with stronger families.
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Your support of WCSS made sure the first-time mothers of NFP have been supported since before their children were born. It built outdoor play spaces and brought to life the gardens in child care centers that showed children play can be fun and educational. And it can make sure each child, in every community, is ready for school and life.
Visit our website or Facebook fundraiser today to share the love.
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Questions? Contact us today 919-851-9550 |
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