The momentum around recess has been building for years, with experts raising awareness about the importance of preserving time for daily play as well as grassroots efforts from parents across the country. 

Earlier this year, the American Academy of Pediatrics added to the chorus by publishing an updated about the 鈥渃rucial role鈥� of recess. 

鈥淥ur recommendation is whatever time you have allocated in the day for recess occurs rain or shine, snow or no snow, heatwave or not,鈥� said Cathy Ramstetter, co-author of the AAP policy statement and author of the book 鈥淲hy Recess Matters: The Importance of Unstructured Play and How to Fight For it,鈥� which came out in August. 

鈥淭his is time that should not be taken away for academics or for behavioral problems,鈥� she added, and occurs 鈥減referably more than once per day.鈥�

In other words, the AAP is advising that schools hold recess almost without exception 鈥� and repeatedly throughout the day, if possible. It sounds like a proposal written by kids themselves, but in fact it is supported by peer-reviewed research studies. 

And many states are taking notice. , , and are among the states that have set higher minimum requirements for recess in the last few years. Advocates in a slew of other states are working toward joining them soon. 

Recess was once an integral part of the American school experience, as it was and remains in most every other country in the world, said Ramstetter. However, in recent decades, as the United States became more focused on standardized test scores, recess was sidelined in favor of more instructional time, noted Debbie Rhea, a professor in kinesiology at Texas Christian University and director of the LiiNK project, a researched-based for schools characterized by four 15-minute recess breaks and a character development lesson daily.

Rhea took a sabbatical in Finland in 2012, where she said she spent time trying to understand their education system. One thing she noticed was that they were giving kids recess after every hour of academic learning. As she dug in deeper, Rhea learned the Finns actually borrowed this strategy from an approach they had observed in American schools in the 1960s.聽

鈥淲e quit doing what we were doing because testing became so important,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e are now sitting [children] down for hours at a time. We鈥檙e killing the spirit of our kids.鈥�

鈥淚t is the child鈥檚 place to play,鈥� she added. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what children are supposed to do.鈥�

What Rhea and other children鈥檚 health experts have found is that recess is not a distraction or a break from learning. During periods of , children are learning plenty 鈥� developing critical social and emotional skills, fine-tuning the connection between their brains and bodies, and engaging with their peers. 

Moreover, research has found that those 鈥渂reaks鈥� for self-directed play give children to return to academic instruction and better absorb it. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 rebooting their brain so they can come back to content and get back on task quickly,鈥� Rhea said of the unstructured play time that defines recess. 

It may also be incredibly motivating for children. Erin Birkam, the parent of two children in Clarksville, Tennessee, said her younger son, now in first grade, views each of his two daily recess breaks as a reward for focusing during academic learning. 

鈥淚f he knows he has two 20-minute blocks, he can get through the academic part because he has that to look forward to,鈥� Birkam said, noting it helps that one break is in the morning and the other in the afternoon. 

Birkam鈥檚 older son, now in middle school, didn鈥檛 get as much time for recess when he was in elementary school, and he only got one period per day. 

The change came only last year, after a band of parents united to change Tennessee state law around recess. 

Kathryn Truman, a mom of four in Clarksville, Tennessee, led the effort. 

Truman鈥檚 first child had spent his years leading up to kindergarten playing outside 鈥渁ll day,鈥� she said. She was stunned when she got his schedule for kindergarten and it listed only 20 minutes of daily recess. 鈥淚 thought, 鈥楾his had to be a mistake. It had to be a joke,鈥欌�� she said. 

When she realized it was neither, she began going through the traditional channels, trying to spark a change. She talked to the principal. She found other parents who were similarly alarmed by the fact that kindergarteners got just 20 minutes of recess but 120 minutes of reading instruction, as she recalled. (State law, at the time, required a minimum of 15 minutes per day.) They spoke at a school board meeting and met with the superintendent. The district鈥檚 solution was to increase elementary school recess allotment to 30 minutes for the next school year. Truman and her counterparts were not satisfied. 

She remembers someone on district staff telling her, 鈥淚f you want any more, you鈥檇 have to change the state law,鈥� then laughing openly at the idea. But it galvanized Truman and other parents in the district. They found like-minded parents across Tennessee, including one mom on the eastern end of the state who said her children were getting only 15 minutes of recess three days a week 鈥� and it was right before the buses came for pickup at 3 p.m.

