Field trips.

and most public schools don't have enough money for many of them. Some schools still have recess for elementary kids.

But mostly, free play is needed for socializing and creativity. I'm thinking they need more than 15 minutes for at least one segment.

schools are under constant pressure to do the same, or better, with less. And reducing hours is one way to reduce costs. In the Chicago area, some schools have a split day of 2 separate sessions to accommodate more students.

There was a school in a small community near me where they had a garden. Each grade was responsible for part of the garden. At various times during the school year, the students would prepare food from the garden and share it with everyone.

This school has closed now. I don't know if the practice has continued at their new school.

This was years before Michelle Obama. It was a project started by one teacher who was a farmer's wife.

rahm actually took money leftover from security for that nato meeting that pissed so many people off, and spent it on school gardens.
there is a busy non-profit that i work with that manages them for a bunch of schools.

most of that is afterschool stuff, tho.

several times a day? We're talking about little kids.

Cutting recess is considered an easy fix.

I'd gladly add a 30-60 minutes to my kids' school day if it meant they'd get more time to eat and play during their current recess and lunch periods.

I'd imagine this would also help to give the teachers a little bit more of a reprieve too which, in turn, would improve the quality of the attention students get.

we treat children like cattle, run the place for the teachers instead of the kids. hell, they are arranged more for the janitors than the kids.
to say nothing of their families, who could be so much more welcome in our school buildings, but are often shut out, and often due to janitor's contract rules.

the whole child is a pretty forgotten idea. it was the heart of educational pedagogy when john dewey started his university.
the whole child is the goal of many, many homeschoolers on the left.

we treat them like cattle, and then we are surprised how many of them turn into animals w/o conscience. authoritarian followers.

this is a start, anyway.

Children have short attention spans and doing long periods of learning just defeats the leaning process. I like the idea that they can get a chance to let that new info process and not have so much that not enough is retained.

they should take a walk or move around. This benefits everyone but is critical for children.