Play first, eat second

When I was at school we all raced out at morning tea to eat our lunches. We had to eat lunch before we got to play. Most of us were keen to get on the netball courts, to continue the skipping or elastics games or to get to the newly opened library first to borrow the one and only copy of Pippi Longstocking the school had. Lunches went under the seats, in the bin or back in bags in our hurry to get out to play. We would all be starving by the time we went back into class (at which point my teacher made us drink the milk provided by the government of the day - but that's another blog post). I don't remember but I'm pretty sure not a lot of high quality learning went on after no food and rushing about the playground and returning hot and sweaty to class.

The merit in playing first is that kids do sit and eat properly. There's no point throwing your lunch away when you still have to sit through eating time. There is no more play! This is the time to chat with your friends, cool down, solve some gripes, plan the play for the next break and go back into class refreshed and ready to learn.