- Health and safety
- Classes 3-5
- 3 min read
Sleep and play: finding the balance
See why children need good sleep and daily play, and how to balance screens, study, play and rest.
Let us begin
The big idea
To grow well, a child needs both sleep and play. Sleep gives the body and mind a rest. Play makes the body strong and the mind happy. Let us see how to balance them.
While we sleep, our body repairs itself and our brain stores what we learned. If we do not sleep enough, we feel tired, cranky and find it hard to pay attention at school. Most children of school age need about 9 to 11 hours of sleep each night.
Play and exercise make our heart and muscles strong. At least an hour of active play each day is a good goal. Running, cycling, skipping and playing games with friends all count.
Screens, like TV and phones, are fine in small amounts. Too much screen time takes away time from sleep, play and study. It is best to stop using screens an hour before bed.
A routine helps. Go to bed and wake up at about the same time every day. Keep the room dark and quiet at night, and do something calm, like reading, before bed.
Worked examples
See how it works
Bedtime sum
Tara must wake at 6 a.m. If she sleeps at 8:30 p.m., she gets 9 and a half hours of sleep, which is about right for her age.
A balanced evening
After school Dev rests, then plays outside for an hour, finishes homework, eats dinner, reads for a short time and goes to sleep. He has time for all of them.
Too much screen
If a child watches TV until late, bedtime is delayed and the child wakes up tired. It is better to switch off the screen early.
Try it at home
Sleep and play tracker
You will need
- A sheet of paper
- A pencil
- A ruler
What to do
- Draw a table with the days of the week.
- Add three rows: bedtime, wake up time and hours of play.
- Fill in the table each morning for one week.
- Count how many hours you slept each night.
- At the end of the week, talk with an adult about what to change.
Ask a grown-up: An adult can help calculate sleep hours and set a regular bedtime.
Practice sheet
Check what you learned
Practice sheet: Sleep and play: finding the balance (Classes 3-5, Health and safety)
- About how many hours of sleep do school age children need?
- What does the body do while we sleep?
- How much active play is a good goal each day?
- Name two kinds of active play.
- When should we stop using screens before bed?
- Tara sleeps at 9 p.m. and wakes at 6 a.m. How many hours does she sleep?
- What can happen if we do not sleep enough?
- Why is a routine helpful?
- Name one calm thing to do before bed.
- Plan your own evening: write what you do from school to bedtime.
Answer key
Answers: Sleep and play: finding the balance
- About 9 to 11 hours.
- It repairs itself and the brain stores what we learned.
- About an hour.
- Sample answers: running, cycling, skipping.
- About an hour before bed.
- 9 hours (9 p.m. to 6 a.m.).
- We feel tired and cranky and cannot pay attention well.
- Our body gets used to regular sleep and waking times.
- Sample answers: reading a book or listening to a story.
- Sample answer: rest, play, homework, dinner, reading, sleep.