In order to develop an effectively functioning nervous system, children need whole-body play that stimulates all of their sensory systems. Current research shows us that at a time when recess is being removed from many American elementary schools in order to devote more time to high-stakes test preparation (Ohanian, 2002), children actually benefit cognitively from unstructured break time (Pellegrini & Bohn, 2005); they also perform better academically when they have opportunities for movement, including leaping, jumping, hopping, and running, throughout the school day (Zygmunt-Fillwalk & Bilello, 2005). Children need to slide down chutes head first, jump off swings, crawl through tunnels, climb trees...