Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life

Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for LifeIn Free to Learn, developmental psychologist Peter Gray, argues that in order to foster children who will thrive in today's constantly changing world, we must entrust them to steer their own learning and development. Print Length: 289 pages Drawing on evidence from anthropology, psychology and history, he demonstrates that free play is the primary means by which children learn to control their lives, solve problems, get along with peers, and become

In Free to Learn, developmental psychologist Peter Gray, argues that in order to foster children who will thrive in today's constantly changing world, we must entrust them to steer their own learning and development.

• Print Length: 289 pages
• Drawing on evidence from anthropology, psychology and history, he demonstrates that free play is the primary means by which children learn to control their lives, solve problems, get along with peers, and become emotionally resilient.
• A brave, counterintuitive proposal for freeing our children from the shackles of the curiosity-killing institution we call school, Free to Learn suggests that its time to stop asking what's wrong with our children, and start asking what's wrong with the system.
• It shows how we can act - both as parents and as members of society to improve children's lives and to promote their happiness and learning.
• "Free to Learn is a courageous and profoundly important book. Peter Gray joins the likes of Richard Louv and Alfie Kohn in speaking out for a more humane, compassionate and effective approach to education." -Frank Forencich, author of Exuberant Animal and Change Your Body, Change the World
• "Free to Learn provides us with deep, carefully researched insights into the connections between freedom, learning and play.... If you are involved with children, education, unschooling, free ranging, or anything having to do with play, Free to Learn is something you'll want to read, own, share, and give to everyone you know who cares about the lives of our children and the future of our world." -DeepFun.com
• "In Free to Learn, a passionate paean to the kind of free play and free learning exemplified by Smiths example, Peter Gray, an evolutionary psychologist at Boston College, makes a largely compelling case that children learn best when unencumbered by adult-imposed activities and institutions." -American Journal of Play