鈥淲e didn鈥檛 want to just be whiny parents forcing our way on educators and the law,鈥� Truman said. 鈥淲e wanted it to be a collaborative movement.鈥�

Truman can remember sitting around her kitchen table with other parents, hoping aloud that they could change state law in the next three to five years. But the bill 鈥� which initially included 60 minutes of daily recess but was later amended to 40 minutes 鈥� got the in May 2025, less than a year later. 

The law, in addition to increasing minimum daily recess time from 15 to 40 minutes, requires that recess be unstructured outdoor play except for cases of extreme weather. Physical education classes don鈥檛 count toward recess time, and screen time is not permitted during it. The law also prohibits withholding recess from a child as a form of punishment or discipline. 

Truman achieved much of what she鈥檇 set out to do but said she鈥檚 鈥渃oming back鈥� to push for the full 60 minutes of daily recess, noting it should become the 鈥渘ational standard.鈥�

Once the bill passed in Tennessee, word got around to other states, and parents began getting in touch with , a nonprofit advocacy organization that Truman founded in early 2025 and leads. 

鈥淲e didn鈥檛 want those parents to have to start at square one like we did,鈥� Truman said. 

A Texas chapter came first, but others quickly followed. Now the group has scaled to more than 20 states across the country.

During the past legislative session, Say Yes to Recess led bills in , and , Truman said. Only the one in Michigan remains active, but Truman said the other two chapters will 鈥渁bsolutely try again.鈥� 

The 2025-26 school year was the first time Tennessee schools offered students at least 40 minutes of daily recess. It was a big win when, this summer, the state the results of its standardized test, showing academic gains statewide the same year. 

鈥淚 don鈥檛 think recess hurt anything,鈥� Truman said. 鈥淚t didn鈥檛 negatively impact anything.鈥�

That鈥檚 what children鈥檚 health experts like Ramstetter and Rhea have been saying for years: Recess doesn鈥檛 come at the expense of academic outcomes. In fact, recess may actually bolster student performance.

鈥淩ecess is content,鈥� Rhea said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e learning how to play, how to adapt. [They鈥檙e learning] each other鈥檚 languages. They do a lot of learning on the playground.鈥�

Ramstetter, the book author who helped write the AAP policy statement, offered a comparison to adults. When adults are learning something new and get stuck, they take a break. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 because our brains need that time to consolidate memory and information,鈥� she said, adding that the same thing happens at night when we sleep. This is true for kids and adolescents as well.

Even though plenty of school districts today only provide recess in elementary school, Ramstetter noted that the process she described of memory consolidation 鈥渄oesn鈥檛 stop when you鈥檙e 12 or when you鈥檙e 10鈥� years old. Again, even adults continue to do it. The AAP supports recess 鈥� or unstructured free play of some kind 鈥� for all school-aged students, not just the young ones.  

In Tennessee, where the new law only applies to elementary school students, teachers and parents say it鈥檚 made a difference. For Birkam鈥檚 first grader, recess is the highlight of his day. 

鈥淲hat he wants to talk about, after school, is recess,鈥� she said. 鈥淗e wants to talk about the friends he made and what he played.鈥�

If Truman and her allies have their way, more students across the United States will soon be able to return home from school each day saying the same. 

鈥淭here鈥檚 great movement across the country,鈥� Rhea said, 鈥渇or more recess.鈥�

Fair enough, perhaps. But in many ways, the episode serves as a case study in how political turf battles and institutional considerations can take precedence over even the most widely supported, logical measures, an outcome that鈥檚 particularly frustrating when benefits for students are on the line.聽

The governor鈥檚 decision is disappointing, particularly because this bill represented one of the most cost-neutral, evidence-based opportunities available to improve children鈥檚 health. But in many ways, the veto was also a reminder of just how politically complicated school legislation can become, even when the underlying ideas enjoy broad bipartisan support. 

As it turns out, the recess and fitness provisions in Kansas had already been through the wringer, with competing political, institutional and industry interests swirling around them. They had already survived an unusually turbulent legislative journey 鈥� one deeply entangled with a separate and far more contentious debate 鈥� over pesticides, of all things. 

I should know. In late March, I spent three days on the ground in Kansas, moving between legislative offices, committee rooms and hallway conversations, speaking with lawmakers about improving health outcomes for the state鈥檚 students. At the center of those conversations was a school lunch bill, , originally designed to remove harmful additives from school meals. This was a policy that, on its face, seemed like a clear, bipartisan win.

