Recess is making a comeback 

As students prepare to return to school next month, more states are requiring outdoor, device-free recess.

“Play fuels [children] in every way and I don’t think that changes during the school day,” Kathryn Truman, co-founder of Say Yes to Recess (SYTR), told Fox News. “I think play is fundamental to learning. It contributes directly to [students’] ability to regulate and focus and retain the material.”

Truman and two other Tennessee moms, Rachel Bush and Morgan Garner, started SYTR in 2025 to advocate for longer recess times. Originally, Tennessee schools had 15 minutes of free play a day, but Truman, Bush and Garner saw their own children struggling with sitting for hours without a break and pushed the state to require more physical activity.

Since SYTR’s founding, Tennessee has increased recess to 40 minutes, and test scores have risen, Truman said.

Although the increase is a success, SYTR’s ideal is a 60-minute recess, according to its website, compared to the average 20-30 minutes at many schools.

SYTR has grown to 18 chapters nationwide with new chapters in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and one coming soon to Utah.

In 2002, President George W. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), which placed considerable pressure on schools to increase performance and test scores. After NCLB, 40% of schools nationwide removed or reduced recess to extend instruction time, according to the CDC.

But as of December 2025, half of the states and Washington D.C. have passed legislation concerning school recess and physical activity, compared to only 12 states with similar legislation in 2016, according to the Bloomberg American Health Initiative and the Education Commission of the States respectively.

In April, Oklahoma passed a bill increasing recess from 20 to 40 minutes a day, leaving schools wondering where to find the extra 20 minutes. Some schools are considering beginning school earlier in the morning instead of adding nearly six days of school to the end of the year to make up for the extra time away from the classroom..

Many states only allow recess in elementary schools, but in May, South Carolina passed a bill stating students in kindergarten through eighth grade are required to have at least 20 minutes of unstructured play. The bill also requires recess to be held outside whenever possible.

In June, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released a revision to its 2013 policy on recess, stating the benefit of multiple breaks throughout the school day, at a minimum of 20 minutes. According to its recommendation, recess helps “maintain efficiency and concentration while managing stress” and is developmentally and physically important for children.

One controversial detail in recess legislation is whether teachers can restrict it as a means of discipline. Some teachers worry there is no other way to tangibly enforce discipline, the Los Angeles Times reported.

“Many teachers and other professionals in schools feel that in order to get kids to behave, you have to have a credible threat,” Rebecca London, a sociologist at UC Santa Cruz, told the Los Angeles Times. “One of the easiest to implement: Kids care a lot about recess.”