Non-Competitive Games: Pat Farrington said in The New Games Book that “Games are not so much a way to compare our abilities as a way to celebrate them.” She believed that by restructuring the games that are played, children could compete against their own limits rather than against each other, thus children could focus on the joy of playing these games by cooperating and trusting each other instead of striving to win. Marianne Frostig wrote in Movement Education: Theory and Practice that “movement activities can help children to adjust socially and emotionally. It can provide them with successful experiences. It can permit interrelationships with others in groups and with a partner.” Non-Competitive Games can lay the foundation for these movement experiences.

Social/Emotional Competence in Early Childhood: “Competence in building and maintaining relationships with others involves a complex interplay of feelings, thought, and skills.” says Lilian Katz and Diane McClellan in their book Fostering Children’s Social Competence: The Teacher’s Role. “While these components take a long time to learn, their foundations are laid early in childhood…in the context of a variety of opportunities to interact with peer.” Non-competitive games can easily form the bases of these opportunities.

Infants: Choo Choo Train: Place the infant in a sitting position between your legs which have been spread out in a V. Start quietly at first saying Choo, choo, choo, choo, Choo, choo, choo, choo then put your hand up and pull it down to blow the train whistle Whoo, whoo, Whoo, whoo. Little ones like this activity a lot, but just be careful to start quietly or you may scare them.

Toddlers: Hug Tag: This is a variation on classical tag and is a perfect example of how you can turn an old game into a new non-competitive one. The only time children are safe is when they are hugging others. If a child is caught they are not out but have to hold hands with the chaser and work together to catch others.

Preschoolers: Musical Chairs: This also is a variation of a classical child’s game, but in this version when a child is left without a seat, they are not out, but must sit on another child’s lap until everyone is sitting on one lap. (They are really not sitting on a lap but on each child’s knees.) It’s lots of fun and there are no tears like in the original version.

In her book Big Body Play Frances Carlson says that “the sometimes rowdy, always very physical running, rolling, climbing, tagging, jumping, grabbing, and wrestling that most children love and many adults try to shut down can and should be an integral part of every early childhood setting.” Drawing from evidence-based practice there is a multitude of benefits for big body play for young children’s cognitive (intellectual), physical and social/emotional development.

GAMES LUBRICATE THE BODY AND THE MIND

(Benjamin Franklin)