International Day of Play | Are you playing enough?

Let us go back in time to 2010. It is the peak of summer vacation. You and your friends are out in the open, without worrying about your mother’s 6 pm curfew or your teacher’s surprise tests.

The narrow lane near your house transforms into a cricket pitch. The walls of the houses on the lane are the boundaries. You arch back to hit a six with your ‘helicopter shot.’

Now, let us come back to 2025. The same lanes are now filled with parked vehicles. You are back in your room, fiddling with your gadgets or playing mobile games, or watching TV. Sounds familiar?

Every year, June 11 is celebrated as the International Day of Play, to celebrate the power and importance of the one act most grown-ups take for granted — playing.

The UN General Assembly adopted this day in 2024 to emphasise its relevance, especially in this digital age. And thanks to a whole array of reasons, the time and space available for children to play is fast shrinking.

More than 50% of children around the world are deprived of the right to play, says the UN’s data. And the causes range from lack of space to the need for children to take on family responsibility at a very young age. The UN data goes on to say that in contrast to their grandparents’ generation, where nearly three-quarters reported playing outside a few times per week, now only one in four children play outside regularly.

Within the same, nearly 41% reported that their parents or other adults, like neighbours, had told them to stop playing outside.

Disappearing playgrounds of India

India is witnessing a silent crisis—our playgrounds are vanishing. Municipal parks are giving way to high-rises, and public grounds are being converted into commercial properties. According to a report by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), Indian cities have lost more than 60% of their open spaces in the last two decades. WHO recommends nine square metres per person; however, Indian cities like Mumbai and Bengaluru have one-sixth of the same (around 1.5 square metres).

Another 2017 study by Save the Children found that children today spend 50% less time playing outdoors than their parents did. The reasons? Urbanisation, academic stress, lack of safe play spaces, and the ever-increasing fixation with screens. While private clubs, sports complexes, and even turfs are mushrooming across big cities, these are exclusive spaces which come at a high cost, and are unaffordable and, therefore, inaccessible to children.

Is health not wealth anymore?

Doctors have raised an alarm about this decline in physical activity among children. Paediatricians warn that sedentary lifestyles are leading to a surge in childhood obesity, early onset of type 2 diabetes, and postural disorders. According to UNICEF, 1 in 10 children around the globe miss out on activities with their parents that are critical in ensuring cognitive, social, and emotional development. The data also show that roughly 1 in 8 under age five do not have toys or playthings at home.

Vasundhara Gupta, the founder and counselling psychologist at Humraahi Psychotherapy based in Delhi, emphasised how, through play, children process their experiences, regulate their emotions, build connections, and develop crucial interpersonal skills like negotiation, empathy, and conflict resolution.

“As psychologists, we increasingly see how constant digital stimulation can reduce a child’s tolerance for distress and boredom. Often, children are handed a screen to stay occupied, which over time diminishes their capacity to self-soothe, be imaginative, or engage in play that makes way for autonomy and problem-solving,” she added.

There has also been an observation that many parents today have to put in active, conscious effort to support their children in engaging with non-screen-based play, something that used to occur more spontaneously and organically earlier. This has led to a noticeable decline in children’s ability to be present without external stimuli, and this is something we need to pay attention to, both at home and in educational settings.

Additionally, with increasing competitiveness and the rise of hustle culture, where children are encouraged to “excel” in every school activity, be it academics or sports, the true spirit of play is often lost. Play is meant to be joyful, spontaneous, and restorative. It is meant to let a child simply be a child. When we over-structure even play with performance-based expectations, we risk turning something inherently freeing into yet another source of pressure.

Schools can counter this by creating low-pressure, non-competitive spaces for play, while also engaging parents in conversations about balancing ambition with emotional well-being. By embedding playfulness into the culture of learning, schools help children reconnect with their natural rhythms of curiosity, movement, and joy.

Mental health professionals also highlight how physical play releases endorphins and reduces cortisol levels — nature’s stress relief. Nutritionists emphasise the importance of physical activity, which boosts metabolism and improves digestion, making it easier for kids to absorb nutrients. Children who play are more likely to have healthy appetites, better sleep, and lower risks of lifestyle diseases later in life.

Richie Sikri, a clinical psychologist at Lissun, a mental health platform, pointed out how children are more involved with screens, leading to a one-way communication pattern, creating a hindrance in development, and reducing opportunities for imaginative play, social interaction, and physical activity.

In a representative urban study sample of 20,000 kids and young people from both high and low socio-economic backgrounds, ages 6 to 19, 49% of participants engaged in active play for at least an hour. However, there were notable differences in active play between boys and girls. Approximately 60% of boys reported active play compared to 35% of girls, thus pointing out the common pattern that emerged from both urban and rural data — girls were significantly less active compared to boys.

Role of Schools

A study was conducted across 61 government and private schools in Bengaluru; out of which only 16% and 65% of private and government schools, respectively, had access to playgrounds. However, there was no evidence of this access being regular.

While conversing with a few sports teachers in both government schools, we got to know that there is a dearth of teachers in a lot of these schools. “There aren’t teachers available in lower and upper primary schools; only high schools have teachers who end up managing students from the entire school,” said Manu K.S., a physical education teacher from Kerala. “There are government schools where there are no sports teachers as well,” he added.

While private schools or a few government schools, which are better managed, have 3 or even 4 sports teachers, the same cannot be said for government schools. In addition, a national, cross-sectional survey across urban and rural areas in India, which included 1402 households and 1531 adolescents, found that approximately 64.3% of adolescents reported doing physical activity in their schools for an average of 16.1 minutes per day.

“Parents and school administration, as well as teachers, always discourage participation in sports, as they have the misconception of getting exhausted, especially during exam season. I always suggest half an hour of play and breathing exercises along with good sleep before the exam days,” said Shylaja T.G., a physical education teacher working in Kendriya Vidyalaya. She also added that immediately after COVID, there was a hike in encouraging sports activities by parents and teachers, but after a few months, everything went back to academics alone.

This rapid change coming in is, unfortunately, not for the better. As several researchers point out, play should not be viewed as a reward or an afterthought but as a non-negotiable part of holistic development. With less space for understanding their abilities and improving their skills, it is today’s children who are inevitably suffering from not playing enough. For a better future for the coming generations, it is important to ensure that physical playgrounds thrive instead of virtual ones.

niranjana.ps@thehindu.co.in