But by the time I arrived, that bill had been amended to protecting pesticide manufacturers. Suddenly, a straightforward conversation about children鈥檚 health had become entangled in a much larger fight over industry protections and regulatory authority.

Specifically, the amendment introduced provisions shielding pesticide manufacturers from having to comply with state warning or labeling requirements that go beyond federal standards, which many deem to be insufficient. Some pesticides, such as paraquat, have been linked with chronic-disease pathology in epidemiological research 鈥� evidence compelling enough that Vermont lawmakers passed the on paraquat last month, citing growing concerns about neurological harm. Recent  has shown a strong association between paraquat exposure and Parkinson鈥檚 disease risk, for example.

The newly amended bill advanced out of the House Agriculture Committee, and suddenly, a straightforward public-health measure had become something far more complicated.

Over the next several days, I met with lawmakers across both chambers, including legislative leadership, to walk through what had happened and what was at stake. With the help of Republican Senate President Ty Masterson, I talked about the risks of chronic disease 鈥� not as an abstract issue, but as something increasingly affecting children. I connected the dots between food environments, physical activity and long-term health outcomes. And I made the case that the pesticide provisions not only undermined the original intent of the bill but risked derailing it entirely.

Those conversations had an impact. After our chats, lawmakers decided not to continue advancing the bill in its amended form. Instead, they looked for a way to preserve policy concepts that can meaningfully support student health. The solution emerged from negotiations in conference committee: creating a new legislative vehicle that included school lunch reform, daily recess for students and restoration of the Presidential Fitness Test.

conducted on behalf of my organization, End Chronic Disease, 88% of voters support increasing physical activity in schools. And no wonder: It鈥檚 one of the most evidence-based ways to improve children鈥檚 lives.

Regular movement supports cardiovascular health, reduces the risk of obesity and Type 2 diabetes, and has been shown to improve focus, behavior and academic performance. For many children, especially those without access to safe outdoor spaces or structured activities, school may be the only place they consistently get that opportunity.

Yet even with the bill鈥檚 new emphasis, the politics surrounding it never fully disappeared.

As negotiations continued, the school lunch provisions were removed amid pushback tied to the broader pesticide debate. In the final hours before the last legislative deadline of the year, the bill with its focus on recess and physical fitness passed both chambers, only to be rejected in late April by Gov. Kelly鈥檚 veto.

It鈥檚 important to acknowledge what this process revealed. A bill focused on removing harmful additives from school meals, something that should have been a 鈥渘o-brainer,鈥� was effectively derailed once it became entangled with the interests of another industry.

The speed with which unrelated pesticide provisions were inserted and the ripple effects that followed underscore how difficult it can be to advance even widely supported educational policies. Too often, such measures with broad public backing become secondary to institutional turf battles, procedural maneuvering and competing political incentives. 

Luckily, the medical establishment is starting to weigh in more forcefully. Just this month, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued describing recess as essential to children鈥檚 health and development and warning against withholding it for disciplinary or academic reasons. In other words, pediatricians increasingly understand movement not as a luxury, but as preventive medicine. It will be interesting to see how K-12 schools adjust to this guidance. 

Kansas ultimately did not follow suit this year. But if the legislative conversations I witnessed firsthand are any indication 鈥� as well as the new, encouraging guidance from the AAP 鈥� the broader direction of the conversation is changing. Someday, our schools will catch up, and students everywhere will benefit mentally, physically and academically.聽聽

Three third graders stepped up to the podium at a recent Cobb County Board of Education meeting. It was intimidating 鈥� they needed a step stool to reach the mic, and were facing a two-minute timer that seemed to move faster than a normal clock.

But Berkley Carter, Daphne Murray and June Simmons were on a mission. They had kids counting on them. They call themselves the Recess Rangers for a reason.

鈥淭oday we are here to tell you why kids should have longer recess,鈥� they said. 鈥淟onger recess will help our and other schools grow.鈥�

They told the school board about their research into the benefits of recess, the input they got from students and teachers at their school and the cost (free).

The experience was nerve-wracking for the 8- and 9-year-olds.

鈥淲e should have had a little recess break before that,鈥� June said in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

That鈥檚 what they like the most about recess. Playing kickball or tag is a chance to expel some energy or to get out their frustrations when they are having a hard time in class.

