Play, whether structured or free, is a major and critical part of childhood. However, physical education specialists have long debated whether free play or structured play is better. Each type has specific advantages for a child’s development.
That’s why we offer you opportunities to include both types of play in your sessions with Lü.
Structuring play to develop key skills
Structured play is characterized by specific rules and goals for acquiring new skills. In physical education, these games are organized by the teacher and give students a safe way to develop their fundamental skills as well as more complex competencies (Azlan ’Arif et al., 2021). Structured play can take many forms, like obstacle courses, workshops, and group games. All allow participants to improve common core competencies.
Free play, a space for autonomy and experimentation
Unlike structured play, free play offers children limitless room for exploration. This freedom fosters intrinsic motivation, creativity, autonomy, and motor engagement, all of which are crucial to child development. Martín-García and Rico-González (2024) also insist that free play nurtures children’s motor and social development.
However, free play in physical education can come with certain risks, including the risk of reducing students’ motor engagement time. A study by Tsuda, Goodway, et al. shows that 43% of free time is devoted to sedentary behavior. This is an important issue to understand, and we need to find solutions to overcome it.
Lü’s Free Play mode: a unique balance
The Lü team is aware of the opportunities that come with free play, as well as its limitations. That’s why it decided to include a Free Play mode with its interactive wall to encourage students’ creativity and autonomy while still giving them a certain amount of structure in their physical activity.
In Free Play mode, children get to take control of the Lü interface: they choose the games they want to play by throwing a ball, instead of needing a teacher or the keyboard remote. This allows them to assert their interests while developing their motor skills.
This freedom of choice is particularly important for reinforcing intrinsic motivation. As pointed out in the study by Tsuda et al. (2020), perceived competence and physical activity in free play are closely linked; in other words, children get to feel competent while having fun in a pressure-free environment.
Did you know?
You can customize which applications are available in Free Play mode.
Go to the Settings section, then to the Free Play tab to select the applications you want to make available to your players.
Want to learn more about Lü’s educational potential? Reach out to our educational team!
For play to truly support learning, it needs to be both engaging and structured. Lü reconciles these two factors by offering children a fun setting where they can independently choose the games they want to play.
In doing so, Lü’s Free Play mode encourages a balanced approach that promotes students’ physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development.
