Many of us probably can remember pickup softball games on a neighborhood sandlot, getting together for an impromptu game of “kick the can,” “snap the whip,” or just going for a bicycle ride around the neighborhood with friends.

I recall riding my bike with friends on summer days — or even on warm evenings during the school year — to gather at one of our houses. We had fun doing any of those types of things, or jumping rope, practicing our “gymnastics” or creating contests to see who could swing a hula hoop around our hips the longest.

I had to be home by the time the street lights were starting to flicker, a curfew I often pushed to the limit. I recall peddling like mad toward my house to find my mother waiting at the end of the driveway, arms folded and shaking her head, as I wheeled in on the red-white-and-blue Free Spirit bicycle my parents had bought for me at Sears.

For most of my childhood, we didn’t have video games to occupy our time — at least until that amazing Atari creation called “Pong” arrived.

My brother and I were thrilled when my parents hooked it up on the only color TV in our house, the one located in the living room. The location, of course, meant we had limited time to play the table tennis-themed game in which we would swipe our “tennis rackets,” (i.e. thick white cursors) up and down on the screen, intercepting the simple white dot that bounced back and forth making pinging sounds.

We were among the first on our street to have Pong, and as I recall, my friends were extremely jealous. They would come over to watch us play, but only until my parents wanted to watch TV, and then we’d have to turn it off and go outside to play.

Looking back, the memories of those days are wonderful.

Sadly, kids don’t make those kinds of memories anymore.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure my sons have a good share of fond memories from playing with their friends in the neighborhood. I’ve heard them reminisce about catching frogs in a small creek behind our house.

They both played organized youth baseball until they age-limited out of it and, when that happened, they moved onto middle school and high school athletics.

Even though it wasn’t really that long ago that my boys were young, as time marches on, I wonder how much kids today play, even like my boys did not so long ago.

The fact is, everyone needs to play — especially children.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, play allows children to use their creativity while developing their imagination, dexterity and physical, cognitive and emotional strength. The Academy says play is important to healthy brain development. It is through play that children at a very early age engage and interact in the world around them.

In short, play helps children to learn and develop into strong, well-adjusted adults.

That’s why I loved the idea of fun and games at Lakeview Elementary School in recent weeks. Principal Scott Taylor said Lakeview Elementary’s participation in Global School Play Day was meant to highlight the importance of unstructured play.

“We’ve become a society where everything has to be structured,” Taylor said. “You want to give kids a chance to figure it out themselves.”

Students were asked to bring in a toy or game to share — key worth noting was that no electronic devices were permitted. They were given time to play freely under the supervision of teachers.

All teachers in kindergarten through fourth grade decided to participate for at least part of the day, with some classes playing all day and others for a few hours in the afternoon, Taylor said.

“Everyone needs play,” he said.

So, if you’re a parent or a grandparent, I urge you to have the kids turn off the video games and head outside to play in the snow, or when the weather warms up, kick around a soccer ball with them.

I highly recommend it. There’s no better way to spend an afternoon.

blinert@tribtoday.com