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School Code Recently Signed Into Law Includes Recess Mandate

The School Code (HB 1505) recently passed by the Pennsylvania General Assembly and signed into law by Governor Josh Shapiro on July 12 included a 2026 Recess Mandate, making Pennsylvania one of 12 states that mandate recess at varying lengths during the school day for kindergarten through fifth grade.

The School Code (HB 1505) recently passed by the Pennsylvania General Assembly and signed into law by Governor Josh Shapiro on July 12 included a 2026 Recess Mandate, making Pennsylvania one of 12 states that mandate recess at varying lengths during the school day for kindergarten through fifth grade.

“The passage of a Recess Mandate for Pennsylvania is an exciting step forward towards ensuring that early childhood education in Pennsylvania is rooted in developmentally appropriate practice,” said Valerie Williams, Trying Together’s kindergarten transition program director. “Play is the primary modality through which children learn and recess is critical for children to have unstructured active play time, which supports their mental and physical health. When children have daily active recess, they are healthier, they internalize all learning concepts more deeply, and we even see classroom behavioral challenges improve.”

The Importance of Recess

Defining recess explicitly as unstructured play, physical activity, and social interaction supports developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood education. Recess should be a device-free period that includes play and social interaction.

Policymakers also rightfully ensured that the bill addressed preserving lunch time – and not requiring children to choose between rushed nourishment or play – and that it included a minimum time mandate of 15 minutes for half-day kindergarten programs as well as the minimum 30-minute recess mandate for full-day programs.

While this progress should be celebrated, the current school code still allows for the removal of recess for disciplinary reasons. School districts should choose other options for discipline.

“Removing a child’s access to play not only conflicts with the United Nations’ ‘Rights of the Child,’ but will also not improve behaviors,” Williams said. “On the contrary, regular access to recess and playful learning all across the early childhood day has been shown to improve behavioral outcomes. I hope this important policy update spurs many positive conversations and system-level changes across the state in service of young children’s joy in learning.”

The World Health Organization recommends one hour of moderate-to-vigorous activity for children, ages 3 to 6, during the day. It also recommends three hours of active learning for children ages 3 to 5. Additionally, the American Academy of Pediatrics revised and published its policy statement, The Crucial Rule of Recess in School, in May 2026 that reaffirms that recess is a necessary break in the day with benefits for social, emotional, physical, and cognitive development. AAP also recommends that recess not be withheld for academic or punitive reasons.

Regular access to aerobic exercise, team-based activities, and physical activity through movement-based activities across curriculum has been shown to increase children’s executive functioning, which is the cognitive process responsible for organizing and controlling goal-directed behavior.

The Benefits of Play

Research demonstrates the cognitive, social, emotional, and physical benefits from play and physical activity:

  • Cognitive/Academic Benefits: Several studies show that recess increases children’s attention spans and productivity in the classroom. Physically active students tend to have better attendance, classroom behaviors, cognitive performance, and grades.

  • Social and Emotional Benefits: Recess promotes social and emotional skills that become fundamental lifelong tools and serves as a developmentally appropriate way to reduce stress. Through recess children learn to develop self-discipline, plan strategies, respect rules, and solve problems.

  • Physical Benefits: Dedicated time for recess during the school day helps children achieve some of the recommended sixty minutes of moderate to vigorous activity per day. 

More Resources

Trying Together offers resources on the importance of play being integrated throughout the school day and for people of all ages - including its Playful Resource Series. The second part of the series – which will focus on play equity and advocating for play – will be coming soon.

For more information on recess advocacy and other resources, check out Trying Together’s Recess Advocacy Toolkit. 

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Looking to Support Play?

Learn more about how you can continue working together with Playful Pittsburgh.

As of July 1, 2025, the Playful Pittsburgh initiative is shifting gears while we explore future opportunities and funding. During this transition, we’ve paused updates via the website, social media, and email, as well as event support and game borrowing.

You can still access play resources:

If you are interested in supporting the future of Playful Pittsburgh, please reach out:

We remain deeply grateful to the many individuals and organizations who have championed play for more than a decade—and look forward to continuing to work together.

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PA Promise for Children Resource Emphasizes the Importance of Play

PA Promise for Children has put together resources on the importance of play for children’s well-being and brain development.

PA Promise for Children has put together resources on the importance of play for children’s well-being and brain development.

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In The Importance of Play, PA Promise for Children notes that play is as important to a child’s well-being as work is for an adult. Play is important for brain development by teaching children new skills and how to share with others. It helps them to make decisions and learn about the world as well as work through scary and confusing experiences.

