Can I get a witness (slip)?

The Play Bill is back!

Friends, we’re now beginning to return to some of what we had to leave behind last year at this time.

For me, one of those things is the Right to Play Bill, SB654.

Remember? In a world where recess has been whittled away in favor of academic subjects, in some cases to zero time at all, SB654 sets the standard for 60 minutes of unstructured play for Illinois K-8 public school students. It allows for schools and districts to divide up that time any way they like. It is just about the cheapest possible fix for a whole passel of problems. And now that our kids have been out of school, separated from peers, and shorted on gross motor activity and outdoor time for a whole entire calendar year, it seems obvious to me that unstructured play should be a priority when our kids head back to school.

But what’s so great about play? And shouldn’t we be worrying more about learning loss? Well, since play is the way kids learn, it has a lot of positive impacts. Prioritizing play will counteract learning loss far faster than drilling facts at the computer in summer school. Like so:

Play improves cognitive abilities and increases academic performance, boosts problem-solving skills, and builds resilience, in addition to reducing stress and loneliness, strengthening adaptability, reducing disruptive behavior, and fighting childhood obesity. Play strengthens independence and encourages collaboration.

But I’m probably preaching to the choir here. If you’re reading this newsletter you, too, probably think play should be a greater part of the school day. So we’ll just cut to the chase and say, SB654 is up for a hearing on Tuesday, March 23rd. So now’s the moment for witness slips! Fill one out as a proponent right here. Where it asks for title and who you are representing, you can put in things like “self” and “citizen” if you aren’t with a group. Check “Proponent” and, unless you plan on being present in the hearing, check “Record of Appearance Only.”

The other great thing you can do is call your state senator’s office and tell them you support SB654, and you’d like for then to sign on as a sponsor.

When you’ve finished these little tasks on behalf of Illinois’ grateful public school students, you should celebrate. Take 10 minutes to make something very suitable to play with in a windy midwestern spring: a super simple kite from one piece of paper that I promise will fly like nobody’s business. You will be agog at this kite’s mad skills, and I bet you already have everything you need to make it in your house right now.

Thanks for stepping up for Illinois schoolkids, and happy kite flying!

Follow me on twitter @JulieVassilatos.