A few months ago, we wrote a post on encouraging children to engage in free play and daydreaming during the summer. This blog comes after following a post we saw on The Atlantic on how recess in Finnish schools keeps their children more focused, we thought we’d share the benefits of scheduling breaks into children’s days. Finland is considered to have one of the best educations in the world, with students consistently scoring highly in the PISA examination and the country attracting many education tourists each year to visit schools and learn from their education system.
Studies have shown that children with more than 15 minutes of recess in their day behaved better in class than students with shorter or no breaks during the day. Another study showed that children are more focused on days when they have recess. Moreover, our brains actually need a rest every now and then in order to function properly and learn effectively.
Find out more here.
This post first appeared on Prep Beijing on July 9, 2014.
Alicia Lui is a co-founder at Prep Beijing!, a coaching company focusing on core soft skills such as effective communication, social and emotional skills, etiquette, critical thinking and leadership skills. Prior to founding Prep Beijing! She has worked in management consulting and in banking. She holds and MBA from INSEAD and Bachelor’s from University of Chicago.
Photo: Mr Moss (flickr)