But, PA Promise for Children writes, nearly 40 percent of elementary schools have eliminated recess or are considering it, and many kindergartners in full-day programs have no break for recess. 

Real Play

Play workers in the United Kingdom consider real play to be “socially interactive, first-hand, and loosely supervised.” The American Academy of Pediatrics argues that play should be child-driven - not adult-directed - and that it is important that children have independent time away from TV, tablets, and video games for the purpose of producing “healthy, fit young bodies.”

Encouraging play, PA Promise for Children notes, can help children who have time for free, open-ended play to score higher in reading and math tests. A lack of real play, on the other hand, can lead to childhood obesity, higher levels of frustration, stress, and aggression as well as a lack of creativity and imagination.

Some of the types of play encouraged are:

  • Large and small-motor play

  • Language play (telling stories, making up silly songs)

  • Construction play (building things)

  • Sensory play (playing in mud or water)

  • Make-believe play

  • Rough-and-tumble and risk-taking play

  • Symbolic play (turning a stick into a magic wand, for example)

  • Mastery play (learning how to do new things)

To learn more, read PA Promise for Children’s The Importance of Play.

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Child Mind Institute Shares Resources on Setting Screen Time Rules for Summer

As summer temperatures heat up, parents will likely want to encourage their children to spend more time outside and hope that they’ll spend less time thinking about screen time.

As summer temperatures heat up, parents will likely want to encourage their children to spend more time outside and hope that they’ll spend less time thinking about screen time.

The Child Mind Institute has put together a list of resources on how to make effective rules for screen time during the summer.

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Most parents will want to limit their children’s screen time and, more importantly, not spend much of the summer arguing about it.

The Child Mind Institute has shared tips for identifying the tech-related harms that parents will want their children to avoid as well as the activities they’ll want to encourage. It also discusses how to make a practical plan to achieve both objectives.

The resources include recommendations on screen use for children who are neurodivergent and strategies to keep children reading over the summer. The Child Mind Institute proposes ways to provide the structure that children with ADHD need to thrive while on summer vacation.

Lastly, the resources explore how parents should not be afraid to let their children become bored because there are lessons they can learn from it.

Here are The Child Mind Institute’s resources on how to approach screen time for children during the summer:

For more information, visit The Child Mind Institute’s website.

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Resources for July Observances

Various organizations, states, and nations recognize a number of observances each month. Resources can help parents, caregivers, and child care professionals acknowledge and navigate them.

Various organizations, states, and nations recognize a number of observances each month. Resources can help parents, caregivers, and child care professionals acknowledge and navigate them.

Here is a list of resources for July observances.

Month-Long Observances

National Parks and Recreation Month

National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month

Days of Recognition

July 4 is Independence Day

July 7 to 8 is Islamic New Year

July 14 is International Nonbinary People’s Day

July 26 is National Disability Independence Day

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RAD Pass Offering Thousands of Free Admissions to Pittsburgh’s Top Attractions

A number of Pittsburgh’s top attractions are offering tens of thousands of free admissions through August 31 for those who have an Allegheny County library card and a Regional Asset District (RAD) Pass reservation.

A number of Pittsburgh’s top attractions are offering tens of thousands of free admissions through August 31 for those who have an Allegheny County library card and a Regional Asset District (RAD) Pass reservation.

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RAD Summer Staycation reservation spots will be added regularly through August. Users are asked to read offers carefully, as some attractions offer two- or four-packs for admission.

Currently, attractions making offers of free visits on the RAD Pass website include:

  • The Andy Warhol Museum

  • Carnegie Museum of Art

  • Carnegie Museum of Natural History

  • Carnegie Science Center

  • Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh

  • The Frick Pittsburgh

  • Mattress Factory

  • National Aviary

  • Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium

In the coming months, the following institutions will make offers:

  • Heinz History Center

  • Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens

  • Pittsburgh Botanic Garden

  • Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall and Museum

Booking Tickets

To book tickets for RAD Summer Staycation admissions, visit the RAD Pass website. Then, users should log in with their Allegheny County library card and PIN and browse for passes by date or venue. Once a pass is reserved, it should be printed or downloaded to a mobile device.

Participants are asked to only book a reservation that they plan to use on the selected date. They should also cancel their reservation to open up spots for others if they find out they cannot attend on a day they reserved.

For more information, visit the RAD Pass website.

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