The Link Between Imaginative Play and Executive Functioning Skills
My whole idea is based on this essential connection. Of course, I am promoting Imaginative Play for its myriad of benefits, but the development of Executive Functioning skill is my main goal.
On an NPR radio broadcast in 2008, Alix Spiegel reviews some of the work Adele Diamond (professor of developmental cognitive neuroscience at the University of British Columbia) and Deborah Leong (professor emerita of psychology and director of the Tools of the Mind Project at Metropolitan State College of Denver), are involved in. Spiegel reports that “unfortunately, play has changed dramatically during the past half-century, and according to many psychological researchers, the play that kids engage in today does not help them build executive function skills. Kids spend more time in front of televisions and video games. When they aren't in front of a screen, they often spend their time in leagues and lessons — activities parents invest in because they believe that they will help their children to excel and achieve. And while it's true that leagues and lessons are helpful to children in many ways, researcher Deborah Leong says they have one unfortunate drawback... She says when kids are in leagues and lessons, they are usually being regulated by adults. That means they are not able to practice regulating themselves. "As a result," Leong says, "kids aren't developing the self-regulation skills that they used to."”
When I found out that research backed my personal experiences and opinions like this, I was very pleased. I believe that team sports, artistic outlets, and physical challenges are an extremely important part of growing up. I believe that learning through technology is also very important. However, I also believe that society generally does not appreciate the lifelong value of unstructured Imaginative Play; mostly because this value is not widely known.
Harvard’s Center on the Developing Child website states that “Children aren’t born with these skills—they are born with the potential to develop them. Some children may need more support than others to develop these skills.” Every day, we learn more about which human abilities are innate, which are acquired, and which are a combination. Executive Functioning skills, I would argue, are a combination.
Humans naturally need this skill set. For example, First Nations communities here in British Columbia would often relocate seasonally. They did this because the seasonal changes affected both climate and food supply, which in turn affected their ability to feel comfortable and survive in different surroundings. Establishing this kind of plan, recognizing seasonal changes, and organizing a whole group of people to safely move multiple times each year - all of these are excellent examples of Executive Functioning skills. For a more modern example of the everyday need for Executive Functioning skills, picture hosting a dinner party. You would need to select a date, invite guests, consider any dietary restrictions, pick recipes, make a shopping list, purchase the ingredients, cook the meal to be ready for a specific time, and arrange the utensils required. This massive to-do list requires the skills of visualization, time management, and organization; all of which fall under the Executive Functioning umbrella. This skill set has been essential for centuries to not only human comfort, but survival.
Sources:
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=76838288
https://developingchild.harvard.edu/science/key-concepts/executive-function/
