Free play, characterised as the scope for unstructured activity, driven by children – for children, is a vital and undervalued part of a child’s early stages of development. Children enjoy free play, because they gravitate to curiosity and exploration since it gives them the chance to understand their own interests. Play offers the development of creativity, problem-solving skills, socialisation and interaction, confidence, decision-making, self-expression and independence. Bachpan Manao and UNICEF’s joint collaboration to encourage free play in the formative years of a child’s life, becomes increasingly relevant in the modern context, where the increasing threat of disconnect is felt globally.
Cinema and art offer us mirrors to reality, and allow us to focus on and see clearly, what otherwise might be forgotten or undermined. The various movies chosen for this video include Taare Zameen Par, 3 Idiots, Chillar Party and The Lego Movie. Each of them subtly unpacks the ways in which freedom and liberty of thought and action resulted in benefits for the children they highlight. In this way, fiction is able to tie together the moments in our lives which have been integral to our development. This video aims to highlight these exact benefits of free play, and by understanding them in the context of actual lives of children – it hopes that the closeness of free play’s benefits in the movies we all love, becomes noticeable in reality.
‘Birds fly, fish swim and children play’. Let us free play every day.
