I agree that structured or unstructured, what matters is that children are moving, playing, using their imaginations and not just sitting still unless they are looking at books or crafting and creating. Even if I let my daycare children have a tv show for a rare treat now and then they don't sit still long and are up and playing before you know it. I ask them if they want to watch the rest of their show or play with the toys and they always answer 'PLAY' so they have never watched an entire dvd or even 1/2 hour tv show.

Kanga, I hope you feel better soon, our city has been hit hard too and we've all been talking about the problem with the extra germs this year since in Ontario we didn't get our winter. The germs just kept going around. I've been feeling rotten except for a couple of days since Jan. hit! I feel for you sweetie!

I'm wondering if the article you were reading is a 'get the children ready for the structure of jk' type article. Yes, we all do a type of circle time or dancing/songs/games and I think that's good enough to teach the children that sometimes it's important to listen and learn. Otherwise, play is play no matter where or what they are doing.