Daphne remembers a time when a teacher told her she should be more like her older brother, and how recess helped her get over her frustration from that. June remembers a time that she tried to draw something for an assignment over and over again, and recess helped her calm down after getting upset.

This all started as a class project. They had to research something that would help their school grow, and they chose longer recess times and gave the same speech to their class.

Recess is credited with helping students increase their level of physical activity, improve their memory, attention and concentration, stay on task, reduce disruptive behavior and improve their social and emotional development, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In the early 2000s, when the federal No Child Left Behind Act was focused on improving student test scores, recess was shortened or cut entirely at schools across the U.S.

鈥淣ow I look at it as a very important part of the day,鈥� Daphne said.

June agreed: 鈥淏efore, it was just a time to be goofy and fun, but now I feel like it鈥檚 really serious. I have to have recess.鈥�

Georgia started requiring daily recess for elementary students and unstructured break time for students through the eighth grade in 2022. In Cobb County, principals get to decide recess time for elementary students, and middle schoolers get their unstructured breaks during class changes.

Berkley, Daphne and June said they usually get about 15 minutes of recess time 鈥� but they noticed that some days were shorter than others, with no explanation. Several national organizations recommend at least 20 minutes of recess each day.

鈥淚t felt like they were lying to your face about recess and it was unfair to us,鈥� Berkley said.

The AJC requested to speak with the principal of Smyrna Elementary and the students鈥� teacher, but a district spokesperson declined to facilitate any interviews. The spokesperson also did not answer questions about recess times.

After the trio spoke at the meeting, they heard back from board member Becky Sayler. She commended them for their presentation, but let them know the school board doesn鈥檛 control recess. The administrative rule related to break times in schools was last updated in July.

鈥淚 know, as a teacher myself, how difficult it can be to be sure we get through the necessary standards but still have enough time to give our brains the recharging time that unstructured play allows,鈥� Sayler wrote to the students. 鈥淚 urge you to make this same presentation to your principal. I鈥檇 love to hear how it goes!鈥�

The students said they do want to talk to their principal, and possibly principals at other schools. But after their presentation in class and to the board, their teacher was very proud of them 鈥� and they鈥檝e noticed their recess is closer to 25 minutes long these days.

The Recess Rangers said their research suggests 45 minutes would be the ideal amount of time.

Among the education deregulation policies prioritized by Florida Senate President Kathleen Passidomo during a committee meeting Wednesday is one that may change the way schools offer recess to students.

One part of a likely to be considered during the 2024 legislative session would mandate that schools provide 100 minutes of recess over a week rather than the existing mandate of 20 minutes every day.

Sen. Corey Simon, chair of the Education Pre-K committee, said that although districts would still need to see that students receive the full 100 minutes of recess a week, the reform would give greater flexibility to districts. Some, the senator said, provide half-days or have other circumstances that make it difficult to mandate some programs daily.

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鈥淸The bill] doesn鈥檛 do away with the requirement,鈥� Simon said. 鈥淎ll this does is push it down to the district so that you all can sit down with your superintendent, and you can sit down with your school board, and have that discussion.鈥�

Other reforms on the table include streamlining teacher certification and training, removal of policies mandating school boards provide economic security and district guidance reports to parents, and removal of the requirement that each school district offer summer voluntary prekindergarten.

The recess initiative drew several dissents during the public comment potion of the committee meeting. Angie Gallo, an Orange County School Board member, was among the who, in 2017, successfully lobbied for the 20 minutes a day mandate.

Gallo told the committee that while she understood wanting to give the districts flexibility, she wasn鈥檛 confident they would do the right thing.

鈥溾�嬧�婽his is a wonderful bill. We just implore you to please, please, leave the mandate alone,鈥� Gallo said. 鈥淲hat you鈥檙e doing will really make the mandate useless.鈥�

Andrew Spar, president of the Florida Education Association, said that while the trio of bills had a mixed bag of policies he supported, he agreed that the state needs to return power to the school districts.

鈥淪chool districts should not be run from Tallahassee,鈥� Spar said. 鈥淚 think the Department of Education has too much influence on school districts, which interferes with what parents want to see.鈥�

Kids need recess time, Spar said, but districts should have more autonomy over the programs the state mandates they carve out time for 鈥� such as physical education, math instruction, and independent reading.

The committee unanimously passed along the bill containing the recess reform on Wednesday.

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